“God bless those who connect the dots that no one else can see.” ~anonymous wise person
Bishop Michael Pham ~~Ordinary, Diocese of San Diego ||
Cardinal McElroy ~ Diocese of Washington DC & Former Bishop of San Diego
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ~~the USCCB <> Pope Leo XiV ~~ Pope #267 originally from Chicago, Illinois, 14th Leo following Leo XIII Happy Birthday
Archbishop Jose Gomez ~~ Archdiocese of Los Angeles cc Bishop Kevin Vann Bishop Tim Freyer Bishop Tom ~~ in my home Diocese for 68 years of its 50 years of existence
other human entities…
Your Excellencies, you all share a beautiful thing in common: Every one of you were homeschooled at birth! But, alas, you probably don’t remember…unless mom and dad continued after diapers…
I sense you are aware of the unforced errors, like a repeated tennis court mistake, that have happened to our Church in recent decades. Of noteworthy, is one that occurred in September 2024 and 2025, now set to repeat itself in Sept 2026: banning faithful Catholic families from their San Diego parishes who take a direct interest in educating their children. In essence, all 96 parishes in the former San Diego Diocese of Cardinal McElroy and now Bishop Michael Pham are now off limits to Catholic homeschool families who engage in the same thing all our bishops did when they were in diapers and beyond: homeschooling
I believe you are familiar with the directives on religious education contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, specifically CCC 2223. Allow me to post it here, direct from the USCCB:
Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 – 2557)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Love one another even as I have loved you.”1⇡
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.4He was obedient to them.5
The Lord Jesus himself recalled the force of this “commandment of God.”6 The Apostle teaches: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ (This is the first commandment with a promise.) ‘that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”‘7 ⇡
III.
THE DUTIES OF FAMILY MEMBERS ⇡
“Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery — the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.”31 Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them: He who loves his son will not spare the rod. … He who disciplines his son will profit by him.32Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.33
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Maxim#1 EVERY Catholic child was homeschooled from birth! Including bishops and priests…
or EVERY good Catholic parent homeschools his and/or her children from birth.
Homeschooling is an option, a choice, NOT a crime as Michelle Malkin pointed out. Catholic homeschooling, in actuality, is a LIFESTYLE.
Bishop Pham, locking Catholic families out of 96 diocesan parishes is unprecedented, except you are following the example of Cardinal McElroy of DC. Do you have even a clue how this appears in principal and practice to the Church and its faithful? Let alone pastors and priests outside of your inner circle,the majoritarian presbyterate who voted with the Cardinal and the new Vietnamese refugee turned bishop who is blessed with his rise to power?
~~~~~A little segment of homeschooling history~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the Virgin Mary’s birthdate, September 8, 2011, Donna Marie received the last rites from Msgr Cook at our home of 11 years, surrounded by most of her 11 kids. On Sept 9,2011, her days on earth were finished.
After the 2010 Christmas surprise diagnosis, she lived nine more precious months and succumbed to cancer; the ‘gift’ of the last six months, privileged with a spiritual healing, she knew the physical healing was not to be. Even at 48 years of life, she believed God was using her for a purpose we didn’t understand: she offered her pain and suffering for the needs of others, efficaciously for those in purgatory and those remaining on earth. Donna rarely thought of herself, always giving to her kids and others. As a mom of 11, co DRE/YM at a parish, teacher homeschooling for 3/4s of her years on earth the 11 she bore, devoted to whom she was named for, Marie (Mary)…Donna is proof homeschooling IS a vibrant, growing option in a frazzled world. Ironic, other Catholic homeschooling moms have passed away but today’s SCCHE, the various coops like Dumb Ox, OC general and others, are thriving WITHOUT being competition to the parish school system. WE NEED both!
What a way to end her homeschooling career. Yet, today Donna is still teaching by her life’s example AND death through her kids, especially the eight married kids, many of whom are continuing her example of home-based education with our 24 grandkids.
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The Lifestyle less chosen by families
In the aggregate, ALL parental units throughout the Middle Kingdom and all the earth ALSO homeschool post birth. We misunderstand that learning faith, religious education is not a singular event but a lifestyle choice essential to generational passing and preservation of Catholic tradition and the Gospel.
Not every Catholic couple chooses this path, which is fine! …except it leads to suspicion and concern from those not engaged in it. Curious question, is why don’t they query and improve the Catholic educational process that they have chosen for their own families. And before a bishop or presbyterate attempts to end a time honored and very effective methodology, why not meet with those who have engaged in its use over time?
It’s not a competition but a menu selection parents make even today and I am privileged to know so many joy filled families after 40 years of engaging
in this path less traveled. Yes, trials and tribs happen, but anything that is “good”, is challenged by God’s enemies but still worth the cost.
AND good parents know the costs are worth it. You can’t easily schedule this “eternal training” to Mon~Friday from 8~3 over 9 months. 180 days is great, but there are alternatives some of our beloved bishops distinctly despise. Thankfully, most of our hierarchy do not.
I am not sure these words, “homeschooling begins at birth”, have ever been uttered from a pulpit or ambo in these United States. But, the assumption that Catholic education does not begin until PreK or Kindergarten is foolish and denies God’s call on parents to raise them from birth. Implicit in 2223, is the idea that, while the parents, mother and father in an intact familial setting have been educating their “gifts from God” since birth, they can decide, with good counsel, the next steps in their journey to maturity.
Options include enroll them in a local parish elementary school (if their parish has one, some dioceses don’t); enroll in a public education or charter school. Employ tutors for individualized learning.
