When we were first married, my wife and I enjoyed the fact that we didn’t agree on everything, and

we would often debate each other over morning coffee. My wife, who goes by her middle name, Lindsay, was not Catholic at the time, and I was taking my job of converting her very seriously.

When the babies came along, we had agreed that they would be raised in the Catholic faith, but Lindsay didn’t think it was necessary to send them to a Catholic school. I whole-heartedly disagreed. This discussion went on for a long time.

We were young at the time and didn’t have a lot of money. Lindsay’s point was that we lived in a good school district, they could get a good education at a public school, there would be no tuition, and we would be the ones who would teach them the faith. While I knew she was right that parents are the primary educators of their children, and it would be our job to hand on the faith to them, I could read the signs of the times and knew we were going to need reinforcements.

The good news is that, after many discussions, Lindsay, finally, not only agreed that we should send our children to a Catholic school, but also jumped headfirst into the deep end and entered the fullness of the Catholic Church, never looking back.

Lindsay and I realized back then—and we realize it even more today—that there are many forces at work battling for our children’s attention. In this age of smartphones, social media influencers, and a 24-7 news cycle, they are constantly bombarded with messages coming from every direction. These messages are often not benign but hostile to Catholic belief and Christian values and seemingly try to influence young people’s every thought and action. It can be very difficult for parents alone to compete in this arena.

Catholic school communities are such a blessing because they reinforce very important messages that students need to repeatedly hear, most importantly that there is a God who created them in His image and likeness and loves them more than they could ever fully comprehend. Students are reminded that life has a purpose and a meaning, and that we are all on a journey back to our loving Father in heaven. They are encouraged to fill their days with prayer, count their blessings, and nurture devotion to the Eucharist. In short, Catholic school communities assist parents in forming in their children a biblical worldview, a Christ-centered worldview.

We know that Jesus must be at the center of our lives. The Catholic faith is not a philosophy or a system of ethics or moral principles; it is a relationship with Jesus Christ—a relationship from which everything else flows. Only when our lives are centered on the Lord can we begin to sort through and prioritize everything else that is battling for our time and attention.

Finding our center in the Lord is like building our house on rock; in the midst of all the other worldviews out there—such as atheism, existentialism, nihilism, postmodernism, materialism, relativism, etc.—we can find strength and comfort in our Savior, and stand firm in faith, hope, and love.

I am a big proponent of Catholic education and the Catholic intellectual tradition. In today’s environment, it is so important for parents, teachers, principals, priests, friends, relatives, godparents, etc., to form a united front and pass on the Catholic faith to the next generation. It isn’t easy, but it never was. We have more resources available to us today than any of our ancestors in faith. Let us use them, try new methods, and get to work building up the kingdom of God with joy. There are many children feeling overwhelmed, anxious, tired, sad, and unfulfilled because they do not know the Lord. They are counting on us.