This fifth volume in the Mission and Education series grapples with the question of how to frame a re-imagined understanding of formation for the Catholic educator and leader.

If you are a principal, staff member, parent, parish leader or someone in the community who believes in the potential of Catholic education, this book seeks to explore the religious identity question that is so critical in our schools.

As a thirteen-year alumna of Catholic schools, Sarah Thomas thought she knew all about them: why they exist, how they're structured, and why they continue to be a powerful presence in American education. What she discovered, however, is that teaching in a Catholic school is, in many ways, not what she had assumed. Saving Minds, Saving Souls: Revitalizing Catholic Education Through Witness is based on Sarah Thomas's ten-year journey trying to find a teaching position in a Catholic school and her experiences thus far as an educator. Combining personal stories, interviews with current Catholic educators, and recent and historical data on educational trends, Thomas outlines the challenges and opportunities facing Catholic schools today and explains how "witness" is the key to building the brightest future possible for them. Saving Minds, Saving Souls is a nonfiction book that speaks to current and prospective members of the Catholic school community who want to look at the intersection of culture, education, and faith in a new way.

How coherent is the claim that Catholic education is both distinctive and inclusive? This question, so crucial, both for the adequate articulation of a raison d'être for Catholic schools all over the world and also for the promotion of their healthy functioning, has not hitherto been addressed critically. Here it receives penetrating analysis and constructive resolution in a comprehensive treatment that integrates theological, philosophical and educational perspectives. The argument draws on wide-ranging scholarship, offering new insights into the relevance for Catholic education of thinkers whose work has been relatively neglected. The advance in understanding of how distinctiveness relates to inclusiveness is underpinned by the author's lengthy experience of teaching and leadership in Catholic schools; it is further informed by his extended and continuing dialogue with Catholic educators at all levels and in many different countries.

"Offers the spiritual foundations that should define/suffuse Catholic education, at every level, to ensure that Catholic schools are providing the education that they promise"--

Two experienced home schooling moms present a very thorough, balanced and practical guide to both the merits of home education, as well as the important ideas, resources and curriculums to home school. Hahn and Hasson cover all aspects - statistics supporting home schooling's excellence, the nitty-gritty of lesson plans, and hundreds of ways to keep the fun in (and boredom out) of learning. Most importantly, they offer compelling advice and inspiration for parents as they undertake their child's religious, moral and intellectual formation. This is a reliable guide for Catholic parents who want to stay close to the heart of the church in the schooling of their children. The authors demonstrate that home schooling is not a fringe movement on the Church's periphery, but it is squarely based on Catholic teachings drawn from Sacred Scripture, natural law, and the writings of saints and popes. Readers will find the right combination of secular and sacred, theoretical and practical. Whether you are looking for advice and encouragement, language resources, aids for teaching multiplication or phonics - or the Ten Commandments - this book is sure to be a very functional tool.

“Courageous and inspiring.”—Karen Armstrong, author of The Case for God “James Carroll takes us to the heart of one of the great crises of our times.”—Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve An eloquent memoir by a former priest and National Book Award–winning writer who traces the roots of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal back to the power structure of the Church itself, as he explores his own crisis of faith and journey to renewal NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY James Carroll weaves together the story of his quest to understand his personal beliefs and his relationship to the Catholic Church with the history of the Church itself. From his first awakening of faith as a boy to his gradual disillusionment as a Catholic, Carroll offers a razor-sharp examination both of himself and of how the Church became an institution that places power and dominance over people through an all-male clergy. Carroll argues that a male-supremacist clericalism is both the root cause and the ongoing enabler of the sexual abuse crisis. The power structure of clericalism poses an existential threat to the Church and compromises the ability of even a progressive pope like Pope Francis to advance change in an institution accountable only to itself. Carroll traces this dilemma back to the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, when Scripture, Jesus Christ, and His teachings were reinterpreted as the Church became an empire. In a deeply personal re-examination of self, Carroll grapples with his own feelings of being chosen, his experiences as a priest, and the moments of doubt that made him leave the priesthood and embark on a long personal journey toward renewal—including his tenure as an op-ed columnist at The Boston Globe writing about sexual abuse in the Church. Ultimately, Carroll calls on the Church and all reform-minded Catholics to revive the culture from within by embracing anti-clerical, anti-misogynist resistance and staying grounded in the spirit of love that is the essential truth at the heart of Christian belief and Christian life.

In this second volume of the Mission and Education series two Australian Catholic educators face squarely the issue of the Catholicity of the entire formal curriculum - what is involved, and why it is a vital matter for the consideration of all those committed to the education of young people in Catholic schools.