… Or continue to provide home~based Catholic education through 8th? 12th? grade. A bonus, is join/provide supplemental homeschooling options such as intrafamily cooperatives, such as the Southern California Catholic Home Educators (SCCHE) and others. In principal and practice, homeschooling is a choice NOT a crime…in fact, it is a lifestyle worth pursuing.
And with a little unintentional boost from anti-social Covid medical tyranny, homeschooling was escalating in adherents and multi-faceted deviations. EXCEPT those forced into it with teachers sitting on a beach zoom teaching. Truth is, during Covid, already active homeschool families thrived because they were used to it as a LIFESTYLE not a compromise or a poor second choice. If your understanding on the negative side stems from the Covid years, please put that aside for the truth.
COVID Compromises that Church leadership should have responded to
The truths about Covid, origins and experiences, will be years into the future to discern, if ever; but one quick story.
Two homeschooled Catholic young adults, my daughter Briana was engaged to Gavin Hager, from a homeschooling family we love deeply. As the wedding approached, we were told that the maximum allowed in the parish church would be 25, or 100, depending on when and whom you asked. Briana has ten siblings and Gavin also had ten siblings. Do the math, that’s 20 without in laws: if all of their direct siblings were there, no parent or married sibling could attend.
So if it was 25 max, ONLY their direct siblings could attend. No married spouses. No friends. Maybe the priest and attendants like best man and maid of honor if the gods of 6 feet separation were kind. A reception was not even on the planning board. Yet, the twosome loved each other and decided to go on with the ceremony even if it meant few people and no reception; they lost their “venue” deposit (gosh how I despise that evolution from “parish hall” to venue) but happily they were married according to the rubrics of the Church. The wedding had priority over celebration. Gavin’s dad Steve just wouldn’t have it, so he provided a surprise reception.
Our diocesan paper, the Orange County Catholic, featured a story about a young adult couple, the bride electing to have a justice of the peace, county recorder “wedding” and then in a year or so, have the Church wedding with all the fanfare. My main difficulty with this is, it forced two young adults to live in mortal sin (look it up, it’s a real thing) and risk their eternities so they could have the big party. Even more, the fact that the paper’s editorial board allowed the article to be printed, glorifying premarital sex, fits in well with why homeschool families don’t always see eye to eye with our modern Church and its left leaning proclivities at times.
More families are electing this homeschooling option, but some of our hierarchy, bishops and priests, have little understanding let alone tolerance for this aeons old method of pedagogical and spiritual pursuit based out of the home. With technological advancements, the homeschool option becomes even more desirable as a legitimate choice. But, there seems some resistance in parts of the Kingdom of God on earth…
For example, when SCCHE, the southern Calif. homeschool association, offered to “rent” a local OC parish facilities, it came back from the administration they were not keen on “competition” for another school on parish grounds. Sounds a bit similar to San Diego’s issues.
Never mind it was a Catholic school many of whom were in the parish and participated joyfully, the $3000 rental fee during the off season for 6 hours on a summer Saturday seemed a bonus to help the parochial school/parish. Also, they were not doing occultic things nor Satanic masses; many of the families already attended the Orange county parish the event would have had.
The organization is well respected and mentioned previously: SCCHE. Southern California Catholic Home Educators. But unintended fear is a dangerous motivator for a two letter answer: “No!”
We ended up, plus the following year as well, at St Dorothy’s in the LA diocese whose pastor and associate not only were familiar with the modern Catholic homeschool movement, highly endorsed it. Thank you Archbishop Gomez for the acceptance! Thank you Bishops Vann, Tim and Tom for your support as well!
In so many Church areas, like priests for example, diocesan and order priests are trained at different seminaries in and outside of California. The result,for example Orange County diocese, is the 50+ Praemonstratensians (Norbertine priests)help at Orange County parishes especially on weekends.
This takes some pressure off parishes with less priests than optimal.
Would Cardinal McElroy block St Michael’s Abbey priests from serving in diocesan settings because he considered them unwashed or competitive like Catholic homeschooled families?
Thankfully, I can’t read his mind for the answer, but WE NEED TO SEE THAT THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR ENVY OR UNBRIDLED animosity to one another, especially with the need for educational and other reforms. The Age of the Eucharistic Renaissance is here. Either we grow from this point or we continue with less ANSWERED priest vocations into the future while so many men are spiritually hungry to be St Padre Pios and St John Vianney, good parish priests.
Please fellow Catholics and parochial school staff: Homeschooling post dirty diapers is NOT in competition with other schooling options, especially parish based classrooms, but it IS rigorous while being rewarding. NOT ALL parents want to engage in homeschooling either out of ignorance or choice, both of which are acceptable. But, understand, we understand the sacrifices all CAtholic school-age parents must make without vouchers or a reasonable portion of their own tax dollars going into their budget.
Feeding families is a struggle in all too many Catholic families, so public education turns out to be the only option, if parochial or private is financially out of reach.
THE CATALYST FOR THIS POSITION PAPER IS a sad situation that continues to happen in the Diocese of San Diego: the bishop and the presbyterate demanded no homeschooling families or cooperatives would be allowed to use parish facilities in 96 parish properties. No exceptions. It happened over the last two years…September 2026 is here, depending on when you are reading this…and again engaged Catholic families are banished from making use of parish rooms. Practice yoga? No problem. Had a difficulty with the bottle over the rocks? AA and narco-non are welcome to use parish halls and classrooms. Died or getting married, even if the family member barely darkened the jubilee church doors over a life time, come on in! We have room for you at the Inn!
But focused, engaged Catholic families taking the less traveled road, persona non grata. Latin for you don’t cut it, families. Sorry, try the Baptist church down the street.
