Many of you know by now that I spent a good part of my adult life teaching the Catholic faith. I did so primarily to high school students but also taught a few elementary grades here and there as needed. When I was a vice principal at a large Catholic grammar school we had an outbreak of the flu. The principal insisted we keep the school open so we wouldn’t “lose the days” despite 60% of the faculty being out sick. As I have a pretty strong immune system and I was the guy responsible for placing subs, I eventually had to place myself into a second grade classroom. More than half the students were home sick. Nonetheless, it was fun working with that group. My point in all this is that I had a career in teaching. I love teaching, especially teaching the Catholic faith. I homeschool my kids full time now because I can humbly say that no one is going to do a better job at this than me and because this is the single most important thing I can do for my kids in these insane days. It’s a sacrifice for sure. We’ll talk about that in another post. But I do it because of love on many fronts.
Tonight, the son of a friend of mine called and asked if I could help him with a theology paper. He come to the house with his laptop and notes. The topic was the Eucharist. A ten page paper is due this week. For me, it was like I never left the classroom. Only this time, I was in my kitchen. I even made an order of one of my favorite Jersey side dishes – disco fries – for the lad and I to munch on while blockquoting selections from Justin Martyr and Adrian Fortescue. Side note: disco fries can be ordered in any Jersey diner. They consist of steak fries covered in mozzarella and gravy. It’s kind of a poor man’s poutine. Needless to say, I think this young man is going to do very well.
I tell this story because I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to pass on what I have received. I don’t always see that where my own kids are concerned because of the familiarity aspect. And trust me, I’m not going back to a classroom anytime soon. For so many reasons, I don’t see it happening. Come to think of it, the second the bosses heard my thoughts on the antipapacy, they’d surely axe me.
So between this blog and the random child of a friend who needs help with a paper I will content myself.
And I will be grateful.
St. Clement of Rome, pray for us!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 