I'm a bit confused and a little more than shaken. I was listening to a Fr. Hewko sermon and he stated that according to Canon Law sending your kids to public school is an excommunicable offense. He didn't state which canon it was, so I'm not sure where he's referring to.

What are parents to do when they have no options for private Catholic schooling, and aren't fit for homeschooling? I don't have an option for Catholic schooling (that isn't Novus Ordo) and I'm not much of a teacher, and my wife certainly isn't fit for it. So what do I do? I'm basically damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

He might have had in mind Divini illius magistri (1929, Pius XI), though I don't believe it called for excommunication:

https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/docuмents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121929_divini-illius-magistri.html

I'd have to check my trusty Woywod/Smith 1917 CIC commentary, though it's over at the bungalow, and I've got a lot going on today (as usual).  I'll check it out when I can.

I have a vague memory of my godmother's parents, before V2, having been threatened in some way when they sent her one year to the public high school.  I don't recall for sure whether excommunication was invoked, but I seem to recall it was.  They promptly put her back in Catholic school.  People did what they were told back then.  People still cared about their souls.

Not to "pull rank", but I have a bachelor's and two master's, I'm a Mensa member (though inactive, their activities are largely useless wastes of time), I think I'm certainly fit to homeschool.  I remind my son frequently that ours is a Catholic school, our prime task is to save our souls and to learn the good, the true, and the beautiful.  While we teach comprehensively (the state forces this), I remind my son that, no, it won't matter ten trillion years from now, whether you learned calculus or physics, but it most certainly will matter whether you learned to know, love, and serve God in this life, and thereby be happy with Him forever in the next life.

I'm a bit confused and a little more than shaken. I was listening to a Fr. Hewko sermon and he stated that according to Canon Law sending your kids to public school is an excommunicable offense. He didn't state which canon it was, so I'm not sure where he's referring to.

What are parents to do when they have no options for private Catholic schooling, and aren't fit for homeschooling? I don't have an option for Catholic schooling (that isn't Novus Ordo) and I'm not much of a teacher, and my wife certainly isn't fit for it. So what do I do? I'm basically damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

I don't know if it's in Canon Law, but morally speaking it's COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE to turn your kids over to the public Government schools for indoctrination.

They learn about sodomy, masturbation, transsɛҳuąƖism, LGBT, "white people are the devil", BLM, Critical Race theory --and that's before 2nd grade. This is 2021, not 1985. The world has changed since GenX went to school in the 80's and early 90's. And those horrible things I listed? That's in rural conservative areas. The big cities are much worse! I'm only half-joking here. My point is: it's not just abuses in a few highly liberal places where garbage like this is poured into childrens' minds. It's literally EVERYWHERE. North Dakota. Texas. Red states. Blue states. Rural/urban. Doesn't matter.

Do you know the average age kids first see pornography? Age 9. Listen to a few podcasts by Jonathon Van Maren for a real eye-opener on this heading. It's the truth. You can deny it if you like, but that doesn't invalidate it. Unless your children are sheltered, they WILL be exposed to porno at a young age. And the worst kind of porno too! Not simply playboy and 70's era soft porn. Not just the lingerie section of the Sears catalog. We're talking gangbanging, inter-racial, degrading, perverted stuff that can't even be named. AT AGE NINE. In ALL public schools nationwide.

I don't see how mortal sin could be avoided, sending children into certain loss of Faith like that. How could Trads do that? Why did they leave the Novus Ordo, only to sign up their children in the devil's own schools? Insanity.


Better for your children to be uneducated, with a literal 2nd grade education, than to lose their souls in modern-day public schools. Janitors can save their souls, you know.

I don't know if it's in Canon Law, but morally speaking it's COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE to turn your kids over to the public Government schools for indoctrination.

They learn about sodomy, masturbation, transsɛҳuąƖism, LGBT, "white people are the devil", BLM, Critical Race theory --and that's before 2nd grade. This is 2021, not 1985. The world has changed since GenX went to school in the 80's and early 90's. And those horrible things I listed? That's in rural conservative areas. The big cities are much worse! I'm only half-joking here. My point is: it's not just abuses in a few highly liberal places where garbage like this is poured into childrens' minds. It's literally EVERYWHERE. North Dakota. Texas. Red states. Blue states. Rural/urban. Doesn't matter.

Do you know the average age kids first see pornography? Age 9. Listen to a few podcasts by Jonathon Van Maren for a real eye-opener on this heading. It's the truth. You can deny it if you like, but that doesn't invalidate it. Unless your children are sheltered, they WILL be exposed to porno at a young age. And the worst kind of porno too! Not simply playboy and 70's era soft porn. Not just the lingerie section of the Sears catalog. We're talking gangbanging, inter-racial, degrading, perverted stuff that can't even be named. AT AGE NINE. In ALL public schools nationwide.

I don't see how mortal sin could be avoided, sending children into certain loss of Faith like that. How could Trads do that? Why did they leave the Novus Ordo, only to sign up their children in the devil's own schools? Insanity.


Better for your children to be uneducated, with a literal 2nd grade education, than to lose their souls in modern-day public schools. Janitors can save their souls, you know.

My son has never attended public school, and as long as I have a breath of life in me, he will never attend the government-run schools.  My attorney obtained for me, as part of our divorce settlement, ultimate decision-making authority, with ability to trump my wife's wishes to the contrary, and that is something that NO still-legally-married father EVER has.  I used this authority to prevent my son from being prescribed ADD dope, the school strongly recommended it (they routinely seek to "medicate the boy out of" their more challenging male pupils), my wife was all in favor, but I said no way.

At the high school my son would attend, if I were "out of the picture" and his mother and her illicit consort had full custody, there was a cryptically reported news story not long ago, about a young boy who was sɛҳuąƖly assaulted by a group of male peers.  While it was not rape per se --- the news reports disclosed that much --- it was a type of gross sɛҳuąƖ imposition, I have a pretty good idea what it was, but decency prevents me from discussing it in more detail.  She'd be perfectly okay with him attending such a school, in the name of "socialization" and being part of the "collective".  I would not be.  That's one reason I drive defensively with maximum attention, and have my health carefully monitored by my doctor.  I cannot die until he attains majority, and God willing, for a long time past that.  I want to be a crusty old GrandDad doting on his babies.  Nil sine numine.

I don't know if it's in Canon Law, but morally speaking it's COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE to turn your kids over to the public Government schools for indoctrination.

They learn about sodomy, masturbation, transsɛҳuąƖism, LGBT, "white people are the devil", BLM, Critical Race theory --and that's before 2nd grade. This is 2021, not 1985. The world has changed since GenX went to school in the 80's and early 90's. And those horrible things I listed? That's in rural conservative areas. The big cities are much worse! I'm only half-joking here. My point is: it's not just abuses in a few highly liberal places where garbage like this is poured into childrens' minds. It's literally EVERYWHERE. North Dakota. Texas. Red states. Blue states. Rural/urban. Doesn't matter.

Do you know the average age kids first see pornography? Age 9. Listen to a few podcasts by Jonathon Van Maren for a real eye-opener on this heading. It's the truth. You can deny it if you like, but that doesn't invalidate it. Unless your children are sheltered, they WILL be exposed to porno at a young age. And the worst kind of porno too! Not simply playboy and 70's era soft porn. Not just the lingerie section of the Sears catalog. We're talking gangbanging, inter-racial, degrading, perverted stuff that can't even be named. AT AGE NINE. In ALL public schools nationwide.

I don't see how mortal sin could be avoided, sending children into certain loss of Faith like that. How could Trads do that? Why did they leave the Novus Ordo, only to sign up their children in the devil's own schools? Insanity.


Better for your children to be uneducated, with a literal 2nd grade education, than to lose their souls in modern-day public schools. Janitors can save their souls, you know.

Matthew, this is where respectfully, you’re being a little hyperbolic. Especially when not every family has the luxury that you have of homeschooling.

There is a common misconception that homeschooling is ‘school at home’. Meaning a parent must duplicate the typical classroom at home. It doesn’t have to be done that way. 
I was unschooled starting from 4th grade. My mother pulled me out of a Novus Ordo Catholic grade school after I finished 3rd grade. She was mostly hands off, so I wound up being mostly self taught. I love to read and write, math never being an interest of mine, I at least know the basics. 
I read mostly fiction until my early 20’s then that all changed when I starting reading different Saint biographies. I had a conversion back to the Faith (of which it was getting colder) and then a few years later by the grace of God I found Tradition. 
I had my eldest son in a Novus Ordo Catholic school and pulled him out, started homeschooling and the rest is history. Now in his early 20’s, he is a very intelligent and articulate young man, and best of all he still has the Catholic Faith. My younger children have only ever been homeschooled. They are all very intelligent and have interests in many subjects outside of what you’d find in a typical classroom setting. 
It makes me sad to meet neighborhood kids that want to play with them and you can tell they have no substance there. Very aloof and somewhat robotic. Much of it may be the public schools in the area here in the South, but still I can see the difference in my own children and public school children. Mostly because these young ones are also lacking The Church and The Sacraments and from what I’ve seen of many parents here they are self centered ego maniacs that let their children spiritually and emotionally rot in other people’s care while they work all day and party all night. These are the children ours would be attending school with. Imbibing their values on a daily basis at lunch and recess. I regret my eldest had to endure that the few years he was in school.

Take heart those with children still in schools. I prayed every morning with my son as we drove to drop him off, the Saint Michael prayer. I told my son that St Michael would be with him and he said, ‘he’d be floating above the school watching over everyone’. A sweet memory we have from that time. 
Also, for those interested check into ‘Deschooling’ and ‘Unschooling’. Unschooling has a bad rap of being unstructured when it can be done in a structured way. Relaxed homeschool is another term for that too. 

Is it OK for a Catholic to teach in a public school?

I'm offering prayers for you and your wife, DL.

Such a difficult situation you are in.

Has your wife met many homeschoolers?  My husband was opposed until he met some of the excellent children.

Also, keep in mind that schools will soon enough mandate the shot and frequent "testing".

Not only that, but there are notices around the country that the school can and will send the child to a quarantine camp (medical kidnapping) if someone in the home has tested positive.

It's common to think that school at home must take many hours a day since that is what the "real schools" do.  However, the "real schools" waste hours and hours of time on stupid and meaningless activities.

I once saw advertisements for an elite preschool in New York which fed into the "right schools" which is soooo important if you want your kid to go to Ivy League.  It cost tens of thousands a year.  They boasted small student to teacher ratio, big comfy chairs for reading books, cooking activities, etc.  

Hmmmm.... sounds kind of like home to me.

Preschool and Kindergarten should take no longer than an hour a day for phonics/reading and math if that.

Read aloud time each day and listening to books on tape is golden.

Historically children would receive tutors into their home for learning until they went to university at age 16.

Assignments are given and reviewed when the tutor returns.  It's not time consuming at all.

In trad parishes there are young homeschooled teens and young adults or parents even you can hire for a few hours a week to visit your home and tutor your children.

There are many, many tutors available for zoom learning online.

There are many computer programs and games as well.

Many, many ways to skin to this cat!

Oh, just one more thing to consider...

Has your wife ever met weird kids who go to school?

Yep.  There are weird kids everywhere. :P