Your excellencies and lay readers, let that sink in. Because families decide to help the local ordinary’s faith formation/religious ed responsibilities to God, by continuing the role as parent and teacher beyond the diaper stage, they are blackballed yes blackballed from using the same facilities that public school children use during religious education (DRE/Faith Formation Dir) classes. In fact, many of the homeschool kids already participate in parish activities like altar service, helping the needy via community service like St Vincent support, etc.
The motivation for this couldn’t or shouldn’t be “competition” because routinely parish schools share their facilities with public school children outside the parish school’s operating hours.
I have a healthy amount of experience in all these realms, because in addition to homeschooling our 11 kids over 40+ years, my wife and I had been on parish staffs as Youth Ministers (15 years), Directors of Religious Education (12 years) and Youth Director at Holy Family Cathedral (5yrs) until a few months after my wife Donna’s premature death at age 48.
I know we must be wary of private revelation, but Donna’s passing 49 days short of her 49th birthday on Sept 9, 2011 had legitimate evidence of miracles. To know her was to love her, whether mom to 11 (plus the 350 other kids, teens and young adults at three diff parishes), homeschool coops with some amazing parents or other Catholic involvements, her generosity of spirit, dedication to Mary and the Church was unprecedented.
A little segue, I have past ministry associates, friends, even family who think I should open a legitimate cause for canonization. Not as a ego thing, but another typical 11 offspring Catholic mom who served God faithfully in all matters who lived a life of witness. Evidentiary incidents that lead us to believe her purgatory time, if at all, was short, after 6 months offering her sufferings from 4th stage colon cancer for the needs of others. Two examples I will put in the addenda at the end. “St Donna Marie of Anaheim, tbd”
Importance of ANSWERED vocations
Historically, many bishops are aware that answered vocations happen at a higher percentage rate in homeschooling environments. No arrogance, simple logic and facts. The Holy Spirit continues to call on our young to be priests and religious, but we should be praying more specifically for ANSWERED vocations. Look at the historical record! Augustine was a reluctant priest after he turned his playboy life around and we have 1600 years of his persistent writings. Thank mom Monica! The consummate parish priests, St John Vianney and Padre St Pio both heard confessions for hours and hours because they knew the people needed them to. Some reports, St Pio read minds and would tell penitents their sins, including the forgotten; the Cure of Ars telling the widow in the crowd her husband did repent after he jumped and his suicide did not lead to hell. These are who we are! 2000 years of intergenerational faith/Gospel heredity. Jesus’ Church has survived centuries and today’s silly song “when a man becomes a woman” a rewrite of Percy Sledge’s ’66 hit, or SCOTUS Jumanji Jackson Brown’s Harvard trained womanhood ignorance will soon pass. But NOT His Church.
And please, great bishops: this is not a finger pointing exercise, beloved bishops and hardworking priests and laity. It is time to set the future in line with this amazing Eucharistic Renaissance unfurling today. The resurgence of understanding Jesus’ Real Presence is UNDERWAY! Why can’t we see that?
But Bishop Pham, your actions again confirming the actions of your predecessor, confirms you value public school kids’ access to properties built over decades by other families, than engaged Catholic children and parents who ALREADY serve in your parishes…there is always room for both. This is the most saddening point. Homeschool kids have the time and freedom, and the parental motivation, to serve more directly in parish life than others. And so many do, as I see in my home diocese of Orange and surrounding. Refer to 2223:
“The home is well suited for education in the virtues.”
It’s seems San Diego, for whatever reason, has an animus re: the so called ‘unwashed barefoot’ Catholic child who learns much of his faith and virtues at home or in cooperatives involving other Catholic families? Many bishops and priests witness how good, though a struggle, homebased education is for the families who engage in it. Including cooperatives…
Maybe you never heard of a homeschool coop? It is often a weekly gathering at a parish when the parochial school is not operating, that involves a few hours late afternoon or ? when team teaching occurs, amid other activities like May crownings, stations indoor, out or in the church, divine mercy, rosary, saints presentations etc. One that happens in the inland empire comes to mind where the families are welcomed by the parish, the priests, pastor when conditions at a local park aren’t good to meet.
In decades of coop participation,we have had a AirForce Academy physicist teach physics. Many a nurse. We have had an MBA business owner dad teach a year long business and finance class in which the high schoolers were divided into three and they founded three companies for ‘hands on’ experience. Excellent religious teachings were primaries, of course.
I can give you examples of successful cooperatives that are happening in my home Diocese, Orange, LA and Riverside but those in San Diego must be more secretive due to occasional intolerance on the part of the hierarchy. Imagine how it made the San Diegan Catholic parents feel, who want a different more involved process with their young ones, soon to be off to college as time moves so swiftly. Hopefully, good Catholic colleges like Thomas Aquinas College,, Benedictine, UoD, University of Mary, Ave Maria, Christendom and others. Full disclosure, this Orange County native dad has 7 grandkids and 2 married offspring in Bishop Pham’s diocese, so this isn’t NIMBY style.
We all agree that our culture is broken in parts and yes, “where evil abounds, grace abounds more”. Does Bishop Pham worry about the extra electricity expended when other kids use the facilities? Or, when pilates, AA, even yoga, senior “young at hearts” gatherings darken the doors of parish halls and classrooms? Probably not.
I ask this, because we experienced this soft animus against public school kids; when Donna and I worked over twelve years with 350 religious ed, both sacrament and beyond, with parenting sessions, at St Anthony Claret, we as DREs were careful not to leave the parochial classrooms in disarray…not a pencil out of place! We even diagrammed and photographed each room to make sure every thing was in order for the parocial/parish students coming back the next morning.
