Education
“… Families and those to whom they entrust a share in their educational responsibilities must enjoy true liberty about how their children are to be educated.”
- Blessed John Paul II, Letter to Families (1994)
In Catholic teaching, parents have the moral responsibility and inalienable right to educate their children in a way that conforms to their family’s moral and religious convictions.
The majority of parents share this responsibility, out of necessity or choice, with other individuals or institutions. This reality must be balanced with their fundamental rights as parents. Therefore, in Catholic teaching a State or “public” monopoly of education is unjust.
In matters of education, the Catholic teaching of subsidiarity is the basis of relations between families, the Church, and the State.
We support public policies that acknowledge and support the role of Catholic schools and other nonpublic education institutions in Minnesota that affirm the rights of all parents to choose schools that best fit the educational needs of their children, and advocate for equitable participation of nonpublic school students in state and federal education programs.
