How should a catholic student act in a public school?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ReillyOD
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

ReillyOD

Guest
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
 
ReillyOD said:
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
Click to expand...
Be catholic wherever you go, at least to the best of your ability. Remember who you are, and who they are. I had similar problems in the past, now when temptation arises, I ask myself “Who am I?” and “What is the right thing for me to do?”.

That usualy puts me back on track. It might not work for you, but you could give it a try. Also frequent confessions help.
 
As a Catholic who went to public school for most of my education, I don’t see the dilemma. You should conduct yourself the same as you would anywhere else. You should follow the rules. You should speak charitably. Why would talking be a temptation to curse? Perhaps you need to work on building your vocabulary? If you can’t carry on an intelligent conversation without cursing, you’ve got a problem because that sort of nonsense isn’t going to be tolerated in most work places and social circles. You should look for ways to serve others. You should be respectful to adults and other students. You should practice chastity and respect when interacting with the opposite sex. You should do your best to study and prepare yourself for life. You should be trustworthy and not gossip about others. You should stand up for life when given the opportunity. These are all things that all students should be doing, not just Catholic students.
 
Be friendly! To earn friends you have to be a friend.
 
I would try to find good company, people who keep their speech clean.

I’d avoid people who regularly profane the English tongue with colorful vernacular to shock and impress.

It’s hard - I was in a secular environment, once. I simply prayed, wore my faith proudly, signed the Cross before meals, but that’s me. I was fairly bold and indifferent to the pontential persecution that could ensue. Fortunately, no one ever gave me trouble for it.

If you feel you can share Christ with your peers, be brave, friendly, prudent, and willing to share the faith with them.
 
ReillyOD said:
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
Click to expand...
I’ve gone to public school my whole life, I’m now a senior. I know what you are talking about.

Public school is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it provides many opportunities to spread the faith. A curse because it can often feel sort of lonely because our generation simply doesn’t seem to tolerate any religiosity.

For instance, I make the sign of the cross and pray silently at lunch, I am crucified by my friends, I’ve known some of them since grade school.

But maybe my school is different. Regardless, keep the Faith!
 
Echoing the thoughts of other posters, I do not see what the problem is.
 
Im a freshman in a public high school, and i see what the problem is!
 
You should behave like a Catholic. Live your faith.

How would you behave differently if you were in a Catholic school?

I’m not too sure if I understand the entire dilemma. You should simply live your faith.

I attended public school and it was a fantastic experience. There’s absolutely no need to remain quiet all day just to avoid cursing…I mean…if you really can’t avoid cursing then I suppose it’d be better not to say anything at all? Let your words and actions reflect Christ. Be joyfull and love life. Allowing your words and actions to point to Christ and to be filled with His joy will be a wonderful testimony demonstrating that it IS possible to be Catholic and be filled with joy and love! Sometimes teenagers and young adults fall into the trap of thinking that religion is binding and takes away joy and fun…show them the opposite. Love life. Be Catholic.
 
Know your faith well, so you are not persuaded by the misconceptions of others.

My daughter went to a Catholic high school. She is fairly shy, but it didn’t take long for everyone to realize she was Catholic…because teachers often taught fairly anti-Catholic sentiments, and tended to be wrong. And she knew enough to correct them.

Interestingly enough, when she corrected them, not one teacher ever told her she was wrong. I have to add, she did it with a lot of respect. She became a favorite of some of those teachers.

Then there are things like not eating meat on Friday. It was noticed, and some made fun of her. She had to know enough to be able to explain more than just “Because I am Catholic.” She had to know enough and love God and His church enough that she didn’t walk away from her faith in those years.

In fact, a formerly agnostic friend of hers was later received into the Church. A former atheist and anti-Catholic friend of hers will likely be received into the Church in 2014. There are some who were anti-Catholic who are not any longer, because she understood and represented the Church well.

You have lots of opportunity here…if not to bring people into the Church, at least to open their hearts a little. As a priest I know often says, “If you don’t find joy in your Catholic faith, you aren’t doing it right.” So do it right, and show that joy, and people will learn to at least respect what they see in you.

Edit: I was writing this as the poster above was writing…so note the common themes of joy!
 
Incomplete said:
Then there are things like not eating meat on Friday. It was noticed, and some made fun of her. She had to know enough to be able to explain more than just “Because I am Catholic.” She had to know enough and love God and His church enough that she didn’t walk away from her faith in those years.
Click to expand...
I knew people who spent their entire high school career eating nothing in the lunch room but Doritos and Diet Pepsi and they never caught any flack. Why would anyone notice someone didn’t have meat one day a week if they weren’t making a big deal of it? Our school’s main entree was always fish on fridays anyway, so if you picked the hot lunch, you ate fish whether you were Catholic or not. I don’t even know how one goes about “making fun” of someone because of their lunch choice. “Ha, ha! You can’t have a cheeseburger!” That’s not exactly a remark that’s going to emotionally shatter a normal person.

The sort of stories people tell about their high school years make me really glad that I went to a school with over 2300 students, where no one knew anyone else’s business and if you didn’t like someone, you just moved to another table. Sure, I only have one or two friends now that I knew from back in high school, but at least I haven’t spent ten anxious years weeping into my pillow as my adolescent demons torture me in my sleep. People are always on about small schools being best. In my opinion, anonymity is the way to go in the teenage years.
 
Allegra said:
I knew people who spent their entire high school career eating nothing in the lunch room but Doritos and Diet Pepsi and they never caught any flack. Why would anyone notice someone didn’t have meat one day a week if they weren’t making a big deal of it? Our school’s main entree was always fish on fridays anyway, so if you picked the hot lunch, you ate fish whether you were Catholic or not. I don’t even know how one goes about “making fun” of someone because of their lunch choice. “Ha, ha! You can’t have a cheeseburger!” That’s not exactly a remark that’s going to emotionally shatter a normal person.
Click to expand...
There were people in the school who were “popular” and liked to pick on other people. And they knew she was Catholic because, as I said, she defended her faith. She’s pretty introverted so no, she didn’t make a big deal out of what she was eating. Some noticed because they were Catholic themselves and just had to comment that they were eating meat anyway on Fridays during Lent. (And no, she didn’t speak up to them, she let that go, but that’s how those discussions sometimes got started, as they looked for other Catholics who were following or not following teachings). One time she forgot, started eating meat, and another Catholic pointed it out to her, so she stopped eating. And she was given a hard time because as long as she started, they thought it was stupid she didn’t finish.

The way you poke is fun by talking about how ridiculous it is to follow what the Church says about not eating meat. You don’t say “ha ha, you can’t have a cheeseburger”, you say, “What a stupid Church with stupid teachings, why in the world would you do something like that!” (Only, of course, some use much worse language and worse insults.) I didn’t say or even imply that she was emotionally shattered by it. I just suggested to the OP to know the faith and the reasons for things, like she did, so if anybody does say anything, the OP can educate that person. Note that I commented that she actually changed some people’s hearts.

I don’t know how your school was, but there were a lot of “Catholic” discussions at her school. For example, there were the teachings about “Catholic greed” in referring to, for example, the crusades. Science classes liked to tell of how anti-science the Catholic church is, and the astronomy teacher even had stuff hanging in the room, such as things about the Pope’s apology about Galileo being too little, too late.

One teacher, who became Catholic because of his wife but obviously wasn’t Catholic at heart, made comments about things like signing a form to say he’d raise his kids Catholic (before he became Catholic, of course) and when a bunch of kids talked about Catholic greed again, he said nothing to stop them. I don’t see how that comment even had any place in a classroom.

So when classes are like this, and my daughter intervenes, it is only natural that it carries into the lunch hour.
 
ReillyOD said:
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
Click to expand...
Not very specific I’m afraid, but Saint Francis of Assisi is supposed to have said, “Preach always, use words if you have to.”

Basically, actions speak louder than words. Show the other what it means to be a Catholic by your actions. John 13:35 – “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

$0.02

rossum
 
Incomplete said:
There were people in the school who were “popular” and liked to pick on other people. And they knew she was Catholic because, as I said, she defended her faith. She’s pretty introverted so no, she didn’t make a big deal out of what she was eating. Some noticed because they were Catholic themselves and just had to comment that they were eating meat anyway on Fridays during Lent. (And no, she didn’t speak up to them, she let that go, but that’s how those discussions sometimes got started, as they looked for other Catholics who were following or not following teachings). One time she forgot, started eating meat, and another Catholic pointed it out to her, so she stopped eating. And she was given a hard time because as long as she started, they thought it was stupid she didn’t finish.