But, typical of the sad realities of the modern Catholic school systems in America, Donna and I were furloughed, fired, let go when the parish owed the diocese $600,000 and the pastor had a Spanish speaking counterpart, our DRE counterpart, with more kids who spoke Spanish as the first language; we loved Margarita and worked our programs well together but as the parish was turning more Hispana, we became the odd man(and lady) out with the heavy debt. As in most Catholic parishes, we served at the pleasure of the Bishop, thus at will. When our usefulness subsided, we were let go. No animosity, one of the realities of life. I try and wear my big boy pants routinely.
When shown the door, Donna and I only had 11 kids at the time and found another role after a year of searching: Fr Bill hired me/us at Holy Family Cathedral as Youth Director.
But schools still close. Historically, St Anthony parish school ‘absorbed” the neighboring parish St Boniface’s school kids when that school closed. Cross town parish rivalries die hard and eventually St Anthony parish school closed it’s doors too. Ironically, Fr Bill is the excellent pastor at the parish I first attended in 1960 and now in its second year, the diocese/parish rents out the classrooms Sept to May to a public, tuition free, charter school called “Vibrant Minds Charter School”. Hmm. There are good things happening with Steve Cameron working to combine five at risk parish schools so they all survive. Other innovative education concepts are underway as well. But, we MUST improve our serve.
I wonder if Bishop Michael Pham might reconsider allowing the unwashed barefoot homeschool families a little more access to their parishes? Maybe one half day a week until the parish NIMBYs realize these kids aren’t gangbangers or minions of thievery. It would be comparable to the parish schools have 180 days per year, while the homeschooled parish kids would only access about 200 HOURS annually if they continue through the summer season when parochial school classrooms are dormant. But, this level of generosity may not overcome the “competition” concerns some have a bit shortsightedly.
A Tale from Elsewhere. This is such a great time to “improve our serve”
A cross country irony, my son Nathan, headmaster at Chesterton Academy of St Joseph in Dayton, occupied a closed but gorgeous Lutheran church’s classrooms for three years this decade. Now, being welcomed by the local Dayton area bishop, they are in the former school rooms of Mary, Help of all Christians school in Fairborn, Ohio.
The tuition, I understand is $8400 and since Ohio is joining a growing number of states with school back pack/school choice/voucher assistance of $8000 per student, the enrollment is blooming as you read this.
California may be the most egregious on wasted spending on education. Living in the far left state of California (on a map furthest west of the contiguous states), we taxpayers donate one third of a TRILLION dollars annually to the Calif pubic school system which is now dispensed by the governor, CalDeptEd and his cronies at the California Teachers union. Now that he has stripped the power of the superintendent of public instructions, it is getting more blatant how misguided his tyranny is as the lame duck governor.
The Why might surprise you! The govenor Jen and her husband Gavin fears an outstanding critic of Sacramento overreach, Sonja Shaw is soon elected on Nov 3rd. Story for another time.
Frankly, it really is about the money.
Many dioceses are facing consolidating parishes due to demographic changes and less answered priestly vocations.
Suffice it to say one KEY is to “allow” Calif parents access to $10,000 per kid. And other states to follow the example of Ohio, Arizona, Texas etc. California currently gets $26,000/student, even with declining enrollment due to ) so they can choose public, parochial, private, charter or even continue homeschooling.
What a concept! Instead of massive amounts of pubic sex instruction thanks to planned parenthood generosity, parents could choose where to put their kids and have some financial relief.
Choice can be a good thing; even planned parenthoodlums preaches choice, asking the frightened, groomed moms which works better for them to kill the mom’s kid, at 4pm Friday or 7am Saturday. Frankly, this exhortationist (encouraging) son of the Church believes it is long past time for us to “grow a couple” and engage our states to realize Catholics are humans and Americans too! No longer
And frankly, the outdated Dewey system of education is bankrupt beyond repair and its time the Church reassumes its role in the land of Lincoln, John Carroll and George Washington.
Need proof? Jumanji Jackson Browne, the latest member of the Supreme Court is Harvard law trained and yet is unable to define a woman. Yes, a woman.
Maybe she was confused, having to give up her sound grammatical training and use poor english werdings such as pronouns like thee, them, they, tha. you know the picture.
Yes, it is outrageous. Not to mention the comparison between Pentecost AD 33 and Pentecost in the year of the Lord 2022. Back then, the Church was locked UP… more recent, Pentecosts we Catholics were locked OUT under the devil’s main medical servant (not thinking planned parenthood) the NIAID boss Fauch and his two cronies. Locked OUT in America the Free.
35 years paying for Home School Legal Defense. Why?
It’s not just Cardinal McElroy or Bishop Michael Pham who are opposed to acknowledging Catholic home schooling as a choice, a path Catholic parents can take in educating their children in the Faith…and society. For decades, Donna and I paid for HSLDA coverage and it was money well spent. Why? Because major municipalities and special interest groups like the California Teachers Association (CTA), Calif Dept of Ed, the Catholic Church, are not keen on parents having the right to decide their children’s future. We know a beloved family of 13 kids who has faced the wrath of jealous neighbors claiming they closet their kids and worse things. Evil IS always vigilant. But grace abounds more.
Each entity has their own list of reasons to believe what they do. Frankly, we had great experiences with our Riverside, LA and Orange Diocese Catholic parishes, even today when our direct homeschooling efforts are finished; there are pockets of acceptance and celebration by knowing bishops, priests and laity who realize Catholic homeschooled kids generally are respectful, study hard, deeper in their faith and readily open to answered vocations.
