Finally Fed Up with Parish Schools

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We live in a very liberal northeastern state with many great public school systems. I have been very impressed with our current parish school, the only Catholic school in our 70k-sized city. The kids go to mass every week and my son is definitely learning about Jesus, the sacraments, etc. We are trying to find a larger house on a little more land and we’re only considering towns bordering another very solid Catholic school. I’ve only heard great things about it and I’m excited to enroll my son if we can find a house nearby. In researching the Catholic schools around here, there were only a couple that were off the table once I visited or asked parents for personal experiences. By and large, parents in our area that chose Catholic education appear to be very satisfied. You’d have to be, to give up the free public education which really is excellent in terms of academics.
Hoosier Daddy:
On these boards or in real life if anyone says " I went to 12 years of Catholic school". It will be followed immediately by something anti Catholic.
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I went to twelve years of Catholic school and I believe the Church holds the fullness of truth. What a gift we’ve been given in the sacraments! Peace.
 
Rau said:
I’d like to understand more about this issue you’ve raised. I appreciate you have no further info. If there is a restriction on teaching what is moral and what is not, that is a major issue.

This raises the question of why a Catholic school would tolerate having the State dictate religious content. BTW, where I live, there is a State contribution to Catholic schools, in addition to fees paid by parents.
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Right on. I do not think there are any formal restrictions but in practice it would appear to be complicated. Like you’ve pointed out I do not have more information; I did not even attend a Catholic school myself.

If there were complaints made about a particular teacher I would imagine that they would not get much support even if they were free to make such comments as the schools I am speaking of are Public schools that are funded just as the non-Catholic schools are. There are many atheists, Protestants, Muslims, and other faiths/traditions attending these schools.

I agree that if there are any formal restrictions there is a problem but I would say there is a problem regardless based off of the story I have shared earlier + several others I have heard over the years. I think it unfortunately reflects the attitude of many Catholics in the West; at least in my area. I recently converted and in the process I spoke to many Catholics telling me how great it is but then listing off dogmas that they do not agree with and ignore. I actually had a Catholic friend of mine tell me that I should follow popular Protestant interpretations as they “go off of the Bible.” I am not sure why he would believe this and remain a Catholic 🤷 . These sorts of attitudes, from what I have heard, are spilling over into the education systems here. At least, certain schools/classes.
 
Assyrian412 said:
…If there were complaints made about a particular teacher I would imagine that they would not get much support even if they were free to make such comments as the schools I am speaking of are Public schools that are funded just as the non-Catholic schools are. There are many atheists, Protestants, Muslims, and other faiths/traditions attending these schools.
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If the funding source detracts from the capacity of the school to be “Catholic”, then the Church should step away from that school, or find other funding sources. No Catholic school can both declare itself Catholic and then demur when it comes to teaching the faith. To do that is a betrayal. When Muslims or Protestants choose a Catholic school - one would imagine they know what they are choosing. How can they object to having the catholic faith taught? Why is the school called Catholic?
 
Allegra said:
That’s true. Unfortunately, the Catholic schools in my area aren’t failing in the eyes of the people who use them. Their kids don’t go to school with black kids, Hispanic kids, kids with divorced parents, kids with ADD, etc. And they pay good money for their kids to go there, so they don’t want their kids being taught antiquated ideas like birth control being a sin. And the kids who get bullied, well, they didn’t really fit in anyway.
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I have been thinking of your post and cloistered’s post all day. They both struck me.
We owe it to our children to give them a Catholic education. And that includes living in a world with undesirables. Or even those who are not privileged or suffering. And my children get a Catholic education that is amazing through homeschooling. But honestly your posts made me realize that we have to include ministry to the suffering world, to the “different”

Thanks you guys!
 
Here, we never looked to see what race our kids classmates are as its a non issue. They all belong to the Human Race and all are made in God’s image. Our kids attend diverse schools and even so…have many friends outside of school too. Perhaps out west or elsewhere it’s different, where Catholic school kids just stay to themselves socially too…that would be sad.

Unfortnately too there is no funding for special need classes …tuition per student is less then it actually costs to educate them i think here the government gives around 12 k per public school student and catholic elementary tuition is 7k. We are fortunate to even have a school nurse…that’s how tight the budget is.

Having God in school, and having Him present throughout the day in prayers, and guiding the souls of our children should be the main focus… Everything else can be debated, but this is a fact for us. And we see the fruit of this sacrifice of paying heavy tuition for years is our older children’s approach to life and faith. Academics are great, but Catholic school here develop the whole child, and each child is LOVED in school.
 
On the Managed Decline of Catholicism in America.

**The Managed Decline of the Catholic Church in America, like the Managed Decline of American Constitutionalism, is being treacherously orchestrated FROM THE INSIDE.
**

In the age-old Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil three-monkey image, there should be a fourth monkey: Admit No Evil. Like Constitutional America, the Catholic Church in America is being taken down from the inside. And the worst participants in this gigantic take-down are those silent clerics of all ranks who will not even address it, or admit that it is going on. They, in my opinion, are worse than the actual perpetrators.
 
LVCatholic said:
I have sent my kids to parish grade and high schools for the past 20 years. I’ve been a huge supporter of Catholic schools and have sacrificed greatly financially to send my kids to them…
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It is a great financial sacrifice–and I applaud you for making it for many years! :clapping:

In my experience, *all *schools change over the course of twenty years. What may have been a good school might no longer be desirable, and what may have been an undesirable school could improve. My husband’s public school is dramatically different from what it was like when he went there. The Catholic grammar school I attended closed and later re-opened. From what I gather, my grammar school may have improved in teaching the Catholic faith from when I went there.

