Taxpayer money for a church school? We know where that leads
While Pontius Pilate knew Jesus was an innocent man, the Roman governor authorized his crucifixion in large part because he was afraid of appearing disloyal to Caesar and losing power.
The constitutional crisis our country currently finds itself in may be new to America, but as we see in the Gospel of Matthew, the wreckage caused by political expediency began in ancient times.
Which brings us to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a proposed online faith-based charter school in Oklahoma that is seeking public funding, a decision to be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court this year. Last summer, the state's Supreme Court rejected the contract St. Isidore had with Oklahoma. However, Gov. Kevin Stitt objected, saying in a statement, 'I'm concerned we've sent a troubling message that religious groups are second-class participants in our education system.'
Now, let me tell you what I'm concerned with: the 2019 audits by the Catholic Church in Oklahoma that found abuse allegations against 22 clerics to be substantiated. Alleged predators responsible for the care of children were systemically transferred by superiors from state to state from 1960 until 2018.
'The long and the short of it is you trusted us, and we failed,' Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley wrote in a public letter following the reports. 'I also am sorry for the complicity and negligence of those who failed to respond adequately to reports of abuse, for whatever reason, whether they are bishops, priests, deacons, religious or lay persons representing the Church.'
While Catholic leaders in Oklahoma were applauded for acknowledging past failures, that did not protect the church from facing millions in lawsuits over those allegations and others. In fact, in 2022, 10 current and former students filed a $75-million lawsuit accusing Mount St. Mary Catholic High School in Oklahoma City of fostering 'a rape culture,' saying the school 'did not take reasonable steps to report or stop the rampant rape culture and ongoing sexual abuse.' A federal judge dismissed the case in 2023 because the statute of limitations had run out — not ruling on the merits of the allegations.
These are just recent headlines from one state. From 2004-23, the Catholic Church paid more than $5 billion to settle sexual abuse cases tracked by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and certain U.S. religious communities.
Whatever else you take from those examples and statistics, this much is clear: The Catholic Church isn't hurting for cash. I can't help but wonder why on Earth taxpayer money would be needed to fund Catholic schools.
It's not that I'm against faith-based education. My son attended a private Christian school. But I am against any attempt to tear down the wall between church and state. Just turn to the example of Pontius Pilate to see what can happen when secular power tries to exert control over religious life.
History is full of enough evidence to warn us away from this mingling. We don't need a test case in Oklahoma to prove the point.
In 1534, when England's Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, King Henry VIII became the supreme head of the Church of England, breaking with the papacy. Because Henry wanted to divorce his first wife, the pope's rule had become … inconvenient.
The king pressured English church officials who knew better into making him the religious leader as well as the monarch. And when Henry's second wife did not produce a male heir, he had her executed so he could marry a third woman. He faced no consequences. Why? Political expediency. Parliament washed its hands of the controversy, because lawmakers could tell themselves the king was above the law and above the church. And as with Pontius Pilate, history shows the attempt to sidestep accountability was futile.
The people who founded the United States were trying to leave behind that entanglement and corruption. They embraced the 1st Amendment to keep the government out of religious life and to keep religion out of government.
For taxpayers to fund a religious school would pull us back toward tyranny.
This week White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said he wanted the country's children to 'be taught to love America.' I agree. And that begins with protecting America from becoming a theocracy.
@LZGranderson
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The Hill
8 minutes ago
- The Hill
100 days of Pope Leo XIV: a calm papacy that avoids polemics is coming into focus
VATICAN CITY (AP) — When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peter's Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis' 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican. But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the 'salt of the Earth, the light of the world.' He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go. As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. An effort to avoid polemics Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Continuity with Francis is still undeniable Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. An Augustinian pope From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. A missionary pope in the image of Francis Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was 'called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American.
San Francisco Chronicle
38 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
100 days of Pope Leo XIV: a calm papacy that avoids polemics is coming into focus
VATICAN CITY (AP) — When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peter's Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis' 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican. But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the 'salt of the Earth, the light of the world.' He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go. As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. An effort to avoid polemics Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Continuity with Francis is still undeniable Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. An Augustinian pope From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. A missionary pope in the image of Francis Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was "called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American.
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
The most conservative college in the US is just a short drive from lefty LA — and has just 372 students
The kids are all right. The 'Most Conservative College' in the country is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the 2026 Best Colleges guide from the Princeton Review. The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. 4 The 'Most Conservative College' in the United States is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the Princeton Review. imagineRbc – 'The colleges we profile in our 'Best Colleges' book are a truly select group. They constitute only about 15% of America's nearly 2,400 four-year institutions,' said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review and the book's lead author. To produce the report, researchers surveyed 170,000 students. 'We don't rank colleges based on our opinion of them nor would we crown a school 'best' overall,' Franek explained. 'Our goal since day one on this project,' he continued, 'has been to provide multiple resources to help college applicants answer what is for most the toughest question in their journey to college, 'Which college is best for me?'' To help answer that, the new guide features two-page profiles of all 391 schools, as well as 50 ranking list categories, such as 'Most Religious Students' and 'Happiest Students' — including Grove City College in Pennsylvania and Claremont McKenna College in California. 4 To produce the ranks, the Princeton Review surveyed 170,000 students attending the schools in the book. panitan – But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of just 372. Thomas Aquinas is a private, conservative, Catholic liberal arts institution, located in Ventura County, near Los Angeles. It was established in 1971 and is known for its use of the Socratic method, where all classes are discussion-based and led by professors — called tutors — who guide conversations through questions. 4 But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of 372. Thomas Aquinas College The small student-to-faculty ratio — 11:1 — fosters a close-knit environment where tutors are deeply engaged, approachable, and supportive, often interacting with students outside the classroom. The population is nearly evenly split between men and women and students from in and out of state, but predominantly (63%) white. The college community is described as friendly, faith-centered, and intellectually driven. Many students are motivated by their Catholic beliefs and are seen as studious, kind, and eager to help others. Meanwhile, just up the coast, sits the school with the most liberal students — Reed College in progressive Portland, Ore. Founded in 1908, Reed is a private liberal arts institution with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346. Reed College advertises a student-driven environment. With 38 majors, 17 minors, and two dual-degree programs, Reed emphasizes personal inquiry through a structured curriculum that includes a yearlong humanities course, broad distribution requirements, and a senior thesis. Reedies are known for being academically passionate, inclusive, and deeply involved in learning — often pursuing niche interests outside their majors. The school is particularly welcoming to LGBTQIA+ and gender minority students. 4 Founded in 1908, Reed College is a private liberal arts college with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346. Reed College The population is nearly evenly split between men and women, but mostly (85%) students from out of state and 58% white. Notably, Reed ranks among the top schools nationally for the percentage of graduates who earn PhDs. Many alumni also go on to earn advanced degrees or become leaders in their fields.