My family and that of a Praemonstratensian/Norbertine homeschooled in parallel over decades; today, two of Fr. Louis’ siblings are married to two of my kids. The strangest irony, giving promise to the idea homeschooling is a good choice, not a crime and a life style worth pursuing, is this:
25 years ago, St Michael’s Abbey Norbertine Fr Louis’ amazing mom called me when their last child was born and asked suggestions on how to spell her newbie’s middle name: COELI or CAELI were my twin responses to the query. She herself was named Regina and wanted her latest daughter to be a reflection of the Queen of Heaven. So, it became Regina Coeli and we are so blessed as to the woman and wife she has become. Not an idle comment… parochial school students and families build good relationships over time, an important thing these days. But:
How many can state that “my father-in-law helped to spell my given name decades before I married his son” like our Regina Coeli can. Maybe royalty and promised alliance marriages to preserve earthly kingdoms. But, I share this not out of arrogance but out of wonder how our Catholic lives can be filled with joy IF we are open to possibilities. Open to the Holy Spirit’s call on our lives and plans.
After Donna passed away, there were a couple years that Regina, my daughters Faustina and Katrina were taught/tutored by Regina’s older sister, Trinity. But unfortunately, there are those in society AND some in our Church who don’t like good things happening that don’t fit in their mold their image of what IS good in life.
In simple terms, engaged Homeschooled Catholics who love the Church and its hierarchy also need/needed some protection. The Need met solutions.
So, over time, a legal organization was formed to protect families from Child Protective Services, local and state truant officers, even neighbors, who were opposed, jealous, envious, opinionated of the homeschooled kids. Today,
HSLDA is vibrant in defending this choice worldwide as well as in the USA. Not only does HSLDA step in when authorities overstep their bounds, their legal right to “govern, HSLDA files legal documents to correct the abusive, often, glaring ignorance mixed with envy (almost like Bishop Pham and his presbyterate’s outrageous banning good Catholic homeschooling families access to buildings long ago paid for and available
without hurting the privileged parochial students) they also help families who lose jobs and sustenance via grants. The story of TJ and Jessica Sorenson’s family is worth a read. I will direct you to the site of HSLDA
https://hslda.orgHistorically, in the 60s to early 80s, my 10 siblings and I were privileged to get 88 years of combined St Anthony claret education…and today half have fallen away from the faith. Many of you reading this also had parochial privilege.
In our early education years, the Sisters of St Louis had a convent and low salaries, so the tuition, even for 11 kids was manageably low. Once sisters disappeared, lay teachers needed the luxury of feeding their offspring so salaries rose though no where near where public school teachers and administrators earned. Now, it is time to equalize the education playing field…or at least get a 1/4 of the way there. IF all families have X ( $10K or ?) dollars per kid to spend on educational choices, imagine the increase in Catholic parish schools, the IMPROVEment in the public arena and homeschoolers would thrive as well. AND as has been proven in states that realize the secular Dewey public ed system is bankrupt and needs COMPETITIVE juices flowing. Proof is out there.
The Cincinatti Story
Catholic schools have been a part of the solution for over a century, and more, because the benchmark was set high enough for good education to come out. With McGuffey readers, pronouns had their proper place. Today? TEACHERS not students get fired for NOT subsidizing grammatical stupidity by allowing STUDENT figure of speech choice.
If I am a snotty biological male and want to be a she, I just stick my tongue out at the teacher and say “Daddy will get you fired if you don’t let me go by “she”. Put simply, he is a he and she is a she and she can be a they only if she has a he or she inside her womb. Make sense? Not in looney times education America.
Where are our bishops and outspoken lay educators? Instead of bagging on Catholic homeschooled kids, why not demand EXCELLENCE! Or is excellence the thing worrying parochial admins and teachers… i certainly hope not.
It is worse than outrageous. How do you let one of the nine top jurists onto the Court if she can’t figure out what a woman looks like, let along thinks like. Pretty much every case she will hear and see involves a human being. Both the male and female kind…yet, Jumanji Jackson Browne can’t distinguish the female genome.
It wasn’t always this way. I have family in the Cincinatti area; my son’s father in law, Ron found some old bishop letters to his parishes from circa 1931 that we should review to understand the changes to our views from almost 100 years ago:
the bishop was sending letters to his diocese’s pastors, explaining that they may have to begin charging tuition in the Cincinatti area. At that time it was a free experience. The depressions was just getting underway, but he was transparent that he wanted to still keep the black parish schools tuition free for as long as possible while introducing a nominal tuition for other schools..
Like Covid era, the Depression tried the souls of men, women and children. The Cincinatti bishop had fought long and hard to keep Catholic education free. This still happens in the Church in some dioceses, and in other countries.
Fast forward to today, California education coffer amasses $330,000,000,000,000 annually, due to property taxes and a past Proposition, that goes into the public ie government schools pot. Are Catholic kids, parochial and homeschooled, less deserving than those getting free education? I think not.
Like in 1930s Cincinatti, every parish and diocese has a story to tell. And there are good news happenings in grouping parish schools into parochial coops, founding of classical Catholic education like Chesterton Academies. Much revolves around the legal tho immoral misuse of funds earmarked to get our young residents, legal and not, state educated. In the Golden State, the process has been hijacked, even this year as the Nov midterms arrive our governor has centralized his power over education even more. If you can’t see the outrageous nature of teaching middle schoolers aberrant unscientific crazies like prebirth kids are suitable for slaughter, that we can choose both pronouns and our gender/sex and much more. Girls who want to be men have their breasts slashed off and their vaginas rewired so they 10 years hence leads to her discovery that she cannot nurse the child she will never bear.
