Some, if not many (and hopefully most) of you may have heard the term Cor Christi floating around the parish for the last year or so. In fact, I believe there is even an insert in this very bulletin promoting it as a classical liberal arts school for middle school age students. The question that generally follows the reading of such a pamphlet is, “what are the liberal arts?” When most people here the term “liberal arts” they instantly begin to think in social and political terms. If it is a Catholic liberal arts school then they are probably promoting married priests, ordination of women, homosexual marriage, etc. People here the word “liberal” and automatically assign it all our modern understanding of a liberal agenda, a liberal politician, or liberal values. All this liberalism then has to be balanced out with a fair share of conservativism. Luckily, this is not the case when we discuss the liberal arts. The liberal arts are subjects like philosophy, grammar, music, astronomy, history, etc. The specific subjects are not precisely the focus or today's ranting, so I am going to leave them aside for now. The point is how this is different from a normal school, and why anyone would choose to send their child to a liberal arts academy, or choose to home school them in the liberal arts. The main difference is the primary focus. The primary focus of our modern schools is to train the youth to A) pass a test so our school looks good B) graduate high school C) get into a good college so you can get a good job and make lots of money. To this end the school system crams the heads of its students with an enormous amount of information that they will never actually use. They then tell the students that this information is vital and they will use it in their everyday life as an adult. I can honestly say that I have never had a need for calculus in my life. The teacher who told me that I was ruining my life by not taking his calculus class in high school was gravely mistaken. Nor do I frequently make use of my sex ed. (under the guise of Health) classes that crammed their contraception and anti human life drivel down my throat. For college I attended Ave Maria University, now in southern Florida which is a liberal arts school. When I was there I learned a few things that actually made a difference in the kind of person I was and who I wanted to be. I learned that I was not the center of the universe, and that rather than just going out and doing whatever I wanted with my life, maybe I should ask my creator what he made me for. I learned about philosophy, logic and literature. I didn’t learn how to pass a test, I learned how to think. I learned of the existence of a true and objective goodness, and I dedicated my life to its pursuit. I learned that no matter how well you can argue, sin is still wrong; no matter how good it might feel. I learned what true love is really all about. The liberal arts were not just there to form my mind, but to form my heart and my life as well. To not only live a life of virtue, but to have desire to live it; to make Heaven my ultimate goal, not an amazing 401k. Now is this saying that those who choose to study the liberal arts are going to die poor or will have no career options? Not at all, rather that the liberal arts teach you how to think, not necessarily what to think; and there are always plenty of great opportunities out there for those who are able to truly engage their minds. If nothing else, a classical liberal arts education before you go to college leaves you open to move ahead in any career field you might choose. You might be a great philosopher, like Plato, Aristotle or Socrates. You might be the next doctor of the Church, like St. Augustine or St. Jerome. You might conquer the world like Alexander the Great, or lead a revolution to throw off the chains or tyranny and write the greatest constitution the world has ever seen, like our founding fathers. From tyrannical dictator to benevolent ruler to Saint of the Church, one thing they all had in common was the liberal arts. Think about it.
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