The Church as Teacher speaks in various ways. When the Pope issues an encyclical we know that what he says, even if it is addressed to the bishops of the world, is intended for all of us. In recent encyclicals the Popes have made it clear that their instructions are meant not just for Catholics but for all men of good will. Sometimes very important instructional documents are issued by various Vatican congregations with the express approval of the Pope. These, too, although sometimes more limited in scope, are meant for our instruction. We learned our basic Catholicism with the catechism. As believing and functioning Catholics we have an obligation to grow in our knowledge and to learn what our Holy Father presents to us as vital knowledge.  Some of these instructions have been  cited by parents as charter documents for undertaking the home schooling of their children. Then as children in the Catholic Home School  advance to middle school years they should be introduced to the major teachings as part of their Catholic education.

The encyclicals On Christian Marriage (CastiConnubii), On Human Life (Humanae Vitae), The Role of the Family (Familiaris Consortio) and The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education Within the Family are foundational to family life. The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor), and  On the Relationship between Faith and Reason (Fides et Ratio) speak to our very ability to discern truth, to reason to some truth and, because of the limitations of our darkened minds, the necessity of faith to find truth in God's revelation. This sorting out of knowledge is one of the main goals of Catholic homeschooling.

The social encyclicals open to us the whole panorama of the proper Catholic response to the world in which we live: the role of work, property, life itself .  Would that some of our fine proabortion Catholic politicians and jurists would study and take seriously Church teaching found in The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae),   The Declaration on Procurred Abortion,   Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae).