No Catholic Schooling is Sinful

  • Thread starter Thread starter dundas
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dundas

Guest
Is it a SIN to NOT send our children to catholic school? If it is a sin, is it venial or mortal? Is it our moral obligation or our duty, and what is the difference between the two?
 
It is not a sin to not send your child to Catholic School. Have you seen the price of tuition? Not everyone can afford that. Plus we have CCD for those who go to public school . There also is a limit to the number of kids the school can take in. In our parish the school is at capacity with 500 kids and CCD has over 1,000.
 
My priest has informed me that NOT going to a catholic school is a SIN, unless I have a good reason. This is new to me, I wanted to know what other catholics thought/knew about this.
 
dundas said:
My priest has informed me that NOT going to a catholic school is a SIN, unless I have a good reason. This is new to me, I wanted to know what other catholics thought/knew about this.
Click to expand...
I think sending your children may have been a precept of the Church at one time- I’m not sure. It doesn’t really matter- it isn’t one now. I certainly don’t think not sending your kids to a Catholic school is sinful. In fact, I most likely wouldn’t send my kids to a Catholic school even if I could afford it (provided I had kids, of course). I have seen too many kids’ faith destroyed by Catholic schools. If I were to have kids, I would want to take personal responsibility for their education (religious and otherwise).
 
**My priest has informed me that NOT going to a catholic school is a SIN, unless I have a good reason. **

Wouldn’t being unable to afford the tuition be a good reason? Seems one to me.
 
Wouldn’t being unable to afford the tuition be a good reason? Seems one to me.

If you have a moral obligation to do something, how can any excuse be acceptable.
 
**Wouldn’t being unable to afford the tuition be a good reason? Seems one to me.

If you have a moral obligation to do something, how can any excuse be acceptable.**

You’re not obliged to do what is beyond your means or ability.
 
Dundas, you are posting this topic over several forums. Are you looking to refute your priest or are you seriously reconsidering your schooling choice? Is the Holy Spirit working on you or are you just mad at your priest for criticizing you?

Although my question may seem somewhat critical–I do not mean it to be. I wonder if this question is so heavy on your heart because the Holy Spirit wants you to really think about your children’s education.

The most important thing is to be in God’s Will. Do you think that it is God’s will for your to send your child to Catholic school? Or, to increase the Catholic reading in your house…or to homeschool with a Catholic curriculum? Maybe God wants you to do more catechesis with your kids.

It can be a sin not to send your child to Catholic schools if you are not providing a Catholic education by other means. A Catholic education means forming a child in areas of intellectual, moral and spiritual disciplines in a Catholic worldview.

Education is all about Truth. And, to steal a line from Fr. Corapi, Truth is not a thing, but a person–Jesus Christ.

All education must be directed to an encounter with Him. That doesn’t mean that all education must be exclusively Catholic in material, but must be directed to developing logic, virtues, compassion, moral perspectives that are in harmony with Catholic thought.

I’m probably not alone in thinking that much of secular education is not directed to Catholic principles. That means if you use a public school, you’ll have to be very vigilant in monitoring their curriculum and sometimes debriefing them.

Many parochial schools are in the same boat. In any case, we as parents have to be proactive, esp. in this society which no longer can claim to be a Christian one.
 
I just think that what you are saying is unbelievable. So i am sorry i dont believe you. Im sorry, I think it is possible that the priest may have said that you must educate your children in the Catholic Religion. Now i can believe that. there is ccd. If he did say that there has to be more to it and you are taking it out of context. I went to a Catholic school most of my life and have never heard of such a thing.
 
rinnie said:
I just think that what you are saying is unbelievable. So i am sorry i dont believe you. Im sorry, I think it is possible that the priest may have said that you must educate your children in the Catholic Religion. Now i can believe that. there is ccd. If he did say that there has to be more to it and you are taking it out of context. I went to a Catholic school most of my life and have never heard of such a thing.
Click to expand...
There are two factors on which that a priest might be basing this statement on.
  1. We are required to provide a Catholic education for our children
However, it is up to the discretion of the parent to choose the avenue for a Catholic education.
  1. We are required to support the Catholic school system.
However, we can do that through our financial contributions, prayers and encouragement rather than sending our children.

