Un-religous but sending to Catholic school

[butterflyz2]

Hi there,

I myself attended an all girls catholic school a number of years ago. Even though i am and never will be a catholic. However, the school did require all students to study Religion, as it was a core curriculum. And yes we had to attend school mass, do daily morning prayers and participate in other religious functions like ash wednesday and palm sunday i think and what ever else?lol.

When i started there at the age of 15, the school required that i got babtised, before i was excepted, and also get confirmed. So this was done in my lutheran church. Although when the school had its church Mass on, i didnt participate in the drinking of the wine and bread. Which was ok by them.

To cut a long story short, a private school is not all that its cracked up to be ethier.
I found myself up against the accademic students, and teachers pets etc.

I failed my TER, even though i studied my butt off, but marks were scaled down, against what the accademic got!, so basically alot of money and time was wasted for me in going to a private school.

I have questioned myself on whether i would send my daughter to a private, school and think the only one good thing as well about a private school with the one gender is, is that there is less distraction of boys!lol.

Mel

[Jo+3]

I send my dd to a Catholic school. I was baptised Catholic but don't practice religion although I do believe in God. I think if you don't agree with alot of the fundamentals of Catholicism you may find that your views are conflicting with that of the school all the time. They are certainly not bible bashers at my dds school but they pray everyday and religion does play a big part in the curriculum. With having said that there is a great sense of community at her school which I didn't find at the local state primary. They are also taught about other religions and cultures. In fact comparing her knowledge of this with her cousin who attends a state school, my dd knows alot more. I am happy for my daughter to be taught religion and join in religious activities as I think being given some sort of belief system when you are younger helps you decide what you want to believe when you are an adult. I don't think you have to lie about your feelings but you really need to make sure that you are comfortable with your child embracing teachings that you may not agree with. Good luck it's a hard decision.

[Kitt3n]

I am now in the same boat - we are lookign at moving and the schools in the area that we are looking at are "ok" but the catholic school is much better ( a lot less riff raff so to speak ). Personally, i am not religious at all, and neither is DF - but i think it is terribly important to have a fundamental knowledge of each religion.

So, if we do send dd to thsi catholic school i will have to zip my mouth and put aside everything i believe in - not to offend anyone out there but the thought of having to sit down and not share my views on religion will make me sick. I am scared that dd will be brainwashed into religion (which i find so ridiculous).

will be interested to see what you finally decide!

ps -i really dotn mean to offend anyone!!! each to their own!!!

[Rouge]

Both our kids go to a Catholic school, I'm not Catholic however Marc is (but not practicing). Both our children are baptised Catholic mostly because we knew we would have difficulties attending the school of our choice due to its popularity. We fell in love with the school after the principal came to our Kinder and did a big talk. That was back when Paris was 3 so thats how long we knew it was right for us. Our MIL is a very devout Catholic so we knew by sending them to a Catholic school and baptising them she would want some input into their religious upbringing. We are happy for them to learn about catholicism and christian values but we are also of the opinion our childrens faith is up to them and whatever they choose we will support them. We never lied about anything and never really had to answer anything. We had an interview with the principal and the Parish priest and he merely told us what the kids would be learning and that he would like us to attend mass when we can. As it is we only attend if there is a special mass for the kids or MIL is here. I'm sure he would prefer it more often but thats just the type of people we are. If you are sending your kids to a catholic school as catholic children there will be expectations and they will have daily prayers, masses etc. However we believe if and when Paris or Seth decides to question their faith we will be there to support them in an unbias way (I am not anti anything so I won't be doing the whole "Its all rubbish and we think this" thing) Our school teaches about judaisim and islam and we plan to teach them about other religions too. Spiritualism is more my base, and I believe in living life in a way that you would be proud of, all religions have a base for morals and ethics and I follow this more than the deity based religion iykwim?

We are so happy with our choice and couldn't ask for a better school. And I really do believe the community spirit, the morals and principles of the school are highly to do with its religious base.

ETA: I also think that its probably best not to be anti catholicism if sending a child to a catholic school, you have to expect to take part and I wouldn't think it would be very fair if the children were learning about something and you were to be continually undermining it iykwim? So we don't say "we don't believe xyz" We allow her to be taught this faith by sending her to this school to not do that would be too confusing to them I feel and also unfair to the other children.

[Matryoshka]

Thanks for the repies

In my heart i was unable to feel right about sending DS to any kind of religious school... it just felt wrong for him to have to practice it before he could make the choice himself.

So we have enrolled him in Montessori, which we have met with and love, definately the right choice for us as it is in line with our parenting and life style philosophies as well.

[Aimz]

I am currently having the same problem - lucky for me I won't have to worry about the issue for quite some time (we're not even TTC just yet). I live in a large regional NSW town which is dominated by the Catholic Church. 80% of the private schools are Catholic, the rest being Lutheran, Anglican and Christian. I was not raised with any religion, I have not been baptised and I do not follow any particular religion. My DH was raised a Catholic, baptised and Catholic and went through 13 years of Catholic School - only to come out of it a NON CATHOLIC. He has said from day 1 that he would not put his children through the Catholic School system - nor any religious system for that matter. I fully embraced this as I went to a public school and my family are big believers in the public school system.

We built a house last year in a beautiful new suburb in our ever expanding community and without sounding like a snob - it's a very well-to-do area. Our "zoned" public school (which is our closest even though it's 10km away) is in a very bad suburb and sits on one of the worst streets in town (in terms of violence, drugs etc) and the suburb in which the school is located is mostly community housing. I refuse to send my child to this school. There are no ifs or buts on this one - I will not have my child attend that school - I will not have my children in that area of town!

So here is the dilemma - do I send my child to a religious school despite our family not being religious - or do I send my child to the dodgy public school? As some of you ladies have mentioned above - having my child sing songs about jesus would make me really uncomfortable - yet the Catholic school is a fantastic school in all other respects.

My hope is that before I really have to worry - another public school will be built within our zone as our new suburb is expanding even further. I suppose we still have about 6-8 years before we have to worry! But it is on my mind!

Sorry if that was long winded!