Bishops, any idea what that leads to? I’ll give you a hint: desperate non ideaological suicide without the C4 and nails backpacks strapped to brainwashed young people in the Middle East and elsewhere.
But where are our priorities? Are we mice or men? Are we focused on the vulnerable, especially families who take the harder road and just want to be accepted.
From the diocesan website “to find a parish in San Diego”:
“The Diocese of San Diego has 96 parishes and 13 missions across the nearly 9,000 square miles of San Diego and Imperial counties. You will find in all of them a community ready to welcome you and to walk with you in your faith journey.”
Unless, of course, you are homeschooling religiously and what an occasional meeting space when the parochial school, yoga, seasoned citizen clubs etc are not meeting.
On August 22, 2026, University of Mary president, Msgr Shea, gave a most inciteful keynote at the Diocese of Orange’s 50th anniversary on the endurance of institutions…it was stellar; personally, I have been in the Orange diocese for only 68 years, predating its creation carved out of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by 18 years. Ok odd facts time, I was conceived in Chicago, the home of the White Sox and Robert Prevost but born in California; I have lived in this blessed place with joy despite the setbacks that inevitably occur to us all.
Loss of a beloved selfless wife, let go from staff positions twice due in the most part to parochial school enrollment was dropping. Other oddities but NO regrets having 11 kids and the resulting 24 grandkids. 5 of those grandkids are adopted fosters, who came from opioid and other difficult familial situations only to thrive in a loving (yes both homeschooled parents) environment.
Something that must be mentioned, true homeschooling actually was a blessing during the wrath of Fauch, some call his Dr Faucinstein. We pray for this Catholic man who lost his way and the scars will not be healed for generations.
Homeschooling during the reign of St Pfaucinstein the Lesser: a strange affair.
As the preposterous gave way to the imbecilic in the 5 years of Covidity, families that had already been homeschooling didn’t miss a beat. Yet, at least in Newsom’s California, it became an excuse to empower planned parenthood with “essential workers” not barred from working.
Also, after tyrannical edict one after the other came up from the hellish land of the capital, Blessed Sacramento, we continued to prosper. Still at parks, often secret Masses in the homes, continued growth and educational progress. The acclaimed two year education progress setback called the loss of education years for public school kids forced into Zoom teachings from teachers, sometimes on beaches across the land, did not affect the general Catholic homeschooling community. We suffered but not as much as those used to brick and mortar. I know of excellent schools like St Norberts that did everything they could to weather. No one mentions it today, but the wholesale elimination of youth and young adults ministers is a black mark on modern 2020s Church history.
Please note: I am NOT the enemy~~I have been involved in providing scholarships to my local parish 8th graders, I saw the heroic work by parish based schools to continue being a school during these Dark Ages that preceded the current Eucharistic Renaissance today.
Fear at the Crossroads <> Understanding the Church of the 2020s”
At least three people/persons have warned our Church about the debilitating nature of fear. Jesus, Padre Pio, Pope Leo Xiv. However, if we step back a moment or meter, or during a Holy Hour of meditation, realize we Catholics can be IN the world but not OF the world.
When an evil governor tries to fine your church a million dollars for NOT obeying unrighteous orders, we resist. When our bishops lock up the local parishes for Pentecost 2023, we implore reason and please don’t do what the black plague and wars failed to do. Let alone the Ottoman barbarian reincarnated in Nigeria, the Islamists who hate Catholics more than life.
Did you know that the Pope Leo birthdate, Sept 14th, is the exaltation of the Cross feast day? The 7th century rescue of the true cross from the Iranians, called at that time the Persians! Cyrus the Great encouraged religious freedom in his empire; the Khoumenei descendants force religious death to all that do not follow his false Satanic religion. And after St Helen chose the one from three by a miracle, led to the recovery of the True Cross circa 325ad and the re~recovery by Emperor Heraclius, returing the Cross yet again on May 3, 629am.
We might have smart phones, instant access to information but there are aspects of history that continue to plague us all.
i believe we all would agree, it’s time to end the unforced errors of the last decades regarding the Church on earth. Starting with welcoming, more than a bronze statue for $50,000, your persecuted Catholic coops and homeschooling families to the 96 parishes south of Orange County between Camp Pendleton and the Mexican border.
So Bishop Pham, please look deeply as, like the forgiven servant parable, you were graced with America in 1991.
Could you, 35 years later, free your Catholic homeschooled families and let them use the facilities of the San Diego parishes? For reflection, my first encounter of hospitality was starting as youth minister at St Callistus in July 1980, a few short years after the fall of Saigon.
We ministered to so many Vietnamese families welcomed to a new life in Orange County and it was our privilege. It still is! One of my favorite transferees to America was Minh, who served as the sacristan for years at St Callistus.
Look deep in your heart, please. We can’t change the Cardinal’s mindset but just maybe you may have a metanoia a change of heart about how we treat Catholic families who travel a different course that actually is beneficial to the modern Church. I have attached a profile of SoCal homeschooling options to review. Catholic education is under a peaceful revolution as you read this, whether you believe it or not. Homeschooling is not going anywhere, despite soft persecution by the ignorant. Christendom college has a program looking deeper into this need to reform our educational focus. The point is when we stopped forming souls instead managing outcomes in the pedagogy of the young, we made a divergence that needs repair.
Let the Church prosper by putting away our fiefdoms and silly assertions about church property…this Eucharistic Renaissance will explode if we realize God owns it all, our hearts, our lives, even our parish buildings. Look with an entreprenurial mindset and call for dialogue. Read dialogue of substance.
