In terms of being a Catholic, it sounds like I did have a rouge teacher. The thing is though, even if the Catholic Church doesn't believe it, the radical right evangelicals do and they are shaping public policy all across the country. In-fact, we are seeing a trend where fewer and fewer Republicans believe in Evolution.
There is Pew Research Poll from 2014 on Evolution. 43% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats say they believe that humans have evolved. A majority of Republicans are either unsure and/or believe we were created by the hand of God and have been the same way forever and ever. The data below breaks it down by religion too, where you see a majority of bible thumping Evangelicals don't believe in Evolution. The core point to all of this is that it amazes me how independent-leaning voters overall can even remotely trust Republican politicians more or equal to Democrats on matters of education when you have them out their denying basic scientific consensus, trying to teach Creationism, and ban books all at the same time.