The following documents outline the Catholic Church’s history of supporting parents’ rights as the primary decision-makers for their children’s education.
- Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Divini Illius Magistri (1929): see the section on family rights in education, nos. 28-50 (especially nos. 37, 39, 44)
- Vatican II, Gravissimum Educationis (1965): see no. 6
- USCCB (NCCB), To Teach As Jesus Did (1973): see no. 111
- Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School (1977): see nos. 14, 82
- Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Lay Catholics in Schools (1982): see no. 14
- USCCB, In Support of Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (1990): see section titled “Ensuring Parental Rights”
- Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (1997): see no. 17
- Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools (2002): see nos. 70-71 regarding the preferential option for the poor and the Church’s educational mission
- USCCB, Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Education (2005): see sections titled “Introduction,” “Why We Value Our Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools,” “The Good News,” and “Advocacy”
