Perusing the index of Origins, the weekly publication of representative documents and speeches compiled by Catholic News Service, our imaginary historian will note, for example, the following initiatives
undertaken at the national, diocesan and parish levels in 1994 - 95: providing alternatives to abortion; staffing
adoption agencies; conducting adult education courses; addressing African American Catholics» pastoral needs; funding programs to prevent alcohol abuse; implementing a new
policy on altar servers and guidelines for the Anointing of the Sick; lobbying for arms control; eliminating asbestos in public housing; supporting the activities of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (227 strong); challenging atheism in American society; establishing base communities (also known as small faith communities); providing aid to war victims in Bosnia; conducting Catholic research in bioethics; publicizing the new Catechism of the Catholic Church; battling child abuse; strengthening the relationship between church and labor unions; and deepening the structures and expressions of collegiality in the local and diocesan church.
For thirty years, Don Hirsch has tried to capture the attention of America's policymakers,
policy thinkers, educators, and philanthropists to persuade them to
undertake perhaps the one reform we've never tried: the widespread
adoption of a coherent, sequential, content - rich curriculum that intentionally and efficiently builds knowledge and skills.