Well, the Church isn’t what it used to be …

… The Church and the Barbarians ~ The Imaginative Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Why then have we Catholics been so slow to get in the lead here? Increase enrollment? Put the adjective “classical” in front of your name and take visible measures to make it a reality. Say that at St. Aloysius Gonzaga, grammar will be taught as a coherent system, as the logic of language, and show that you mean it by introducing young people to Latin prayers—make that start. Say that at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, children will be given a thorough introduction to the heritage of literature in English, not scattershot, but as a subject with its history, its developments, and its masters. I do not mean that they will read a play here and a poem there, but that they will make their way through the countryside, from Beowulf and The Dream of the Rood to The Lord of the Rings and Gilead. Say that at St. John Bosco, young people will be introduced to Giotto and Donatello, to J.M.W. Turner and Rodin, to Palestrina and Puccini and Gershwin and Charlie Parker.