The way you poke is fun by talking about how ridiculous it is to follow what the Church says about not eating meat. You don’t say “ha ha, you can’t have a cheeseburger”, you say, “What a stupid Church with stupid teachings, why in the world would you do something like that!” (Only, of course, some use much worse language and worse insults.) I didn’t say or even imply that she was emotionally shattered by it. I just suggested to the OP to know the faith and the reasons for things, like she did, so if anybody does say anything, the OP can educate that person. Note that I commented that she actually changed some people’s hearts.

I don’t know how your school was, but there were a lot of “Catholic” discussions at her school. For example, there were the teachings about “Catholic greed” in referring to, for example, the crusades. Science classes liked to tell of how anti-science the Catholic church is, and the astronomy teacher even had stuff hanging in the room, such as things about the Pope’s apology about Galileo being too little, too late.

One teacher, who became Catholic because of his wife but obviously wasn’t Catholic at heart, made comments about things like signing a form to say he’d raise his kids Catholic (before he became Catholic, of course) and when a bunch of kids talked about Catholic greed again, he said nothing to stop them. I don’t see how that comment even had any place in a classroom.

So when classes are like this, and my daughter intervenes, it is only natural that it carries into the lunch hour.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a dreadful school. Mine was much more reasonable in regards to the Church in history. The only time I recall any religion being discussed in any science class was when my biology teacher told a student that he was expected to learn what the theory of evolution was and that whether he wanted to believe it was true or not was his own business. The role of the Catholic Church in promoting science, history, art, and culture was fairly emphasized in social studies. I was even assigned to right a report on the Rule of St. Augustine. On the other hand, they did teach about the Reformation and I have found that some of the things they taught were commonly believed but not exactly true. So, I can’t say the school was perfect, but I definatly never noticd a anti-Catholic agenda or anything like that.
 
ReillyOD said:
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
Click to expand...
Avoiding cursing, sex and drugs is obvious.

I wouldn’t worry about being a good Catholic as much as I would worry about being a good lover of Jesus.

Treat every single person, no matter how low he is, how hated he is, how much other people tease and despise that person, treat them with the utmost respect and dignity. Do not be afraid to associate with the lowest and least. Always come to the defense of the defensless.

In short - love Jesus through the people you meet.

These are my suggestions.

-Tim-
 
ReillyOD said:
This is the very thing that I am faced with. The obvious difficulties of being the only Catholic at the school. How do I show the love of Christ there? Should I be quiet most of the day so I do not fall into temptation of cursing and such? What can I do to be the best Christian Catholic that I can be? Please try to be as specific as possible.
Click to expand...
I was one of the few Catholics who attended a public high school in the Bible Belt a good while ago. Mainline protestantism was practically the “school religion” then. But personally, I rather liked the situation. One had a clearer notion of oneself by the contrast.

One thing I did tend to do. At that time and place there were a good number of Fundamentalist protestants in the school as well. They tended to be anti-Catholic on the surface (out of ignorance, and many could be corrected) but they were also pretty “straight-arrow” kids. Didn’t swear. Didn’t wear vulgar clothes. Didn’t drink or do drugs. I tended to select my associates from among the few Catholics and the many Fundamentalists.
 
Allegra said:
Sounds like a dreadful school. Mine was much more reasonable in regards to the Church in history. The only time I recall any religion being discussed in any science class was when my biology teacher told a student that he was expected to learn what the theory of evolution was and that whether he wanted to believe it was true or not was his own business. The role of the Catholic Church in promoting science, history, art, and culture was fairly emphasized in social studies. I was even assigned to right a report on the Rule of St. Augustine. On the other hand, they did teach about the Reformation and I have found that some of the things they taught were commonly believed but not exactly true. So, I can’t say the school was perfect, but I definatly never noticd a anti-Catholic agenda or anything like that.
Click to expand...
It was. That’s why I understand why the OP is asking. I’m so glad her days there are finished…and glad to hear that not all schools are like that!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top