What happened to Catholic schools?

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I had gone to Catholic schools from Kindergarden to 6th grade. I had always thought of Catholic schools as strict and full of nuns. I know there aren’t many nuns in schools today because of the lack of them. I had one nun at least, but she didn’t where any habit so that put me down :(. I hadn’t learn ANYTHING about the Catholic Faith from my schools. It wasn’t until a few months ago when I began discerning the priesthood when I started research on the Faith. I found out about how much Faith wasn’t taught in Catholic schools and it kind of made me mad :mad:. I got over it but I still think a lot about the lack of Catholic education in Catholic schools every now and then. So, what happened to Catholic schools? Thank you.
 
The quality of education is dependent on the quality of the teachers, lay teachers or nuns. 🙂 My children have been in parochial school from the beginning, and I feel they’ve had a pretty strong religious education-- and we also strive to discuss and explore aspects of our faith at home with them as well.

Exactly what do you feel was missing from your education?
 
familyof4 said:
Exactly what do you feel was missing from your education?
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What I felt was missing was learning about the teachings of the Church. The only thing I learned was Jesus loves you.

That’s great and all, but I never learned what it meant to be Catholic. I think the reason why Catholics don’t know their Faith these days is because most of them that went to Catholic schools were never taught their Faith.

My sister went to Catholic schools from kindergarden until she graduated from high school. She barely knows anything about the Faith, she hasn’t gone to Confession since she was in high school (2003), and she only goes to Mass maybe thrice a year.
 
ajpirc said:
What I felt was missing was learning about the teachings of the Church. The only thing I learned was Jesus loves you.

That’s great and all, but I never learned what it meant to be Catholic. I think the reason why Catholics don’t know their Faith these days is because most of them that went to Catholic schools were never taught their Faith.

My sister went to Catholic schools from kindergarden until she graduated from high school. She barely knows anything about the Faith, she hasn’t gone to Confession since she was in high school (2003), and she only goes to Mass maybe thrice a year.
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That really is disheartening, and I am grateful that it is not at all like what my children have experienced.

Beginning in Kindergarden, their school has daily catechism instruction. They also attend mass each Friday. Every Catholic family (there are a few that aren’t) is expected to also attend mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

Both of my children (they just finished 4th and 7th grades) can tell you what the seven sacraments are, the parts of the mass, and why we celebrate the mass. They read their bible both as part of their classes, and at home as well. Both of them were fortunate to have a nun that taught 2nd grade, so their preparation for the Eucharist was very good.

I am truly surprised at the lack of education in your parochial school-- religion is an academic course at all schools in our diocese, and they use text books, and are tested, just like they are in their English and science classes. They most demonstrate proficiency in order to pass the class. Passing religion is NOT optional if they wish to continue at the school.

I just asked the kids what they covered in their classes this year. Each year is a reminder of the previous year (so they don’t forget), plus new information. My younger child covered the liturgical seasons of the church, and why they exist. My older child had church history, including the Protestant reformation and also covered in more depth divine revelation and the role of the Magisterium.

I attended Catholic jr. high and high school, during the 80s (a time which was considered a low point for Catholic education), and have to say that we were taught quite a bit more than “Jesus Loves Us”.

If your schools are really failing, you should contact the director of education for your diocese, and voice your concerns.
 
My Parochial Catholic school wasn’t half bad.

The Catholic high school I go to is horrible though. This one teacher (who teaches freshmen no less) shows documentaries that hurt faith rather than help faith. Even the teachers joke with us, “There are three right answers in religion class: Jesus, love, Mother Teresa”. It’s all one big joke and they know it.
 
I think that the problems with Catholic schools come from the failure of the parents of being good Catholics. The family is the primary source of education for the children. The parents are supposed to be true role models for the religious development of the children. The parents are the ones supposed to held the Catholic schools accountable for the proper teachings. The parents are supposed to be involved with participation in Sunday catechetical activities and sacramental preparation too.Usually, but not always, if the kids do not know their religion and/or fall away from the Church you can find the source of the problems at home. When you see a Catholic school failing you can dig a little bit deeper and see that the parents are not really involved with their own religious development. I think that even among Catholics it is easier to delegate any form of teaching to the school instead of participating into the children lives. I also firmly believe that adults cannot be parents to their children alone but they have an obligation to support those families that have limited means in educating their own children. I have seen a few parents taking their children away from public religious education because they did not like the system. A true Catholic should not pull back but stand firm for the good of the children through a charitable participation in the parochial education system.
 
ajpirc said:
Are the Catholic schools run by the Diocese?
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My Parochial school is under Diocesan jurisdiction.

My high school is independent of the Diocese, though there is another school next door that is under Diocesan jurisdiction. I can’t tell you about their religion classes, but if we were to judge it based off of the people from that school, they certainly don’t succeed at forming good Christians.
 
