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Our Mission
Often what is perhaps fundamentally lacking among Catholics who work in a school is a clear realization of the identity of a Catholic school and the courage to follow all the consequences of its uniqueness. (Sacred Congregation for Education, The Catholic School, n.67)
The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education exists to give Catholic educators a clear understanding of the riches of authentic Catholic education, yesterday and today, and to help them implement the Church’s vision in their institutions.
Our Vision
Loyalty to the educational aims of the Catholic school demands constant self-criticism and return to basic principles, to the motives which inspire the Church's involvement in education. (Sacred Congregation for Education, The Catholic School, n.67)
Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has called for the renewal of Catholic education at all levels, from grade school through the research university. The Church has warned that Catholic schools must not be just secular schools with a Catholic name and a religion class. They must draw on the rich heritage of Catholic education to form an educational community that is fully Catholic.
Such an outlook calls for courageous renewal on the part of the
Catholic school. The precious heritage of the experience gained over
the centuries reveals its vitality precisely in the capacity for prudent
innovation. And so, now as in the past, the Catholic school must be
able to speak for itself effectively and convincingly.
This is by no means an easy task. Currently, Catholic educators
have few resources that will help them to understand what a Catholic
school is, can be, should be. The dominant models for education
are all fundamentally secular. The practical demands of running
a school leave teachers and administrators little time to discover the
basic principles of Catholic education.
The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education exists to help Catholic educators answer the Church’s call. We are devoted to understanding the Church’s educational tradition that stretches back to the very beginnings of the Church and its encounter with the highly developed classical system of education. We study carefully the Magisterial documents on education and the contemporary situation so that we can see how today’s Catholic schools can benefit from the strengths of the tradition. We look at secular education to discover what can be learned from them while avoiding the dangers of pluralism, relativism, and vocationalism.
The Institute is dedicated to presenting our understanding of full Catholic education. But even more, the Institute intends to help Catholic educators understand, experience and share our vision with their students and schools. Through its efforts, the Institute looks forward to the fulfillment of Christopher Dawson’s hope expressed in 1961.
...As education reaches a certain point of development, it opens up new and wider cultural horizons. It ceases to be a utilitarian parochial effort for the maintenance of a minimum standard of religious instruction and becomes the gateway to the wider kingdom of Catholic culture which has two thousand years of tradition behind it and is literally world-wide in its extent and scope.