Teaching values is tricky today in a win-at-any-cost world. Social forces promoting dishonesty and cynicism are affecting everyone, including Catholic school students.

Acknowledging this moral morass, archdiocesan religious educators announced last month they are ratcheting up their character development and values education efforts by joining forces with a secular, nonpartisan coalition of more than 6,300 schools and organizations across the U.S. using the nation's leading character development program: Character Counts!

Character Counts!, administered by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Josephson Institute of Ethics, teaches values education through its "Six Pillars of Character": trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Currently in place at 30 local Catholic elementary and high schools, the character-building program has proven to be a positive enhancement to traditional religious virtues training.

"We are proud of the great job our Catholic schools have been doing and we have always focused on values, but we've come to realize that we need a more systematic and comprehensive approach to character building if we are to reach today's youth," said Sister of Charity Mary Elizabeth Galt, archdiocesan chancellor.

Making her comments during national Character Counts! Week Oct. 15-21, Sister Galt said archdiocesan educators will continue to train their teachers to adapt the "highly effective methods of Character Counts! We call it Catholic Character Counts!," explained Sister Galt.

Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, newly elected Josephson Institute of Ethics board member and pastor of St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, praised the program's effectiveness. Noting that nearly 100,000 students attend local Catholic schools, Msgr. Torgerson declared: "The decision to partner with Character Counts! represents a momentous effort to raise the profile of the values of integrity, responsibility and respect, and the building of character."