National Parents Commission

The year was 1987, and Pennsylvania was about to mandate state-funded sex education from kindergarten to twelfth grade. A group called the Parents Commission, founded by Peg Luksik and Anne Zelnosky, fought the program; now, the state remains one of the few without mandatory comprehensive sex education. As it broadened its area of influence, the non-profit organization became known as the National Parents Commission (NPC). “We work with parents across the country, educating them and helping them to have a voice in the public policy arena,” says Luksik, chairman of National Parents Commission and mother of six (Zelnosky, a dedicated grandmother, is now retired from the work).

The Commission has been engaged in various endeavors to support parents and family life. They’ve sponsored seminars to help parents become more proficient in dealing with public officials, produced informational tapes and videos for families, offered expert testimony at the state and federal levels on education and family issues, acted as a resource for local and state family organizations, and provided support for pro-life services. 

NPC recently expanded its mission — to assist parents in applying the Catholic Faith to their daily lives — through two new radio programs. The first, which airs on Catholic Family Radio, is called “Welcome Home.” It’s a two-hour Saturday program, geared toward a Catholic audience. Luksik (who has a background in broadcasting), and Dr. Robin Bernhoft (an adult convert to the Faith), host the show. 

“Welcome Home” listeners are introduced to the Catholic Faith in simple and practical terms. Luksik and Bernhoft feature special guests on various topics, and explore how the culture of life and the civilizing effects of love can be applied to daily life. Once a month, a priest joins them to shed light on a particular facet of the Faith. They also highlight a book of the month. They’ve done Bishop Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ, St. Therese’s Story of a Soul and C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. All this gets interspersed with calls from listeners.

“Welcome Home” also devotes a portion of its time to mini-courses, on topics such as budgeting, parenting skills, discipline and children’s education. A six-week course, called “Phonics for Parents,” gave parents simple instructions on teaching and bonding with their children. “We have come to see that if you really want to have an effect on society, you have to affect the family, help them see themselves as the domestic Church,” says Luksik. “We help parents recognize the blessing of parenthood, and apply Catholic teaching to all aspects of family life.” 

“Welcome Home” has a sister show, called “Welcome Home USA,” now playing on USA Radio network — a Christian radio network with over fourteen hundred affiliates nationwide. “Welcome Home USA” is more strongly geared toward cultural commentary, with Catholic content but not the “Catholic” label. “The truth doesn’t change, even if we don’t explicitly state it as Catholic; and people respond to truth when they hear it,” says Luksik. Both programs are produced by NPC, and recorded at their studio in Johnstown. 

National Parents Commission currently puts most of their resources and time into the “Welcome Home” radio shows. They’re being supported by donations, and will soon develop an advertising plan in order to keep preaching the gospel over the airwaves. “We started as a political activist group, but we want to be a real force for evangelization,” says Luksik. “You have to change what’s happening in homes to have an effect on public policy. What people believe about God, and their relationship to Him, drives everything else.” 

For more information on NPC and the “Welcome Home” radio shows: write to 2061/2 Habicht St., Johnstown, PA, 15906; call 877-852-2595; fax 814-532-8824; or visit their Web site at www.nationalparents.org. 

Christendom College

Near the Blue Ridge Mountains, nestled in the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley, is a small Catholic college. It’s dedicated to passing on the heritage and culture of Christendom through the academic life.

Christendom College, founded in 1977 by historian Dr. Warren H. Carroll, provides a Catholic liberal arts education grounded in natural and revealed truth. “We want to prepare young people to transform society by getting back to the mission of a Catholic academic institution — providing an education in wisdom and truth,” says John Ciskanik, vice-president for development and college relations. 

Equipped with only $1000, a few supporters, and the belief that a Christocentric life is the only way to transform society, Dr. Carroll launched Christendom College on the grounds of an unused Catholic grammar school. With the help of Bishop Welsh of Arlington, it was soon moved to a rural hunting lodge on one hundred acres of woods and fields. The campus now boasts twenty buildings: dormitories, a chapel, academic space, offices and a new gymnasium.

Noted for its strong core curriculum, Christendom’s academic program consists of eighty-four semester hours of carefully selected courses in theology, philosophy, history, literature, classical and modern languages, political science, economics, mathematics and science. The curriculum is designed to provide the fundamentals for understanding civilization. In 1997, Christendom merged with the Notre Dame Institute to offer graduate programs in theology and catechetics. The college offers summer programs in Rome, Ireland and Spain, as well as a teaching apprentice program and internships in a variety of government and private sector fields. 

Over one thousand students have come through the doorways of Christendom. Enrollment is currently 425 (up from twenty-six in its first year), including graduate students. The student body hails mainly from the United States, with a few students each year from foreign countries. “Our students make us unique,” says Ciskanik. “Any young person who comes here to pursue education for the sake of knowledge and wisdom, and not just to prepare for a career, is a unique individual in today’s times.” 

The college sports a blend of spiritual, social and recreational activities; but student life is what students make it, according to Ciskanik. “The impetus and incentive for student activity comes from the students themselves. There is no well-funded superstructure,” he says. “This makes for a strong bond among the students, and provides them with opportunities for leadership.” Athletics are strongly encouraged at the school. There are men’s and women’s teams for baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball. 

Ciskanik says it was the spiritual life of the students that impressed him most when he came to work for Christendom. “I saw young men and women really believing and living what the Church was teaching.” There are no spiritual requirements at the college, but most students take advantage of daily Mass and chapel-related events. Fifteen percent of Christendom alumni have responded to the call to religious life, including eleven priests in the local diocese alone. The college provides a nurturing atmosphere for vocations. All faculty members are requested to affirm their loyalty to official Church teaching; public dissent can mean the termination of a contract. 

Christendom also pursues its mission without any federal subsidies. “This allows us to be who we are,” says Ciskanik. “We want to be faithful to what we’re called to be.” Under the current presidency of Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, Christendom continues to grow and plans to soon expand its graduate programs. Ciskanik anticipates a new campus being built close by eventually, in accord with the “Benedictine model,” to accommodate their growing numbers. 

For more information about Christendom College: write to 134 Christendom Drive, Front Royal, VA, 22630; call 540-636-2900 or 800-877-5456; fax 540-636-1655; visit on the Web at www.christendom.edu.

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