Dale Ahlquist wasn’t sure he should pick up his phone when he recently saw a call from Washington, D.C. The Minneapolis resident thought it was another unsolicited sales call.

But he was surprised to learn the caller was from the Office of Presidential Personnel – offering him a four-year position on the National Board of Education Sciences, an independent body in the U.S. Department of Education.

“It … evaluates all of the data and statistics of our schools in the United States,” Ahlquist explained during a recent interview for “Practicing Catholic” — formerly called “The Rediscover: Hour” — on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.

He expects his role to include reviewing school performance, techniques being used for teaching and how they’re evaluated. Ahlquist also hopes to be able to take a stand for the importance of being able to teach the faith.

“There has to be a way for schools to accommodate belief as part of the development of a person,” he said. Prohibiting that from being part of the discussion and development interferes with the wholeness of the person, he said.

“I’ll be … making a good case for why, traditionally, faith is something that’s taught along with everything else,” he said. “And I think there’s a way to do it, even in a … secular setting. And I think it could be done without violating the Constitution or anyone’s human dignity.”

Paraphrasing G.K. Chesterton, Ahlquist said freedom of speech is supposed to mean that everyone is free to discuss their religion, but in practice, it means that no one is even permitted to mention it.

Ahlquist is president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, and he was introduced on the “Practicing Catholic” episode as one of the world’s most respected Chesterton scholars. He also is an experienced educator, co-founding Chesterton Academy in Edina, a high school using a classical Catholic curriculum — which has been rated one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the U.S. He serves as president of the Chesterton Schools Network, which includes 30 high schools in the U.S. and other countries.

“We emphasize the arts and philosophy and complete thinking along with the other things … expected to be taught in school, like math and science,” Ahlquist said. “But what’s missing from most school curriculums is how to think and teaching reason.”

He continued: “And then, of course, giving it meaning by teaching faith, and faith and reason going together, but also the arts, which have been really neglected. … We teach all our kids how to paint and draw and all of them get on stage and act.”

All Chesterton Academy students participate in choir for four years, too. Great artistic development is important for the soul, Ahlquist said.

To learn more about Ahlquist and his education philosophy, access the full interview on the Practicing Catholic archive page. The interview aired Jan. 1, 2 and 3.

Other guest interviews on the Jan. 1 “Practicing Catholic” show were Tom Halden, communications director for the Archdiocese of St. Paul, who gave a look ahead for the archdiocese in 2021, and Maria Wiering, publications manager and editor-in-chief for The Catholic Spirit, who describes her interview with the Koop family about building a home chapel before the pandemic. Practicing Catholic is produced in partnership between Relevant Radio 1330 AM and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Listeners can tune in to new interviews every Friday at 9 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM on Spotify and on SoundCloud. Each week’s show is rebroadcast Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Or visit the show’s archives page to listen on demand.