Read Mother Moes story about the Mayo Clinic, in the spirit of a Mother Angelica’s deep faith over her unbridled faith God would pay for her first(?) satellite.
Finally, please read your San Diego parishioner and homeschooler letter that was ignored by your predecessor. It is just as important today. I would be happy to meet with you, even attend one of your presbyterate gatherings to calm unnecessary fears.
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August 21, 1883. Just after six in the evening, the sky over Rochester, Minnesota turns the color of a bruise. Twenty minutes later, a third of the town is gone. Thirty seven people are dead. More than two hundred are bleeding in the streets.
Rochester had no hospital. Not one.
So a convent school on the edge of town emptied out. The nuns walked into the wreckage in full habits, and a woman named Mother Alfred Moes, an immigrant from Luxembourg who had come to America with almost nothing, sent word to the only doctor in town who could handle that many wounded.
His name was William Worrall Mayo. He was 64, an English country doctor, a hard skeptic on the subject of religion.
The sisters took over Rommel’s dance hall and turned it into a hospital overnight. None of them had ever been trained in nursing. They learned it standing up, with Mayo giving orders and the injured laid out on the floorboards.
When the last patient was gone, Mother Alfred went to see him.
She told him Rochester needed a real hospital. A permanent one. She said she had seen it, a great hospital rising out of the cornfields on the west edge of town, and that she wanted him to run it.
Mayo told her the truth. A building like that would cost $40,000. Well over a million in today’s money. He said no congregation of schoolteaching nuns could possibly raise it.
She did not argue with him. She simply told him that if he would take charge of the hospital, the sisters would take charge of paying for it.
Then she went out and did it.
For six years, her sisters taught school and handed over their wages. Every dollar. She bought nine acres of farmland. She hired the builders. She oversaw the plans herself, and when the money ran short, she found more.
Saint Marys Hospital opened on September 30, 1889. Twenty seven beds. Thirteen sisters, none of them nurses by training. Dr. Mayo, now 70, walked in as chief of staff with his two sons, Will and Charlie, beside him.
Those two boys built their surgical practice inside her building. Patients started arriving from Chicago, then from every state, then from overseas. The brothers formalized the partnership in 1919 and gave it their family name.
Mayo Clinic. Today it treats more than a million patients a year and is ranked the best hospital in the United States.
Mother Alfred Moes died on December 18, 1899, ten years after the doors opened. She never saw what it became.
The Mayo brothers always said it plainly. Their father did not want the hospital. The nun did. She built it, and then she handed them the keys.
Millions of Americans have made the drive to Rochester with someone they love in the passenger seat. Almost none of them know that the whole thing started with a 54-year-old woman standing in tornado wreckage, refusing to accept a no.
Some of us see the need and want to fill it. Others are aware a true need (not just a want) exists but we ignore it. Being a Catholic isn’t always about going along to get along,
Bishop Pham. Here’s one of your faithful, another woman not satisfied to take a “no”…since you took over for a less sympathetic politically motivated prelate, you may never have seen her humble request. Please read it.
IF you have already reversed the previous banishment of Catholic homeschooling families, thank you. If not, think back to 35 years ago when you did not have a country any more and came to the Land of the Free BECAUSE of the brave. We welcomed you then so why not welcome existing Catholic homeschooling families TODAY!
A reprinted letter from a faithful San Diego Catholic homeschooling mom, Sarah Harold to the DC Cardinal.
“Dear Cardinal McElroy,
It’s difficult for me to compose a letter to a person of power such as yourself, but I am encouraged by the many words you have spoken in support of a listening, synodal Church. I know that you are committed to listening to those on the margins, whose voices are not often heard by the leaders of the institutional Church, and that you value the opinions of the women who too often sit silently in the pews. I feel confident that you will read this message graciously and respond with the loving heart of a good shepherd.
I was distressed to read that the Diocese has issued a new policy prohibiting the use of parish buildings by home school programs. I currently homeschool my children, and in the past we have used parish facilities as a meeting place and to hold collective classes and social events. The diocese’s new policy states that “the purpose of parish facilities is to celebrate the good news of Jesus Christ and to serve the needs of the Catholic community.” By allowing homeschoolers to use parish facilities, you are doing precisely that—serving the needs of a particularly marginalized community.
The new policy has been crafted out of concern for preserving the stability of Catholic schools, which are, of course, beautiful and valuable places to protect. Catholic education, especially in America, has long served to close gaps of structural inequality by educating those on the margins of society and those trapped in poverty. Certain schools in our diocese still try hard to pursue that goal of serving the least fortunate in our communities. But the reality of Catholic education today is its elite status, catering to the wealthy in affluent communities, and remaining out of reach for the poor and middle-class. Pope Francis began his papacy by calling for “a poor church, for the poor,” and has reiterated that call consistently, but I think we need to ask ourselves if Catholic education in our diocese today truly reflects Pope Francis’s vision?
By global standards my family is well off, secure with enough food to eat and a safe place to live, and for that I am extremely grateful. But by the standards of San Diego County – one of the most expensive places to live in our nation, and therefore in the entire world – we are certainly not “wealthy” and could never afford a Catholic education.
I currently have six school-aged children; if I were to send them all to the closest Catholic schools, the sticker price for that education would be over $65,000 per year. I know that Catholic schools offer financial aid as much as they can, and if we were actually to attend we would probably not end up paying that much – but even half or a quarter of that amount is a prohibitively large price, when we already live in an area notorious for its extremely high cost of living. Catholic schools are simply out of reach for us and for many Catholics in the diocese.
