Home Educators seek to teach the Faith to their children and do a superior job when free to choose their own materials and do the job given to them by God as part of their vocation.  The superiority of home school is well documented (try links from the HSLDA site to read them for yourself).   This carries over into teaching the Catholic Faith to our children.  Home School children learn the faith very well but somehow this fact is missed by some of our Bishops.

“Bishop Vasquez believes Catholic education, and in particular Catholic school education, is an essential part of the life of the Diocese of Austin.  As you know, Catholic schools are at the heart of the mission of the Church.  Bishop’s presence at the homeschooling Mass would convey a contradictory message equating the importance of Catholic school education with Catholic home schooling” (from the letter of the Bishops’ office, emphasis mine).

Response to Bishop Vasquez’s letter to Catholic Home Educators
Another response to the letter against home education

Sadly, some Bishops do themselves a serious disservice and undermining trust in their orthodoxy and authority by standing between children and their parents. They allow their responses to be spoken by third parties.  No matter who wrote the letter, it is an official missive from the Bishops’ office and thus from the Bishop.

Parents who Catholic Home School do a SUPERIOR job handing on the Catholic faith to their children.  How should parents, responsible for their children, respond when a Bishop is undermining his own responsibility to teach the faith by attacking the most effective teachers of the faith in his diocese?

If the Bishops are so determined to uphold their honored place as head catechists in their diocese, they would get MUCH further if they SUPPORTED HOME SCHOOL rather than borrowing the public school hostility toward home school. 

Is the diocese of Austin in the pocket of the public schools?  The Bishop echoes their hostility to home education when he ought, by virtue of his responsibility to see to it that all children are well catechized, to be declaring loudly his support of Home Education!

Home School parents teach by carefully selecting materials of an orthodox nature and carefully instructing their children in the Scriptures, Traditions and Teachings of the Faith. They are known for being thorough catechists who place a high priority on orthodoxy in knowledge, prayer, and practice.

Compare the general levels of ignorance of the faith among Catholics, even those who attend Mass and go to diocesan schools and parish programs, with the average Catholic home school student and recognize that parents do make very good catechists when they go get their own materials and teach from them.

Dear Lord, please bless and guide Your Bishops so that they recognize the value of home school and support it as a valued asset in their efforts to pass on the Faith to everyone under their guidance. Amen.