Cristiano said:
I think that the problems with Catholic schools come from the failure of the parents of being good Catholics. The family is the primary source of education for the children. The parents are supposed to be true role models for the religious development of the children. The parents are the ones supposed to held the Catholic schools accountable for the proper teachings. The parents are supposed to be involved with participation in Sunday catechetical activities and sacramental preparation too.Usually, but not always, if the kids do not know their religion and/or fall away from the Church you can find the source of the problems at home. When you see a Catholic school failing you can dig a little bit deeper and see that the parents are not really involved with their own religious development. I think that even among Catholics it is easier to delegate any form of teaching to the school instead of participating into the children lives. I also firmly believe that adults cannot be parents to their children alone but they have an obligation to support those families that have limited means in educating their own children. I have seen a few parents taking their children away from public religious education because they did not like the system. A true Catholic should not pull back but stand firm for the good of the children through a charitable participation in the parochial education system.
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The home is the domestic Church.
 
I was raised by a really faithful Catholic family. We prayed the rosary together, went to confession once a month,were told about the real presence in the Eucharist and we knew about making sacrifices for God. We were all sent to Catholic schools.

I think that what happened is not all of the parents fault at least not my parents. They tried to do their best at teaching their six children but since they were paying a lot for our Catholic education they thought that we would learn all the Church teaches.

This did not happen. When I was in 3rd grade the religion books suddenly changed and there wasn’t any catechism. We just learned about love, peace and Jesus! It was 1967. Most of the nuns started wearing regular clothes, our priest took off with one of the nuns and they got married. My father was so upset about the new religion books that he went and talked to the pastor of our parish. Nothing changed. We made collages of people sharing all the way into high school. I do remember hearing about the sacraments but nothing about the mass, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or the hard teachings of the Church in our Senior year marriage class. I left the Church at 18yrs. old along with all of my siblings. I am the only one who has returned to the Church so far.
 
onmyknees said:
I was raised by a really faithful Catholic family. We prayed the rosary together, went to confession once a month,were told about the real presence in the Eucharist and we knew about making sacrifices for God. We were all sent to Catholic schools.

I think that what happened is not all of the parents fault at least not my parents. They tried to do their best at teaching their six children but since they were paying a lot for our Catholic education they thought that we would learn all the Church teaches.

This did not happen. When I was in 3rd grade the religion books suddenly changed and there wasn’t any catechism. We just learned about love, peace and Jesus! It was 1967. Most of the nuns started wearing regular clothes, our priest took off with one of the nuns and they got married. My father was so upset about the new religion books that he went and talked to the pastor of our parish. Nothing changed. We made collages of people sharing all the way into high school. I do remember hearing about the sacraments but nothing about the mass, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or the hard teachings of the Church in our Senior year marriage class. I left the Church at 18yrs. old along with all of my siblings. I am the only one who has returned to the Church so far.
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Thank you for your story onmyknees.

This is exactly how I felt in the schools except they didn’t make a sudden change. They were always like this for me.

I understand about your family being very Catholic and then everybody just leaves the Church. Most of my great-grandparents were devout Catholics and they passed that on to my grandparents, but it stopped there. My aunts, uncles, and parents barely know the Faith. Most of them never understood that Confession is to be used before receiving the Eucharist, especially when in the state of mortal sin. They just go to church and probably believe that they’re only eating bread.

Catholic schools are a very large part of a Catholic’s future. When they only learn things like love, peace, and Jesus, they won’t see the difference between what they were taught as a Catholic or when they convert to Protestantism.
 
We need to keep the catholic Schools in our prayers,especially the ones who are not upholding the Magisterium of the Church
 
I wonder if part of the problem hasn’t been size. Schools aren’t able or willing to stay fairly small. Or at one time they had many Catholic students, and now they have fewer.

Anyway, once you have a desire to attract a lot of non-Catholic students to fill up the school and pay the rent, you often end up making concessions.

We have two Catholic schools here: one is very small, and very Catholic. The other is more ecumenical - still giving good basic Christian teaching, but not so “Catholic”.

That being said - Catholic education wasn’t always great in the past either. People may have been taught more stridently, but they were not always taught accurately about their faith, or in a way that was really good for children.
 
Our Catholic schools are funded by tax dollars and many non-Catholics attend them, so we have to be respectful of their non-Catholic beliefs lest we offend them. The city is trying to work out the problem by building more public schools in the same areas as the Catholic schools to help flush out the non-Catholics.
 
Love_Divine said:
Our Catholic schools are funded by tax dollars and many non-Catholics attend them, so we have to be respectful of their non-Catholic beliefs lest we offend them.
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What’s the point of calling it a Catholic school if there are non-Catholics in it who might get offended for being taught Catholic doctrine? If someone doesn’t want to be taught Caholic doctrine, don’t attend a Catholic school.
 
ajpirc said:
So, that would be like the “Jesus loves you, man” kinda stuff that’s taught?
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Yup - Jesus is all loving, which is true. But they conveniently leave out that He is also perfectly just.

Also, Catholic schools became focused on secular success with a side helping of Jesus.
 
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