Catholic Schools = Catholic Education?

[TLM08]

Over the years I have been solicited by the catholic high school I attended years ago. So I went to their website to see what they are offering in the way of a catholic education. To my dismay, there is not one reference anything identifiable as catholic. The word of the day in Catholic schools seems to be “spirituality”… with a heavy emphasis on “social justice” and “service to community”. Do these kids get any instruction in key issues of catholicism like Mortal sin, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Sacraments, Confession, Sacrifice of the Mass, Communion of Saints or the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist? What are parents getting for their $10,000 per year?

 

[mizznicole]

Sounds like my old high school! Boy was I mad when I discovered what real Catholic education is.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Whether or not a school is truly Catholic depends on so many factors to get it that way:

• Is it a school of the diocese, or a pairsh, or an order or an apostlate? Does the organization who has final top cover for the school have policy in place to make the school Catholic?
• What percentage of the faculty and staff are Catholic?
• What do parents of current students expect when the school is defined as Catholic?
  Those should give you clues on how to spend your money.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

Join the club!
And the “Theology” teacher that taught us the inclusive language sign of the cross is still there.

 

[BlestOne]

Wow… My ds and dd went/go to a Catholic HS that is fantastic! I am so glad I sent them and I have a great relationship with the teachers and the Chaplain. They offer mass every morning, adoration time, the theology classes are killer… I do mean it… they are hard! And the kids are required to do a ton of community service work. They are required to do more than go to mass on school mass days and Sundays… they have to be involved in some way… either choir, youth group, altar serve, travel to a TLM mass or any number of church related activities in addition to their Sunday obligation.

 

[HouseArrest]

Go to www.catholicparents.org. In the Features section there is a subtitle called Religious Education and more. THere is an article titled “Looking for a Catholic High School?” that lists some questions to ask of high school administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and students. From that you should be able to get a good feel for the “Catholicness” of the school in question.

I hate that there are so many Catholic schools out there that are not doing what they should be. The biggest tragedy in the whole thing is that many, many good Catholic schools are getting lumped in with them. There are already so many lukewarms that don’t want a Catholic education to begin with, then when they cling on to the whole “Catholic schools are no good” theory or “I know a kid who went to Catholic school and is no longer Catholic” theory then the actual good schools suffer for lack of students. It’s just too bad.

I know that we as parents are our children’s first and most important teachers but when the kids are at school all day (homeschoolers need not worry) then it’s nice to have back up. It’s really nice. We rely on it a lot.

 

[armywife]

I hate that there are so many Catholic schools out there that are not doing what they should be. The biggest tragedy in the whole thing is that many, many good Catholic schools are getting lumped in with them. There are already so many lukewarms that don’t want a Catholic education to begin with, then when they cling on to the whole “Catholic schools are no good” theory or “I know a kid who went to Catholic school and is no longer Catholic” theory then the actual good schools suffer for lack of students. It’s just too bad.

I agree with this. I went to great Catholic schools. They do exist, even though it may be rare from what I’ve read here. That’s not to say the the kids at the Catholic HS don’t deal with the some of the same sex or drug issues but I think that has to do more with parenting than the school.

But then again I live in the catholic wonderland of the Wichita, KS diocese:thumbsup: