The End of Liberalism and Catholic Schools

I wrapped up Notre Dame Professor Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed yesterday. The thesis of the book is essentially that liberalism (the political/social order we live in) contains the seeds of its destruction. Both the left - which focuses on social 'freedom' - and the right - which focuses on economic 'freedom' - aim to tear down the cultural and social capital built up over the centuries. Therefore at the end of the day, an alternative must be forged that acknowledges the good and evil of liberalism but charts a path forward which restores the sense of community.

There is no doubt from my viewpoint in Hawthorne (and elsewhere in LA and the US) that our nation is increasingly fragmented and that the communities that people relied on in the past are fraying. That destruction is caused from without - economic forces increasing the pressure to have two-earning homes, high rents, rapid changes, et al. and a rampant sexual individualism which aims to shift the simple understanding of humanity from a biological pre-determinism to a willful act of choice at the most basic levels. And that destruction is caused from within - a sense of hopelessness, drug use, the abuse crisis eating its way through the Church, et al.

Whether Deneen's diagnosis that it is with liberalism itself that our cultural and social decay can be blamed on is not what I want to focus on - but instead one of his remedies. In the conclusion to the book (197), Deneen recommends that:

What we need today are practices fostered in local settings, focused on the creation of new and viable cultures, economics grounded in virtuosity within households, and the creation of civic polis life.

The idea reminded me of Brinig and Garnett's amazing research presented in Lost Classroom, Lost Community: Catholic Schools' Importance in Urban America Dr. Tim Uhl's conversation around communion in his Church documents series (I think this one). If our schools were truly a communion - would we be that place creating a new and viable culture? Do we as schools encourage and teach our students to act with virtue in their careers and politics?

On our tours, I am sometimes asked what differentiates our school from the local districts or even the charter districts. We may have higher academic test scores, teach the Faith, have a smaller number of students across a range of classes, et al.; but I always begin my answer with our community, which I hope is becoming a communion (we are not there yet). For in a communion, we continually reach across grade levels, family divides, awkwardness, fear, and anguish to ensure that all are welcomed. We do have a strong community; one that is hopefully growing stronger each day, each event, each time one of us is hurt or joyful and we share that pain or happiness.

I believe that it is in moving forward as a communion that our schools can be part of the genesis of a society that overcomes and transforms liberalism into a more responsive, more supportive, and more human-focused social order; the one that Deneen calls for at the end of his work.

So let us take our schools and parishes and establish family events. Let us welcome and work with families struggling. Let us call those that are hurt. Let us hear those that are angry. Let us challenge parents, staff, and students to be more and to be there for each other. Rather than necessarily retreat into ourselves (as some would say Dreher's The Benedict Option does), we must evangelize - going out and bringing others into our [forming] communion.