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vjnycguy
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Latin rebirth in schools: Latin is about to undergo a renaissance in schools under plans being draw… t.co/vaaeoFYZ
Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI
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ProVobis
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Seeker1961
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Even if you’re not Catholic, Latin is an extremely helpful language to learn, it helps with vocabulary and if you want to learn any of the romance languages Latin is a great foundation.
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Allegra
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Latin was an option at my public junior high school and high school. (Obviously not for a religious purpose.) They marketed it as a useful language for those who wanted to enter medical school.
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Baelor
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What possible downside is there to knowing Latin and having access to over a thousand years of literature, culture, politics, and philosophy? Plus all the Latin ‘love’ poetry. 
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OraLabora
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Well reading the article I don’t see how this will trickle down to the schools where most kids in N. America study. I don’t expect to see Latin taught around here any time soon.
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ProVobis
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Why so negative, Ora? I consider you one of the scholars here.
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robwar
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my daughter’s charter school taught latin. They did it to give the children (grades k-6th)
a basis for the English language. It was once a week lesson. It was not done for religious reasons. it is sad that charter schools will see a value in teaching Latin instead of Catholic schools. I know many HS do offer it but I am talking about elementary years. I was amazed in just going over shapes and number, how many of our words have Latin roots.
Catholic schools need to stop fooling around with the once a week waste of time Spanish (which my boys never got anything from) and spend it on Latin. Then go back when there is time and take Spanish.
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Bl_Pope_Pius_IX
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My high school offers Latin, I don’t take it though since I took Spanish in Middle school. However, I’m glad I didn’t take Latin because my high school teaches Latin wrong. They pronounce all V’s as U’s and all double C’s as ck, not as ch. Like Ecce Agnus Dei, would be Ecke. I resolved to learning Ecclesiastical Latin according to Mr. Collins’ Primer and Italian via Berlitz. So while in some respect it is good that Latin returns to high schools, they risk botching the language up. That simply insults it. Languages are art forms!
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Michael_Mayo
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Why not Greek instead of Latin?
Well I suppose Latin was the academic language for a longer period.
Well I suppose Latin was the academic language for a longer period.
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CB_Catholic
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I think learning some Latin in school is a great idea, but I don’t think it has anything to do with Traditional Catholicism. I took it, and found it useful in learning Spanish, expanding my English vocabulary, helping me in the biological sciences nomenclature and medical terms.
It didn’t make any difference when I went to Mass, though, other than confuse me on the pronunciation on some words. It did more for my secular life.
It didn’t make any difference when I went to Mass, though, other than confuse me on the pronunciation on some words. It did more for my secular life.
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Baelor
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They are teaching it correctly. High schools teach Classical Latin, as they should – it precedes ecclesiastical Latin. To pronounce classical Latin with ecclesiastical pronunciation is simply incorrect.
You are wrong, not your high school.
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Holly3278
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I see it as a good thing. When I graduated in 2002 from high school, they were still offering Latin classes. I took Spanish as my foreign language class. I wish I had taken Latin instead. Of course, I wasn’t Catholic back then so I didn’t think I’d ever want to know Latin. Now that I am Catholic I would love to know Latin so I could go to a Traditional Latin Mass and understand what is being said. I would also be able to more easily understand various Latin terms that the Church uses.
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asia53
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Not around here, either. Our DRE is a high school language teacher, Latin & German. There are no Latin classes in our school district. She offered to teach Latin, and received an emphatic “no” from the school board.
So, she teaches German part-time, and is our DRE the rest of the time.
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MarkThompson
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There is really no such thing as a “Ecclesiastical pronunciation” of Latin. All it is, is Latin words pronounced as though they were Italian. This was done, of course, by Italian speakers. Similarly, there are versions of Latin pronunciation that treat it as though it were English (now mostly extirpated, but is where we get the standard English pronunciations of words like “Caesar” and “Cicero” from – imagine it all pronounced that way), as though it were German (still vibrant in German-speaking lands), etc. The Italianate pronunciation happens to be the one “preferred by the Church” since the late 1800s or so, but strictly because Italians were running the show. Attempting to impose it on non-Italian-speaking countries was an absolute novelty, and has probably contributed to marginalizing the language.
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Bl_Pope_Pius_IX
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It sounds barbaric.
But then again, the barbarism might be a result of Latin being spoken with a Boston accent.
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Holly3278
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I don’t understand why they would say no to her teaching Latin. Latin is not a religion that is only used for a religion, in this case, Catholicism. It is also used in providing scientific names for animals, plants, and I think other things in the field of science as well. Therefore, having a basic education in Latin could be beneficial to any student who plans to have a career in science.
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Baelor
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I fail to see how that is a valid basis for misleading students, so I stand by my statement that we should teach Latin in a historically accurate context.
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asia53
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Yes, she told them exactly what you wrote here. They wouldn’t have it, though.
It’s OK. She’s a great DRE.
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ProVobis
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The same can probably also be said about law, since there are many Latin expressions which have formed the basis of Roman law, the principles of which the U.S. was set up to follow.
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