Four Agreements...and Catholic Education

This is for the children, shall we say, so that they may be protected, if God so wills, from questionable teachings and influences. Some however claim that things such as this must be OK because it's being taught in a Catholic school, as we have been reminded over and over again! Though the school might be Catholic, some maintain that the religious curriculum is not.

Taking a look at lessons for Quarter 3, students will be 'exposed' to more gnostic writings.

From the 'Introduction' of the book The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz, we read that:

The Four Agreements are a tool for transformation, leading you to stop judging, mainly yourself, and to start practicing another way of life. They lead you to stop the guilt, the shame, and the self-rejection; they help you break the agreements that limit the expression of your creativity, and replace them with new agreements that facilitate the expression of your love.

With The Four Agreements, my intention was to create a messenger that can enter the imagination of readers and change their point of view. If you have practiced these agreements, you already know what they can do. They have the capacity to go directly into your belief system, into those thousands of agreements you made with yourself, and create a doubt. And just like magic, because they are magic, the Four Agreements slowly free the faith that is trapped inside your belief system. Little by little, you recover your integrity, and the real you starts to awaken. [emphasis added]

Quite an amazing proposition for Catholic freshmen who are taking a religion class presumably to strengthen and learn more about their Faith. Surely something which is "magic" (even if it is gnostic and laced with ideas and practises opposed to the faith), helpful in starting a new way of life (the path of Christ apparently being insufficient for this), and "creates doubt" must certainly have the blessing of the Church, yes?

After all, we continue hear the incessant cries of "foul" or "this is an attack on the Archbishop" and other such nonsense. Yet where are the cries of concern about the high school freshmen who are to receive this "religious education"? Is anyone concerned with the spiritual well-being of the those teenagers who are to be exposed to this gnostic poison? Merely because tuition is free doesn't mean the curriculum is good. Nor does a religious curriculum assume magical properties or become a divinely inspired instrument because Archbishop Burke celebrated Mass at the school or because a few of the resource materials may not be problematic. Many would be surprised if a curriculum for freshmen, which included this, the enneagram and other problematic components, would receive the approval of Archbishop Burke who is always speaking to us about the new evangelization and the deepening of our faith.

Let's continue with what the "religious guide" has to say:

If you have a goal and you use the messenger as your guide, you are going to reach your goal. With The Four Agreements, you can learn how to heal your emotional body. You can use it to change your belief system and create a brand new belief system...

Isn't this why we send our children off to Catholic schools - to create
a 'new' belief system?

Thousands of years ago the Toltec created three masteries to guide us out of suffering and return us to our true nature: happiness, freedom, and love...

The first mastery, the Mastery of Awareness, is the first step toward personal freedom, because we cannot be free if we don’t know what we are, where we are, or what kind of freedom we are looking for. In this mastery, we become aware of the fog that is in our mind. We become aware that we are dreaming all the time, and that everybody else is dreaming. The Mastery of Awareness can also be called the Mastery of Truth.

If you thought Jesus was the Truth, then maybe it was a dream, a fog...

The second Toltec mastery, the Mastery of Transformation, shows us how to change the dream of our life. The goal of the second mastery is to put order into the chaos of the mitote – into all of the voices inside our mind – to face our fears, to transform our fears, and to get results. The result we want is the freedom to live our own life instead of the life of the Parasite or the belief system.

One needs freedom from his belief system since it's a "parasite". One wants to be free from the shackles of the oppressive "belief system"...

Students will, as they are told, strengthen interpersonal skills by incorporating the tenants of The Four Agreements. Is this is a religion class or a psychotherapy session?

A number have suggested that this matter be brought to the attention of the Archbishop. I fully support this suggestion.

Archbishop Burke said before that his first responsibility is to teach the faith.

To put it plainly, I depend upon our catechists to teach the faith with integrity and, therefore, I have the responsibility to provide for catechists the ongoing education and formation which will equip them to hand on the deposit of faith to those whom they catechize...

Joy and peace are the fruits of justice, of right relationships with God, with others and with our world...

If we are to honor the truth about ourselves, about God, about others and about our world, we must first know the truth. And how do we know the truth? From the Word of God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — Who is the source of all being. And how do we know God’s Word? From His heralds, those whom He gives the grace to announce and teach His Word to others...Those who have not been taught the truth will never know lasting joy and peace in their lives. The fundamental importance of catechesis is, therefore, clear to us all...

Catechists work with parents in leading their children into all truth. Helping students to know and reflect upon the Word of God, faithfully transmitted to us in the Church’s teaching, is leading them to honor the truth in their thoughts and words and actions, and, therefore, to find abiding joy and peace in their lives, and to bring joy and peace to others...

Below are the phone/fax numbers for Archbishop Burke and Bishop Hermann who is a board member of the Association of the Christian Faithful (ACF), the canonical board which is supposed to "maintain and direct the charism, philosophy, and Catholicity" of the school.

Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke
PH. 314-633-2222
FAX 314-633-2302

Most Rev. Robert J. Hermann, V.G.
PH. 314-633-2270
FAX 314-633-2305

Related Posts:
Barat Academy's Theology - Good for Students?
Speaking of Education...
Catholic Education - Then and now...
A Followup - Theology Curriculum
Can a Catholic Support the Enneagram?
Archdiocese of St Louis and Religion Curriculum
The Way, the Truth, the Life?

******* Update ******** as of 10/14/07
The Archdiocese was made aware of this issue and some people now realize that the proposed resources "were not fitting choices for the content matter of a Catholic high school religion curriculum."

In addition, it became clear that The 7 Habits, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, and Living Buddha, Living Christ "have no place in a religion class."

It is certainly encouraging to note that that "solidly Catholic textbooks" will be used in the future.