Right now, I homeschool my own children. Homeschooling has also changed over the years. My decision to homeschool is based off partly off my own mixed experience at Catholic schools, but mostly because they’re expensive and we don’t live very close to one. My oldest children attended a good Catholic high school that we’d probably still use if the tuition hadn’t gone up so much, but the cost became prohibitively expensive.

Since you have been sending your children to Catholic schools for twenty years and still have three in school, I’m guessing you’re probably have a large family. I do too–we have eight children. Even at highly affordable Catholic schools, the cost adds up when you multiply tuition by several children. If your older children got nothing else out of their Catholic schools, they learned something about sacrifice from seeing you pay for their Catholic education. That doesn’t mean you have to continue at those school. You can certainly make other choices now with your three youngest. I have no idea what educational choices we’ll make by the time we have just our three youngest at home.
 
Rau said:
If the funding source detracts from the capacity of the school to be “Catholic”, then the Church should step away from that school, or find other funding sources. No Catholic school can both declare itself Catholic and then demur when it comes to teaching the faith. To do that is a betrayal. When Muslims or Protestants choose a Catholic school - one would imagine they know what they are choosing. How can they object to having the catholic faith taught? Why is the school called Catholic?
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I’m not sure 🤷

I agree with you. I’m just pointing to the problem. I would imagine that they can object to the Catholic faith being taught because even the Catholics attending the school, staff and students alike, are objecting to elements of the Catholic Faith 😦
 
I am so thankful for the Catholic schools which have served my family so well.
 
Assyrian412 said:
I’m not sure 🤷

I agree with you. I’m just pointing to the problem. I would imagine that they can object to the Catholic faith being taught because even the Catholics attending the school, staff and students alike, are objecting to elements of the Catholic Faith 😦
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All who choose the school are in the same boat. They have no basis to object to the faith being taught.
 
EasterJoy said:
Your bishop tolerated that? I would absolutely contact the bishop if that happened in my parish. There is zero chance that any Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in my lifetime would have allowed that. If I didn’t want to contact him myself, one call to Oregon Right to Life would have taken care of it.
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Our pastor didn’t allow it either because he’s having so many fund raisers to fix up parts of the church. We have no second collections either, unless they are for the church debt, fix-ups, etc.
 
buffalo said:
You will definitely get secularism, immorality and PC in public schools. They will indoctrinate your kids.

Since parents are the first teachers teach them the true faith. Teach them philosophy and how to use logic and reason.
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Buffalo,

You are right on here. A neighboring school district snuck in the transgender locker room rule–use the one you identify with–without informing the parents. Now they have a law suit against them!
 
buffalo said:
So we should just abandon them. 🤷
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When my pious son was teased for singing and praying in Church during class mass and–to top it off–was called a homosexual because he was discerning the religious life, that was over the top for us. I am so for saving souls, but not at the expense of being ganged-up on with no teacher having my son’s back and allowing this nonsense to go on.

By the way, this school is dying a slow, painful death. So many of the grammar schools merged. I doubt any of the schools around us would want to merge and take on $1.7 million in debt.
 
Rau said:
The facts are not in debate. What people “can” do (and choose to do), and what people are “justified” in doing are different.
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I agree with you. What is in debate exactly? :confused: 😃
 
I grew up in Catholic schools and they are not the same now for sure but public schools where I am is not an option right now. I am homeschooling my 2 at home (others are in college our out!). We actually go to Regina Caeli Academy which is a Catholic classical hybrid education and it’s wonderful. We go twice a week and I home school the other three days. And yes, we use the Baltimore Catechism!
 
It’s unfortunate but yes, some diocese have been horrible in maintaining their Catholic identity in practice. Like another poster said, the quality (education wise and faith formation wise) can differ between each institution like public schools.

Given how RCIA is known to be an institutional embarrassment I’m not too surprised of how various Catholic schools have so poorly taught the faith. I’m a millennial and I was lucky enough to receive a decent *Catholic *education. It just depends on the principal & president and the pastor (if there’s a connected church) - if they put emphasis on teaching the faith in a non-“Jesus love you oh so much. Yes he does!” way then there’s hope. The enrollment might even increase. Many of the Catholic high schools (St. Rita, St. Laurence, Mother McAuley, Brother Rice, Marist, QOP - now closing) where I grew up (SS of Chicago) are much better than the public ones (Reavis, Oak Lawn, Argo). Even the grade schools seems to better.

Also remember that part of developing the faith is also a parents’ job. I know some devout kids who attend public high school: one comes from a traditional Catholic family while the other is from a devout Polish family. Now compare them to another public kid I know who doesn’t know jack about his faith despite being brought up in a Filipino Catholic household.
 
cloistered said:
I started my children out in Catholic schools and switched them over to public years ago and couldn’t be happier. It may certainly not be all Catholic schools, but the ones around here are about staying away from the “undesireables”. The attitude of “we are better than than” is not hidden away, it is glorified by the school. I have found the academics to be similarly leveled, yet more boring worksheet based at the Catholic school. In turns of teaching the values of Christ, public school wins hands down around here.
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bold: this confuses me. You mean the secular version of “be nice”, “don’t judge” and “help the lady cross the street” values?

Plus your story is rather unfortunate, if not stereotypical.
 
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