In addition, Catholic education has consistently struggled with providing accommodations for students with special needs, learning disabilities, and unconventional or challenging learning styles. In-classroom education is a beautiful thing and works very well for many students—but not for all. It is incredibly important that parents feel supported when they decide that a classroom-based education is not best for their children, and so they switch to home-based education. Whatever the reasons, parents ought to be able to decide what is best for their children, and we ought to have the support of our faith communities in making those decisions.
As a woman and as a mother, I know my children and their needs, and I am thankful that I have the ability and the privilege to choose what is best for their education. I feel called to accompany other women who also decide that home-based education is best for their children’s academic, social, and emotional needs. My identity as a Catholic is also deeply important to me, and I believe that the Church as a body should likewise accompany those who choose alternative forms of education for their children. The use of parish facilities can be crucial to providing a setting for this accompaniment. I have found great value in connecting with other women, and connecting my children with other children, to form Catholic communities based around our parishes where we can supplement our home-based education with social events and extra-curricular classes. In this, we have used parish facilities “to celebrate the good news of Jesus Christ and to serve the needs of the Catholic community” by claiming our right to participate, as lay women, in “the teaching mission of the Church.” You have tirelessly advocated for the rights of women in the church—to me, homeschool ministry has been the most concrete expression of women’s participation in Church life. Every homeschool group that meets at a Catholic parish is headed by women, led by women, supported by women, and serves the needs of women and children. This is an area in which the Catholic Church has empowered women to participate deeply and meaningfully. I beg you not to dismantle this carelessly.
Please don’t look at homeschool programs as a competition for the Church’s scarce resources, but see them instead as an expression of God’s abundance, and an opportunity to accompany those who choose to approach God via a different path than the ones we’re used to. Pope Francis recently spoke movingly of the many paths that lead to God. He encouraged us to accompany those on different paths so that each “may walk in search of God and contribute to building open societies, founded on reciprocal respect and mutual love, capable of protecting against rigidity, fundamentalism and extremism.” Diversity in our approaches to God is one of the most striking aspects of our global faith. Please, Cardinal McElroy, do not approach Catholic education with a harmful rigidity that insists on “Catholic education” taking only one form of in-classroom education. Catholics have often been at the forefront of educational progress and innovation. Homeschooling in a Catholic context and with Catholic parish support is simply another manifestation of the beauty of Catholic education, moving toward decentralization and the empowerment of lay people in the church.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and hear my heartfelt concerns. I truly appreciate your commitment to building an inclusive, listening church, and I urge you to consider the voices of those encouraging you to reconsider this new policy.
In Christ,
Sara Harold”
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Finally: The Diocese of San Diego is expanding its artwork but not its kids’ work… from its website:
“The Cathedral is honored to explore the installation of the sculpture “Be Welcoming” by internationally recognized Catholic sculptor Timothy Schmalz.
This powerful work was first introduced by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square shortly before Easter and has since been placed in meaningful locations around the world as a reminder of the Gospel call to welcome the stranger.
“Be Welcoming” depicts an angel revealing itself within the form of a traveler. At first glance, the figure appears to be an ordinary pilgrim or stranger. Upon closer reflection, the viewer recognizes the wings of an angel hidden within the cloak — symbolizing the Christian belief that in welcoming others, we may be welcoming Christ Himself.
The sculpture draws inspiration from the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew:
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35) What would it take for Bishop Pham to welcome the estranged homeschooled family?
This message of hospitality and compassion reflects the Cathedral’s mission to be a place of faith, welcome, and service for all people who come through its doors.
The Cathedral community is seeking a generous donor or family who may wish to sponsor this sacred work of art in honor or memory of a loved one. The sculpture would serve as a lasting sign of Christian charity and welcome to all who visit the Cathedral.
Estimated cost of the sculpture:
$55,000 for the artwork
$4,000 for shipping and installation preparation
Donors who sponsor the sculpture may choose to dedicate it in memory or honor of a loved one, leaving a lasting spiritual legacy within the Cathedral.
For more information or to discuss sponsorship, please contact the Cathedral office.
Cathedral Parish Office
1535 Third Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
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Bishop Pham: I have seven grandchildren and four offspring currently in your diocese. I worked in 1980 onward with many Vietnamese refugees resulting from the fall of Saigon in the Orange Diocese before it was a diocese. You benefitted from good choices by American patrons supporting your family in 1991. Why do you hate “allowing” as if it is your only choice, a segment of your engaged Catholic faithful families to use a tiny portion of 96 parish facilities WHEN they are NOT in use? Is it to please an influencial parish school parent(s)? Jesus asks the question “Did you give me water to drink,or a room at the Inn to be educated”
What will your answer be? Please welcome your estranged families.
Len Beckman
Len is the father of 11 kids, homeschooling them with Donna (RIP) over 40 years and graced with 24 grandkids and a stepmom Mary who said Yes seven years ago after Donna had left the earth.
Len was educated in elementary and high school, as his 10 siblings at St Anthony Claret, Servite and Rosary high schools; he served in voluntary and multiple staff positions for 60 years in the Diocese he calls home; he is no saint but follows Mother Teresa’s “Do it anyway” philosophy when odd things happen and he finds another path. He is not an antagonist but a exhortationist of hope, certainly not a Scott Hahn or Patrick Madrid level apologetics master. But faithful in giving planned parenthoodlum patients roses most saturdays and other acts of mercy, spiritual and corporal.
He hopes someday Pope Leo XiV will stop helping the secularists claiming global warming and concentrate on the good of the Church as both stewards of nature and the emergent Eucharistic Renaissance unfolding before a dying world. No greater time to be alive.
lifeoutloudest 