My parents do say that when they were children, they were told that it was a mortal sin not to send your child to Catholic school. It may be that public school at the time was using a Protestant Bible curriculum that was anti-Catholic.

Of course, nowadays, there isn’t any religion taught in public schools.
 
Why do we have a duplicate thread? 🤷

You’ll prbably get duplicate answers about it NOT being sinful.
 
leonie said:
There are two factors on which that a priest might be basing this statement on.
  1. We are required to provide a Catholic education for our children
However, it is up to the discretion of the parent to choose the avenue for a Catholic education.
  1. We are required to support the Catholic school system.
However, we can do that through our financial contributions, prayers and encouragement rather than sending our children.

My parents do say that when they were children, they were told that it was a mortal sin not to send your child to Catholic school. It may be that public school at the time was using a Protestant Bible curriculum that was anti-Catholic.

Of course, nowadays, there isn’t any religion taught in public schools.
Click to expand...
Ok if you dont mind can i ask you this. Now when your parents were told it was a sin was it through the RCC that told them this. Like were they told this in church.
 
Dundas, you are posting this topic over several forums. Are you looking to refute your priest or are you seriously reconsidering your schooling choice? Is the Holy Spirit working on you or are you just mad at your priest for criticizing you?

Yes, I am posting this topic on several forums.

Firstly, I am new to this and I am learning that how and where a topic is posted determines the type and degree of response.

More importantly, this issue has generated several areas of concern and confusion for me:

My priest did not criticize me. He told me that my choice was a sinful choice, so of course it requires an examination of my conscience. So, yes I have been praying an awful lot. I also wanted to know what other Catholics, particularly those with children, felt. Hence, the Family Forum. But ( and this is part of the beauty of being Catholic), it also requires an understanding. I need to understand what ``moral obligation` means. Hence, my posting under Moral Theology.

Finally, I have two priests telling me two very different things. I dont know which forum this falls under. Im not angry, nor do I want to refute anyone. I just want to clarify my own confusion.

As a catholic, I ask alot of questions. The answers always, always, always lead to a deepening of my faith. I know that once I find answers to these particular questions I will have a stronger, richer faith.
 
It is not a sin to not send your child to Catholic School.
If it is, then the principle of the Catholic School I sent my daughter to, sinned when she told us my daughter could no longer attend there, back when she was in the 2nd grade. Long story, but when the nuns left and the lay teachers took over, things changed and lost its Catholic identity.

Jim
 
rinnie said:
Ok if you dont mind can i ask you this. Now when your parents were told it was a sin was it through the RCC that told them this. Like were they told this in church.
Click to expand...
The first mandate for American Catholic parents to send their children to Catholic schools was in 1884 at the third plenary council in Baltimore
Title vi, Of the Education of Catholic Youth, treats of (i) Catholic schools, especially parochial, viz., of their absolute necessity and the obligation of pastors to establish them. **Parents must send their children to such schools **unless the bishop should judge the reason for sending them elsewhere to be sufficient. Ways and means are also considered for making the parochial schools more efficient. It is desirable that these schools be free. (ii) Every effort must be made to have suitable schools of higher education for Catholic youth.
Click to expand...
It was in response to the public school system using Protestant (anti-Catholic texts) and the King James Bible.
 
leonie said:
The first mandate for American Catholic parents to send their children to Catholic schools was in 1884 at the third plenary council in Baltimore

It was in response to the public school system using Protestant (anti-Catholic texts) and the King James Bible.
Click to expand...
ok thats why i never heard of it thanks
 
leonie said:
The first mandate for American Catholic parents to send their children to Catholic schools was in 1884 at the third plenary council in Baltimore

It was in response to the public school system using Protestant (anti-Catholic texts) and the King James Bible.
Click to expand...
Of course this was in the days when Catholic Schools were run by nuns or brothers, and actually taught Catholic Doctrine.

They were also very inexpensive.

When I went to Catholic School back in the 50’s and early 60’s, I knew poor kids who came to my parish school, for free. The nuns lived in the convent on the top floor of the school, and they worked for love of God and almost no pay. Tuition was not very much.

Jim
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top