Parents Are the First Educators

October 8, 2026

What happens when Catholic families want to give their children a truly Catholic education—but the traditional Catholic school model isn't possible or isn't the right fit? Gomer explores what the Church teaches about the the primary right and duty of parents to educate their children, the Church's responsibility to assist them, and the many models of Catholic education available today.

Shownotes

Parents are the primary educators. The responsibility to educate children flows from the parents' responsibility for bringing them into the world. Church teaching describes this as a serious duty and an inalienable right.
Marriage includes the education of children. The Church consistently connects the procreation and education of children as part of the vocation of marriage.
Parents have a right to choose how their children are educated. Canon law and Church documents emphasize parents' freedom to choose the means and institutions that best provide for their children's Catholic education.
The Church assists parents—it does not replace them. Schools, teachers, parishes, and dioceses serve parents through the principle of subsidiarity.
The Church has its own responsibility to educate and evangelize. Pastors have a particular responsibility to support parents and provide Catholic education and catechesis.
Catholic education takes many forms. The episode explores parochial schools, religious-order schools, classical schools, mission schools, hybrid models, homeschooling, online Catholic education, parish catechesis, and publicly funded school-choice programs.
No educational model guarantees Catholic formation. Whether education happens in a school building or around the kitchen table, the ultimate goal should be the formation of the whole person and, ultimately, sainthood.
Faithful parents can feel caught in the middle. Some families struggle with the cost of Catholic schools or find that the religious formation offered does not match what they are seeking for their children.
Homeschooling families are building communities. Homeschool networks can develop into co-ops, shared teaching arrangements, and Catholic hybrid schools, creating new opportunities for families to support one another.
Dioceses have legitimate concerns. Liability, safe-environment requirements, sacramental preparation, curriculum oversight, parish unity, and the desire to protect Catholic schools all factor into how dioceses approach alternative educational models.
A possible way forward. Gomer proposes that parishes and dioceses consider leasing unused space to Catholic co-ops and hybrid programs, opening parish resources to homeschool families, providing sacramental support and chaplaincy, and exploring ways Catholic schools can serve homeschool families without abandoning their own mission.
It doesn't have to be “us vs. them.” Catholic schools, homeschoolers, hybrid programs, parishes, and dioceses can potentially work together to support parents in their responsibility to form their children in the Catholic faith.