The Catholic Teacher:
Teaching for Social Justice with Faith, Hope, and Love
by James D. Kyrilo

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This was a book that came up as a suggestion on Amazon.com, though I had never heard of James Kyrilo before. I have since learned that he is an education professor in South Carolina, so we’ve got a bit in common as educators, Catholics, and writers living in the South. The premise here interested me as a long-time school teacher who is Catholic but – to draw a distinction – not a teacher in a Catholic school. In that role, I have found that the social teachings of the Church align in ways with some core values of the larger education community. In a book with this title, Kyrilo would certainly have things to say about it.

After reading it, I would call The Catholic Teacher a solid primer for the connections among teaching in the modern age, the Catholic faith, and the struggle for social justice. Kyrilo starts in a very basic way, discussing fundamental tenets of the faith then works his way up to Gutierrez, liberation theology, and other ideas and figures. By the middle of the second section, I was beginning to see where he was going, building his argument with a strong albeit very broad foundation.  Section three takes these ideas about teaching under the “umbrella” of the faith and carries them into topical discussions on hot-button social issues. He closes out with some words on contemplation and prayer  as integral components of being a Catholic teacher.

Although I agree with much of what Kyrilo writes here, I was unimpressed by this book. I found myself moving through its pages, thinking, “Okay, yeah . . . ” I can’t say that I didn’t learn anything new from it. For example, he alludes to encyclicals I had not heard of and provided some etymologies I had not known. But Kyrilo does too good of a job coloring inside the lines. The book has a lot of true and correct information, but it doesn’t accomplish much in its 120 pages. Kyrilo doesn’t advance a new or unique argument or idea; he just connects a few already established dots that have already been connected.