Math and Science (#1)

All education is for the sake of knowing Christ. That can be a shocking statement in a culture that judges an education by how much money the student earns once he graduates. As Catholics, we want our children to go to Heaven, and we judge education by how it contributes, directly or indirectly, to that goal. Religion is not the only subject that matters. Math and Science, besides providing for intermediate goals like being able to support a family, can have a profound effect on reinforcing the child's faith. Math, for example, develops and disciplines the mind, provides a sense of order and presents an opportunity to practice virtues such as patience, neatness and perseverance.

Pope Pius XI says: "Since education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created, it is clear that there can be no true education which is not wholly directed to man's last end."

Further Information:

Read Pope Pius XI's entire encyclical On Christian Education (1929)