A Little Catholic “Education” History: Getting Alinsky into the Catholic Parish

Recently, while preparing an article on Common Core national standards, someone suggested that I might be interested in the “open letters” written by a group called Catholics for Truth in Education operating in Illinois from 1974 into the 90s. Interestingly enough, a set of these “open letters” just happened to have been sitting on my bookshelf for over a decade, waiting to be examined.

There may have been other Catholics for Truth in Education publications, as well, but the materials in my possession begin around the time of the first Alinskyian Call to Action conference[1] in 1976, an event that galvanized dissent within the Catholic Church of the United States and attempted to manipulate the bishops into supporting it. The ecclesial and social landscape which the “open letters” describe was chaotic, experimental, and hostile to traditional worship.  (more...)

A Little Catholic “Education” History: Getting Alinsky into the Catholic Parish