4
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Perspective
Lenten question: What was it like?
It bothers me.
Every week or so I drive past
this house where construction
workers are busy at their tasks. As
near as I can tell, bricklayers, car-
penters, cement masons, landscape
workers and who knows who else
have brought about major changes
at this house•
What bothers me is that I can't
remember what the house used to
look like, before all of the work
began. Even though I see a lot of
things happening in, on and
around the house, I can't tell what
kind of progress has been made.
I think that I am an observant person. But in
some cases -- even simple ones such as this -- I am
not as watchful as I think I would like to have. Or
ought to have been.
This construction job -- or better, re-construc-
By PAUL R.
LEINGANG
EDITOR
tion job -- has been going on at
least since last fall. I only see the
work occasionally, and only very
quickly. As I drive past, I have only
a few seconds to take in all that I
can see" and that leaves me un-
satisfied. It would be impolite to
stop, block traffic, and stare -- but
some days, I am tempted to do just
that.
I know that an addition has
been built. I know that the earth
around the house has been re-
arranged. I know that a new chim-
ney has been constructed. I know
that a deck has been added. I just
wish I could remember what it looked like before.
It's a good question to ask in Lent.
The question is, "What was it like before?"
Each of us can supply our own personal area of
concern, as we ask the question.
We hear about the need to
sion or a change of heart. We hear
cleansing and renewal. It is hard ta
changing, if you don't know what
from. It is hard to think about renewal,
know what it is which will made new.
What was it like before? : :
In some religious traditions,
be, "What was it like before
your personal savior?" In others, perhaps,
was it like before you joined the church
Or, "What was it like before you beheved? :
Lent provides the time to ask such
about our own lives. It is time to take a
bricks and mortar and changes in our
that have built up over the years. What
added? what has been removed? What
changed?
Maybe you might even ask about the
of your faith. Is it built on rock?
Lent is the time to ask such (
----- Washington Letter
School reform: A not so new take-home assignment
By CAROL ZIIM[ME
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Al-
though education reformers
may have a lot of lofty ideas for
improving our nation's schools,
the latest concept -- to involve
parents in the process -- is
anything but new.
This February, in his first
address on the state of Ameri-
can education, U.S. Education
Secretary Richard Riley un-
veiled his =family involvement
campaign." The plan aims to
include parents in their chil-
dren's education, because, as
Riley has often stated, they are
the "first and most important
teachers."
Sound familiar?
"Parents must be the ac:
knowledged as the first and
foremost edticators of their
children," said Pope John Paul
II more than 10 years ago in
his apostolic exhortation on the
family. "
The pope didn't mince words
about this role either, going on
to call it "so decisive that
scarcely anything can compen-
sate for (parents') failure in it."
In mid-February, When Riley
addressed a group of more
than 700 at Washington's Je-
suit,run Georgetown Univer-
sity, he said that education re-
form is "best when it is school
and community-based, volun-
The MESSAGE
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tary, inclusive and bottom up
... when we involve parents,
teachers and the entire com-
munity in putting children
first."
Again, his words rang a fa-
miliar bell, this time echoing
the U.S. bishops' 1991 state-
ment, "Putting Children and
Families First: A Challenge for
Our Church, Nation and
World." One purpose of the
statement; thebishops said,
was to "share the facts of a so-
ciety failing its children. . The
letter particularly noted that
the nation has the "highest di-
vorce rate, the highest child
poverty rate and the highest
abortion rate in the Western
world."
it," he said.
Education experts who
spoke with CNS stood firmly
behind the theory that parents
can make a big difference in
their children's education.
They also recognized that
"needs improvement" would
probably be the grade parents
would get.
Even parents have admitted
their lack of participation. In a
Newsweek poll, 40 percent of
parents across the country said
they .were not devoting enough
time to their children's educa-
tion.
Katherine Keough, associate
dean of education at Jesuit-run
Xavier University in Cincin-
nati, called parental involve-
Riley has likewise lamented ment in education "imper a-
society's failure to help its chil- rive. "
dren. e seem as a nation to =If a parent does not value
be drifting toward a new con- their child's education and
cept of childhood that says a learning, why should the child
child can be brought into this - ,alue it?-:sheaid. : ......
world and allowed to fend for
himself or herself," he said.
He emphasized a "moral ur-
gency" for society to come to-
gether and "reconnect" with its
children, adding that such a
job could not simply be left to
teachers and principals who
"already have been directly
confronting violence, the
breakdown of the family, eth-
nic and racial tension, ... teen-
age pregnancy, the abuse of
drugs, alcohol and the crisis of
AIDS.
Similarly, Dominican Sister
Betty Flaherty, who taught for
40 years; from elementary edu-
cation to graduate school, said,
"Nothing will happen to stu-
dents of value unless it is sup-
ported at home."
Sister Flaherty, who cur-
rently directs religious forma-
tion at St. Blase Parish in
Sterling Heights, Mich., is
such a firm believer in
parental involvement that she
and other parish organizers
have taken the idea a step fur-
So now that a top govern - ther. Their parish's religious
ment official is preaching the formation program, which has
message that long has been is-
sued from the pulpits, does
that necessarily mean things
are going to change? Not with-
out some work and creativity,
experts say.
"Just saying we need more
parental involvement isn't
enough," said Clark Power, a
developmental psychologist
who teaches at the University
of Notre Dame.
He told Catholic News Ser-
vice that although he was glad
Riley was endorsing the con-
cept of parents helping their
children, he was also a little
pessimistic. "This isn't a new
idea; it's been around for 40
years or more. We've known it,
but we haven't been terribly
been honored by the National
Catholic Educational Associa-
tion, is specifically designed for
both parents and children.
According to Sister Flaherty,
• more parents today want to be
involved in their children's ed-
ucation because they don't
want the trend of a "lost gener-
ation" to continue. As she sees
it, children pick up on their
parents' interest, which could
range from simply asking,
%Vhat did you learn today?" to
attending meetings and volun-
teering at school activities.
Ms. Keough said such in-
volvement doesn't mean par-
ents have to go back in time to
an era when one parent stayed
at home. "I'm not suggesting
creative or willing to commit to . Mp_m sy home and b.ake.copk-
ies for the PTA, but parents
should stay in communication
with the school," she said.
She and Power agreed that
parents could participate in
their children's education sim-
ply by overseeing homework
and by plugging into resources
some schools have made avail-
able, such as parent hot lines
and chances to talk to teachers
during work hours.
Riley plans to come out with
his own suggestions for par-
ents this spring by publishing
"Riley's Rules," including tips
such as scheduling homework
time, re
using television
ing in touch
and talking with I
dren.
Although
tially
assignment for]
sists they
alone to
nesses churches !
• nity
extend
than they do
lies nurture
their full
k
Bishop's sc
The following activities and events
schedule of Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger"
