Top ten careers for Catholics

Following up on my previous post on homeschooling and college, the following is my list of the top ten  lay fields that we desperately need good Catholics to go in to. I offer these suggestions for Catholic youth to consider instead of spending their college years getting a useless Liberal Arts degree. These fields are in need of an infusion of Catholic values and are also capable of providing a decent income.

10. Music 

We are in dire need of some good music. Right now, we pretty much have our high-end, intellectual music like Mozart and Bach, then our liturgical chant, then our often-times sappy Christian rock, which is of questionable quality, and then the secular stuff. What we really need is for some excellent Catholic musicians to start writing "secular" music that is inspired and formed by a Catholic worldview (as opposed to remaining segregated in the narrow genre of "Christian rock").

9. Journalism

Even though print-journalism is on its way out, there will always be a need for journalists, especially journalists whose fidelity to the truth and commitment to objective reporting trumps any ideological concerns. Catholics would be especially welcome in this field, especially since the Church has suffered so much from the media in the past. Ross Douthat of the New York Times, a convert to Catholicism,  is a good example of a journalist who seems to have a good, solid grasp of the issues facing our country and the Church and can report about them with insight and objectivity.

8. Video game design

No matter how you feel about video games, the fact is that they are not going away and will probably be a permanent fixture of our culture for a long time to come. Since video games are so endemic in our society, why not get some good Catholics in the design industry to create games that are more aesthetically pleasing, ethically acceptable and just plain funner than those currently being designed? As a former gamer myself, who appreciates a fine video game, I believe that, just as Catholics have written some of the best novels in history, so Catholics, with their creative mind, knowledge of the classics, themes of love, good and evil and and eye for the beautiful, have the potential to design some truly excellent video games that are not morally offensive. I would love to see this happen. There will definitely be a demand for this in the future, and the average video game designer makes $68,000 per year.

7. Architecture

There are simply too many ugly, utilitarian buildings around. We need good Catholics with a sense of beauty to design beautiful homes and businesses. This also applies to the more engineering-based forms of architecture, like the building of bridges, roads and weight-bearing structures.

6. Medical 

With the increasing expansion of medical and scientific procedures into questionable ethical practices, it is imperative that the medical field be infused with Catholic doctors, nurses, specialists and administrators who, allowing their consciences to be formed by the Church's teaching, will adhere to strict moral principles in all medical procedures and can bring Christian compassion into their practice.

5. Film making

I say "film making" instead of acting, because the problem with Hollywood is not that there are too many immoral actors, but too many immoral screenplays and too many degenerate directors. An actor will act whatever he is given to act, a murderer or rapist in one film and a saint in the next, if the money is there. This is why the key to getting some really good quality films is raising up a generation of Catholic screenplay writers, producers and directors who can effectively and beautifully bring Catholic values to the screen. A good example of this is the John Paul the Great University, which offers degrees in communications media such as film making. While I disagree with calling John Paul "the Great", the intuition of the university is right one. Unfortunately, JP the Great is not accredited, so I can't really recommend it.

4. Clothing design

It is so hard to find modest clothing, especially for girls. This would be a great field for some creative, young Catholic women to go into. We are in great need of clothes that are modest, but not dour or frumpy; clothes that accentuate a woman's natural beauty rather than debase it or hide it. Clothes can be stylish, aesthetically pleasing and modest and (hopefully) not too expensive. 

3. Finance

Some of the greatest crimes and immoralities in our civilization occur in the halls of finance. There is a desperate need for moral individuals in our financial markets who understand that matters of finance are not amoral and can make responsible decisions about the management of money, including offering people investments that do not fund questionable organizations. For the past two hundred years, our whole banking system has been ruled by crooks; it would be great to get some loyal, pious Catholics in there instead.

2. Education 

By education, I mean primarily public education, both at the elementary, secondary and college levels. I know how we all feel about the public schools; but be that as it may, the fact is that the vast majority of our citizens will go through the public school system. If this is the case, then it is imperative that we get some excellent Catholics in there who can guide the youth of this country in the right direction. Even if the Faith cannot be promulgated openly, a skilled Catholic teacher, with his mind at rest in the certainty offered by the truths of the faith, can be a bedrock of support to young people looking for values. A skilled Catholic teacher can point kids towards beauty and truth and inculcate in them habits of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude, serving almost as a preparatio evangelium in the secular schools. Whatever we think about public education, we cannot just let the 79 million kids in our public system slip through our fingers. We should see this as mission territory to be embraced, not something to flee from. This is apart from any consideration of the value of getting good Catholic into administrative positions in our public institutions. I would also mention the good to be gotten from alternative forms of education, such as Homeschool Connections Online.

1. Government

This is where I think faithful Catholics are most needed - local, state and federal government, including school boards, township supervisory positions and positions in county government. Our republic will ultimately be only as good as the character of the people who govern it. We need to zealously encourage Catholics to get involved in public service, Catholics who will put their service to the Truth above their love of mammon and power.


Any of these fields who be much more productive and helpful to society (and more lucrative) than getting a liberal arts degree. Again, I am not knocking the liberal arts - I love the liberal arts. My life was changed by studying the liberal arts. But the liberal arts can be appreciated with the aid of just one or two talented tutors and a pile of books; it is not necessary to spend tens of thousands of dollars and several years on a college degree in the liberal arts, especially when there are very few jobs that a liberal arts degree will actually qualify you for. The liberal arts themselves are not worthless; they teach you how to think, how to write, how to construct an argument, how to understand your place in history and how to be a more complete human being. But these are all things kids should have down before they even apply to college.

Anyhow, if you are a parent or a teen on the cusp of college, I hope you will give this some prayerful thought.