Catholic group critical of texts

By Doug Simpson
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — The Roman Catholic Church is handing out failing grades to most of the religion textbooks used to instruct the country's 680,000 Catholic high-school students.

A church committee that studies the material found that some of the textbooks avoid saying adultery and premarital sex are sins. Others depict the Bible as little more than a history book, the group says.

That's not all: It claims one textbook explains that Jesus' miracles were the result of luck.

Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, chairman of the church's national education committee, has urged all bishops to pull any high-school religion textbooks that have not been approved by his committee.

"There are a number of doctrinally deficient texts that are still being widely used, supposedly to educate and form our young people in the faith," Hughes said in a speech to a general convention of U.S. bishops last December.

Since June 2001, just one-third of texts submitted to Hughes' committee have received its approval. Hughes said the committee found a pattern of deviations from Catholic teaching in the books:

• Tentative language that depicts Catholic doctrine as a matter of opinion.
• Weak explanations of the importance of church hierarchy and the church's ban on female priests.
• References to "partners" rather than husbands and wives.
• The depiction of the Bible as a historical document, only briefly mentioning its spiritual value.
• Presenting premarital abstinence as a way to avoid pregnancy or AIDS, rather than necessary to avoid committing a sin.

Hughes told the bishops he had "grave concerns" about the quality of most high-school texts, adding that his committee is considering whether to recommend a single series of religion books for use in all the country's Catholic high schools.

"Our young people are not learning ... that the sole Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church or the true ecumenical meaning of our Church," Hughes said.

About 25 publishing houses regularly submit religion textbooks to the committee for approval, though that's not required before a book can be used in a Catholic classroom. However, the committee's imprimatur makes books more likely to be approved by the 277 bishops around the country — and the prelates have final say on which texts can be used in the schools in their dioceses.

Committee members usually deem books unfit because the texts lack crucial information or contain errors in church doctrine, said Monsignor Daniel Kutys, a committee staff member.

"What they look for is a religion textbook that authentically and completely teaches the faith," Kutys said.

Kutys declined to identify publishers whose books had errors or omissions. Messages left with several publishers were not returned, and others declined to discuss the approval process.

The review process usually takes at least six months per book. Two theological experts — pastors, academics or seminary professors — examine the text for errors and omissions, then send their recommendations to a bishop, who sends a recommendation to Hughes' committee.

The committee considers the recommendation and either approves the text, or tells the publisher what must be changed or added before the book can be approved. Over the past few years, the committee has reviewed about 25 texts per year, Kutys said.

Hughes' committee can also approve a book, while recommending changes or additions.

Ignatius Press, a San Francisco-based Catholic publisher, submitted its "Faith in Life" textbook series and received the committee's approval before publishing the series in 1984. However, the committee recommended changes: expanded sections on social justice. Such an expanded section was added to the series in 2002-2003, when the publisher issued revised editions.

"We thought their suggestions were good ones, so in the course of coming out with a second edition, we incorporated those changes," Ignatius president Mark Brumley said.

It doesn't always go so smoothly. Publishers sometimes wait for up to a year before finding out whether their book made the grade.

Publishers whose books are sent back without approval sometimes find the committee's demands difficult to understand or become exasperated over what they need to do to gain approval."There's been frustration," Kutys said.

The committee once told a publisher to add an explanation of the idea of "scandal" to a textbook for elementary school students, but the publisher couldn't understand how that could be done.

Editors of the book spoke with committee staffers, who explained that scandal, in a traditional religious sense, could be explained to young children with the idea that one must not set a bad example. The publisher got the idea, and the committee eventually approved the book.