Why Does a Retired School Principal Write a Parenting Blog?

March 9, 2023

I recently ended my 40 years in Catholic education, initially as a teacher in three different grade levels – elementary, middle school, and high school – and for the final 34 years as a principal of a Catholic elementary school. I will write in a future post about the reason for my premature early-retirement, but first let me explain the main reason for writing this blog.

One would think a guy stepping away from his long educational career, who impacted the lives of over 2,000 children and partnered with around 4,000 school parents for four decades, would be too drained to write a blog and would rather simply go fishing. Believe me; I was tempted. But because of my conviction in accomplishing my life’s fundamental goal, I knew I had to continue to do all I could to educate, inspire, and exhort Catholic parents, other Christian parents, and Catholic/Christian school teachers and administrators. And if that meant not yet picking up a rod and reel, but instead writing a blog, so be it. 

My fundamental goal in life, as a devout Catholic (devout in the true meaning of the word, not as bastardized by famous so-called Catholic politicians), is to do all I can to get my wife, kids, and myself to heaven…and…since my career was as a school principal, this goal also included doing all I could so my students would likewise reach heaven. Getting into heaven means we will be able to live eternally, in perfect friendship, with the Most Holy Trinity and all the angels and saints. Wow! Nothing could be more significant to strive for and more rewarding to reach, and the thought of my family or my students missing out on this heavenly reward inspired me to relentlessly work toward accomplishing this primary goal in my life!

When I was hired to serve as a Catholic school administrator, the job description objectives that the pastor and school board were most concerned I was capable of accomplishing were to oversee curriculum, manage budgets, and lead personnel. However, I believed my job’s first objective was to get my school’s students into heaven and accomplishing all the administrative tasks that would get students into college was a secondary purpose.

Prior to administration, when teaching my own classrooms-full of students, I was fortunate to be able on a daily basis to spend several hours personally directing and influencing my students. But when you are a principal, you are no longer able to directly affect students and can only indirectly impact children through their teachers and parents. So, if my principal principal goal (no, this isn’t a typo) was to do all I could so students would reach heaven, I would need to inform, guide, and sway these adults who are the face-to-face influencers in students’ lives. I focused on helping teachers and parents understand the whys and hows of getting to heaven, recognizing they would in turn be able to help the kids reach eternal salvation.    

This blog – A Principal’s Principles for Parenting – is being written for the parents and teachers who are not content with being lax, lukewarm, and capitulating Catholics or Christians, but instead want to earnestly strive to stand firm against our corrupt culture and teach their kids to know, love, and serve God during the short course of one’s pilgrimage in this world. For those of you who won’t surrender to today’s corrupt culture and won’t let you children be drawn into our sick society, you have the chance for the best reward possibly – both you and your kids being taken up to heaven to be happy with God Himself for all eternity.        

So, with my educational career philosophy having a fundamental objective of wanting students to grow up as authentic Christians who will one day reach heaven, there were four steps I knew I must accomplish in order to achieve the objective. These four steps all originate from the basic understanding that getting to heaven will require a person to not just have faith but to also keep the commandments, do good works, get baptized, and participate in the other sacraments, especially receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and repenting of mortal sins in confession. 

1. The 1^st step to accomplish my fundamental educational objective is the realization that too many Christians today – including Catholic school parents and even some Catholic school educators – assume getting to heaven is easy. They do not understand that the door leading into heaven is narrow and/or they cannot believe that “a loving God” would ever send people to hell. They live under the assumption that hell is mostly empty, only inhabited by the likes of those named Adolph Hitler or Ted Bundy.

2. The 2^nd step is to recognize that these days we are experiencing a turbulence in society, a rapid moral decay, and a destruction of family life that is second to none in magnitude than in any other era since the days of Noah. We are in the middle of a type of spiritual warfare with genuine Christianity on our side versus the “religion” of secularism on their side. Their side is more passionate and dedicated, which has them currently winning the battle. Our Christian side, with authentic faith in God and objective truths, is losing to an opponent whose religious ideology – which many refer to as the cult of “wokeness” – comes from a delusional mindset, imagining seeing oppression and injustices such as racism and sexism where in reality they don’t exist. This wokeness displays an aggressive denial of reality, insisting that everyone must also deny reality or else be ostracized, or even punished.

3. The 3^rd step in eventually getting my students to heaven is to understand that too many of today’s elementary-school and high-school children are confused, lost, and uncatechized. If kids don’t know God and the basics of their faith, they have no purpose for their lives, no direction. With no direction, children become prime candidates to join the cult of wokeness, where they will disconnect from reality, latch on to self-delusion, make bad choices, and habitually live in mortal sin. If they live their lives this way as they age into adulthood, their door to heaven will become as narrow as the eye of a needle. If kids don’t know God and the basics of their faith, they have no purpose for their lives, no direction.

4. All of this leads up to the 4^th step. Knowing that my goal is for children to lead lives that will get them into heaven when their time on earth is done, and recognizing that if one succumbs to follow the deadly direction our woke society is leading most of the population, one can kiss heaven goodbye, then it follows that children will need the headship of and direction from parents and teachers who stand firm and don’t cave to the religion of godless secularism.

Thus, my obligation as a Catholic school principal – regardless of if I am an active or retired principal – is to use my experience with thousands of students, parents, and teachers, and my vast years of both theological and educational knowledge to attempt to non-sanctimoniously inform others and lovingly encourage them about the preeminent principles in which to live by, teach by, and parent by. 

Society is moving at an ever-increasing speed to the demonic side and at this rate no deviancy is too outrageous to assume won’t become commonplace in the near future. It’s bad enough that today’s social media, corporate media, and the entertainment industry believe in unchristian values, but it’s worse that their godless propaganda has captured the eyes and ears of most children and young adults.  Because of today’s moral decline and sexual debauchery, moral parents and teachers have to work harder than ever to swim against society’s tide.

I pray that this blog – A Principal’s Principles for Parenting – both educates and motivates parents to do all they can to raise their children counter-culturally so as to have hope that everyone in the family will one day be joined together to rest totally and perpetually in God. If this blog helps just one parent stand firm, or strengthens the faith of just one teacher, or brings just one soul closer to Christ by being inspired to return to the Church or return to the Sacrament of Confession, then giving up fishing for writing will have been worth it.