hmm - we don’t know the details because we are on page 4 and not a word back for them OP since the OP… so maybe its not as big a deal to “smore” as it is to us?
… As a parent and high school teacher who has been on many extended trips with classes…
Koslosap, since you are a high school teacher who has planned/participated/chaperoned school trips, I would be interested in your opinion. Some people have said in the thread “It doesn’t hurt to ask”, but I think it *can *hurt to ask, in that you can induce resentment for your cheekiness. When a parent asks the school to go extra miles (literally in this case) just for their child - its shows at the very least a lack of awareness and gratitude for all that they are already doing to ensure the students have a educational, rewarding and SAFE time.
It is
not a sin to miss Mass when its beyond your control. Who is in control of the child’s time on a school trip? Its not the child. Should a parent who is not even on the planning committee be trying to control the trip planning and use of school staff to accommodate for her own desires? No.
My husband is commenting that disciplines like Sunday obligation are not absolutes, akin to “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Its a reasonable, “as much as you can” sort of thing. Its a discipline. Like abstaining from meat on Friday. Disciplines aren’t absolutes. If there is a reasonable reason why you can’t, then its fine.
My husband also says that if you are asking for special treatment because you are a Catholic, you really have to consider “When am I begin a good Catholic and when am I blowing a trumpet for myself?” When you ask someone else to go out of their way for you, that’s leaning to blowing your trumpet, in essence saying, “Look at me! I’m Catholic! So its
okay for
me to ask special consideration!”
Really, disciplines are to help us with our personal relationship with God, not to impose ourselves on others or call attention to our religiosity. I remember when I was a single mom and friends with another single mom, a Mormon, and it was a Sunday, and we were all were at our house, and there was a need for milk, which we could get down the block, and I was going to go get it, and my friend said, “Oh, I
never shop on Sunday. I got my milk last night before I went to bed.”
I think that’s the kind of trumpet blowing that that religious tradition encourages their members to practice - show the world your special pious distinctives. Its not encouragement of our religious tradition. If we blow our own trumpet, we have already received our reward on earth.
My husband just came back in to explain, "If there is a true emergency at work and the boss says, I really need
everyone to come to work this Sunday, and you say, ‘I can’t, because I am Catholic’, that’s not really right. But if you are making up your work schedule for the year, then you are obliged to say, “I need time to go to Mass every Sunday’.”
Maybe our Don Ruggero will come back on the thread and comment on that. My husband spoke to a priest on the matter years ago when he was having trouble getting to Mass, and that is the understanding he gleaned.
I am also remembering a story about St. Bridget of Sweden who took her nuns on a journey and stopped at a monastery on a Friday, where the monks there served them meat at their meal. Several of her nuns refused the meat, and when they left, St. Bridget severely chastised them for it. Apparently consideration for the feelings and efforts of the hosts meant more than the Church rules on Friday Abstinence.
I think the St.Bridget’s story is a good example to consider for this case. Consideration and respect and gratitude for the extra mile already being offered should be shown to the school staff - not requests to be the object of extra favor. True Catholic humility would gratefully accept what is offered, and not ask any extras that are not urgent considerations. (They are already keeping track of truly urgent considerations for plenty of other children).
Well I am very glad to hear things are that way in Missouri. I have a friend living in Columbia, and I will ask her how it is there. Here in the Northeast, its pretty much the same everywhere. At least, no different here in Connecticut than it was in upstate New York.
The OP did not mention the size of the group. I am not sure why it was assumed there would be 350 kids on the bus. There isn’t a school that size in my county or the 5 surrounding it…
The number 350 came from me; I said it was the size of my son’s 8th grade trip. I assume the average 8th grade is about 200. 350 is not atypical though. But in my current town, the 8th grade is about 50 - which is quite uncommon in these parts, which are generally closer to the 200 “average”.
And yes, for my son’s D.C tour, there probably were about 7 tour buses. It was impressive to see them all eagerly getting on the buses before dawn on departure day, but even more was the day of the return. We parents and siblings were all standing around waiting at the still and and empty school, and then the caravan of tour buses began turning into the school grounds, one after the other. Everyone cheered, and then there were the very happy greetings of our tired 8th graders (along with their equally tired-looking chaperons) as they poured off the buses. It was all impressive accomplishment by the school staff, and the by kids, who were very well “schooled” on how to behave on the trip.
“The world revolves around me and mine” is how it comes across.
Its a broad statement with some truth to it but its hardly a point worth making. Don’t forget, pride goeth before the fall - and we sure are getting top-heavy with pride in America…
:nope: