Fr. Tom Offers Observations on Cultural Problems. Will the Synod on Synodality Address Them?

Several of the traditional homeschooled children who participated in theAll Saints Day parade
 in 2020. Hope for the future! There is only one parish in the Atlanta Archdiocese that offers the extraordinary form, St. Francis de Sales in Mableton, served by the FSSP (See comments)

Editor's comment: Fr. Tom paints a pretty painful view of where we are, particularly with the conditions affecting our children, the hope of the future. But there are a few encouraging signs. 

Sunday Meditation: Unintended Consequences? Or Opportunities from the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and Every Day!

From the perspective of Big Government, a crisis may be a "terrible thing to waste" and the coronavirus certainly offers a great opportunity for tyrannical bureaucrats as we've seen; but there are unintended consequences in the wind that are more promising. Big Brother may be surprised at what he's unleashed. At LewRockwell.com, Bill Sardi writes about the flip side of the virus:

It's Official: The State Owns Your Children and Can Do Anything They Want With Them

We're in a courtroom. You and millions of other parents sit at the defense table arguing that parents, by the authority of God, have the right to make decisions for their children. The state's authority, you argue, derives from God and He has given the primary right of decision-making for children to parents.

The prosecution team at the other table leaps up in unison to object. God has no place in this trial. The parents are out of order. 

The judge sustains the objection and orders the parents not to bring God into the courtroom.

Homeschooling: It's No Guarantee Your Kids Won't Make Bad Choices.

There's no magic potion for parenting.

Homeschooling isn't a magic potion!

Actually, this is a no-brainer. Hello! Our kids have free will and we can do everything possible to help them be responsible, holy adults and still watch heartbroken as they make bad, self-destructive decisions. I take comfort in Proverbs 22: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Some children accept what parents say and believe, take it to heart, and never rebel. Others learn the hard way. They have to stick their fingers in the fire to see if it's really hot.

No Homeschooling Freedom:Hitler's Policies Still Rule in Fascist German Judges

Judge: Homeschooling a 'concrete endangerment' to kids:

A judge has issued a stunning verdict in a homeschooling case in Germany, ordering that the parents cannot have custody of their children because the family might move to another country and homeschool, posing a “concrete endangerment” to the children....The judge, in his ruling, said that even though the Wunderlich children were academically proficient, well-adjusted socially and without educational deficiencies, he was horrified by homeschooling.

What horrifies me is a judge who thinks he has the right to decide for parents how to educate their children. His judgment is what's horrifying and, as Mike Farris points out, the attitude is common among American judges as well. Children are the future and tyrants always go after education to mold the minds of the young. That the ban on homeschooling in Germany was implemented by Adolf Hitler says it all. That the neo-fascist judges in Germany are removing children from their families and giving them to social workers when they are "well-adjusted socially and without educational deficiencies" is shocking. Who do they think they are? But, hey, the kids might not learn how to put condoms on bananas and be tolerant of deviant behavior!

An unofficial translation of the court document is available here. Pray for this family and for another homeschooling family, the Romeikes, who are fighting to stay in the United States against the opposition of the Obama administration. Pray the judges on the Supreme Court do the right thing!

Homeschooling Family Fights to Stay in the U.S.

Homeschooling family wages 'holy war' with Obama

Obama does NOTHING about criminals swarming over our borders. His immigration agents release dangerous illegal aliens to save money. But ONE homeschooling family fleeing Germany's Nazi-era takeover of children MUST BE DEPORTED! This is so despicable it's almost beyond belief, or would be if we weren't accustomed to Comrade Obama's tyranny. He hates any movement he doesn't control and, like any tyrant, realizes that controlling the future means shaping the minds of the children. 

Please pray for the Romeike family and the Home School Legal Defense Association that's fighting for them. 

Living in a Police State

War on U.S. Homeschoolers Escalates

Consider the scenario. Social workers get an anonymous tip saying a family's children are in danger. They do nothing for two months, then arrive on the doorstep demanding immediate admittance to the home with no warrant. When the family refuses social workers call in the reinforcements, i.e., the cops. When the family still resists the warrantless search, the government thugs threaten immediate removal of the children. Wow!

For that family the police state is a reality. The parents relented under duress and the social workers found that the children were all fine when they entered the home.

Several of my children homeschool. This scenario could happen to them if they had a nasty neighbor. Consider the power of the anonymous accuser. You have a squabble with a neighbor, what an easy way to get back at them. The state generally offers immunity to anonymous accusers so anybody with children is at risk. Interesting, isn't it, that a country that allows the ultimate abuse of murdering children before birth, suddenly cares (two months after the anonymous call) about the condition of the children?

If this happened to your family, what would you do?

Homeschooling and the Gotcha Question

When I was homeschooling I often had conversations with folks about what was involved in the decision to homeschool. After a brief discussion I could always depend on hearing the "gotcha" question: "But what about socialization?" My response was always the same - a laugh and the reply, "Isn't that one of the arguments in favor of home schooling?"

What's normal, I'd like to know, about socialization that involves being together all day with people your own age and one adult, usually a woman, who exercises crowd control? I always found that homeschooled students, unlike their regular schooled peers, were 1. comfortable around adults, 2. had greater eye contact, 3. enjoyed adult conversation, and 4. were often politer in groups.

But now the research is there to support the socialization advantage. Last December J. Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), had an op-ed in the Washington Times reporting on studies showing the success of adult homeschoolers in both the U.S. and Canada. The adults who were homeschooled are happier, more engaged in their communities, more likely to vote, earn higher incomes, and none of them are on welfare. Sounds like homeschooling increased positive socialization and decreased negative socialization.

So congratulations to all you grownup homeschoolers. You are the best advertisement of all that homeschooling works!