‘Free to Speak’

NEWTON  Since early this year, members of the Knights of Columbus Don Bosco Council No. 7784 have been delivering a serious message to Confirmation students throughout Sussex County: that schools — including public schools — are not “God-free” zones and that the law mandates them to permit students to express their faith freely.

During this current academic year, Rich Matrisciano and Bob Shaud of the Knights have been traveling to Diocesan parishes in Sussex County to host “Free to Speak,” a 30-minute PowerPoint slide presentation. It informs these high school freshmen and sophomores and their parents of their religious liberty rights in school: to pray, read the Bible or other religious text, to speak about their faith, wear religiously themed articles of clothing and even start an after- or before-school Bible club.

So far, Matrisciano and Shaud have made presentations at the following parishes: Good Shepherd, Andover; Our Lady Queen of Peace, Branchville; Our Lady of the Lake, Sparta, and most recently at St. Joseph here. In addition, the pair plans to speak at the next Paterson Federation Knights of Columbus meeting on April 8 to generate interest from other councils in the Diocese and to sign their members up to train to become certified presenters.

“Comments by many of our ninth-grade students and parents were that the presentation was informative and that, even though they know their rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, they now have more confidence and feel better ‘armed’ with the facts,” said Phyllis Haarmann, Good Shepherd’s religious education director. “It was interesting to have real-life scenarios like prayer before an athletic event, reading the Bible during a ‘free’ period’ or writing a paper on Jesus illustrated as examples of protected activities.”

Clocking in at less than a half-hour, the presentation features PowerPoint slides accompanied by an audio recording. It informs students and their parents about their rights to religious expression in a non-threatening way in accord with to U.S. Department of Education regulations. The Knights presented the program which was initiated by Barbara Samuells, founder of Catholics for Freedom of Religion of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., a lay ministry now active in five states.

“There is unnecessary confusion in our country about religion’s place in public schools….specifically, what students can say and do and share about their faith, church and religious practices,” according to the presentation, which cites specific examples of educators impinging on religious freedom: from barring students from writing about Jesus in reports to censoring mention of God from graduation speeches. “In fact, religious freedom in America protects your right to live your faith among your school friends in many appropriate school situations each day. The faith and religious practices you learn are not confined to home or church, but are protected in your public school as well,” it states.

Regrettably, most of these denials of religious rights are never challenged but should never happen — even for teachers, who want to express their faith in school. The presentation recommends law firms, such as the First Liberty Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom, which will represent students free of charge.

A few years ago, Matrisciano had helped found Faith, Family and Freedom, an organization based in the Diocese that was dedicated to preserving religious freedom. After the group disbanded, he asked the Don Bosco Council to form a committee dedicated to religious liberty. Matrisciano also reached out to one of his previous contacts, Samuells, who emailed him a pamphlet, “Free to Speak,” printed by the organization Gateways to Better Education. Samuells based the PowerPoint presentation mainly on material from the pamphlet.

Matrisciano and Shaud sought interest in “Free to Speak” from nearby pastors and approval from Bishop Serratelli and attended a training session about how to present the material at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on Long Island.

“God has been taken out of school. Society has convinced people that religion has no place in school. Some teachers and administrators deny religious liberties out of prejudice or an abundance of caution,” said Samuells, who noted that many parents who attend the presentation are surprised to learn about their rights. “We want to be lanterns of truth for the rights of religious freedom.”

Laurie DiCianni, Our Lady of the Lake’s religious education director, called the Knights’ presentation to the parish’s Confirmation students “well received.” The audience was balanced between public and Catholic school students, she said.

“It was presented simply and empowered students. They can question teachers. They have the right to express their faith in public settings,” said DiCianni, who was surprised to learn that Sparta High School has an after-school Bible group. “Also, Catholic school students, who do talk about faith in school, got to think about their social lives — how to live outside the walls of the school and be firm in expressing their faith.”

[Schedule a presentation of “Free to Speak” by sending an email to Matrisciano at [email protected].]