The National Catholic Review Church, state and the survival of
Catholic schools  The textbook wars in Texas, which erupted over
how religion, creationism and the religious origins of the
American Republic should be presented in public school social
studies classes, positioned a majority on the State Board of
Education against critics both on and off the board. The two
groups shouted at each other across a cultural ravine. The
critics yelled “separation of church and state”; the board
majority cheered for a “Christian nation.”  Catholics for the
most part have little to contribute to that particular debate.
Catholic public policy on education is largely pragmatic,
focused on obtaining as much governmental assistance for
parochial schools as possible. For Catholics, a people who had
to form their own schools to protect their beliefs and culture
and then were denied all public assistance for their schools,
the pragmatic approach is understandable. Yet as a major sponsor
of education in the United States, the chu