Skip to main content

Do You Have To Be A Practicing Catholic To Attend A Catholic School?

By Russ Hamel ~

Do Non-Practicing Catholics Really Have a Choice?

When it comes to spirituality, this type of story always makes me cringe. It's the very reason I personally choose not to be associated with any one particular religion. Here is an account describing the lengths one non-practicing Catholic couple was willing to take in order for their sons to 'fit in' at the school of their choice. (It's really MY story in disguise - a few names and other details have been altered to protect the innocent, as well as those not so innocent).

Location, location, location. Real estate agents know that for growing families with school-aged children, location - especially that of the school - is of prime importance. For Bill and Agatha Dickerson, the location of the Catholic school just around the corner from their modest bungalow was perfect. What delighted them even more though was that the school was small, with a student/teacher ratio of about 18:1, far lower than the next closest public school.

As for the Catholic school culture, well the Dickerson boys, Billy and Jason felt right at home. With less than 200 students attending, everyone knew each other by name, from the principal right down to the youngest JK kid. It was a warm and welcoming environment, one in which Bill and Agatha knew their sons would thrive.

Not a Practicing Catholic? Take Care of It!

On registration day, Agatha was concerned by the 'requirements' listed on the form. Billy, age nine and now entering the fourth grade, hadn't been baptized nor had he made his first communion, a Catholic milestone usually reached in grade two. Five year old Jason wasn't baptized yet either.

"Will this be a problem?" Agatha asked, not trying to hide the fact that her sons didn't currently completely comply with the school's acceptance policies. She was told that as long as she agreed to 'take care of it', her sons would be able to attend.

That night at home, Bill and Agatha quietly discussed the school's policies while Billy and Jason played raucously down in the family room.

Bill was adamant about keeping his non-practicing Catholic status intact. It had taken him years to overcome all the confusion and guilt from his own Catholic upbringing. He was really comfortable with the fact that he and Agatha hadn't even given a thought to attending church up until now. These registration 'requirements' caught Bill a bit off guard.

Membership Into the Catholic Community Has Its Rewards

Agatha quickly reassured Bill that, for her, the school's regulations were nothing more than symbols; a small price to pay for 'membership' as she put it, into a school where their boys would not only get a very good education, but would also be exposed to some excellent values which she had heard from friends and co-workers were sorely lacking in the public school system. At least the boys would be aware of this thing called spirituality.

Bill reluctantly submitted. On one hand, he agreed wholeheartedly with his wife that the education and environment delivered by this particular Catholic school was top-notch. In that regard, he couldn't have asked for a better situation for his sons. Still, he worried about the effect Catholic teachings such as sin, separation and saviors would have on Billy and Jason. He didn't want them to be exposed to the same guilt and confusion that muddled his own upbringing.

A few months passed. Bill and Agatha still had yet to 'take care of it'. Then one day, Billy came home from school quiet and sullen. It wasn't like him to slink off unobtrusively to his room, leaving Jason to play by himself.

How Catholics Deal With Non-Practicing Catholics

At first, Agatha thought Billy might be sick. She called him over to talk, looking for signs of a temperature or other illness. She found none. Then, as only a mother can do, she gently coaxed Billy to speak. What he said disturbed her very deeply.

"There was a mass today in school. Father Joe wouldn't let me participate because he said I didn't make my first communion. He practically yelled at me in front of my friends." Billy broke into tears.

When Bill arrived home from work that evening and heard the report, he was furious. In typical male-hero fashion, he was ready immediately to pay Father Joe a visit and give him a piece of his mind. Oh, how he longed to go toe-to-toe with those Catholic guilt mongers.

As usual, Agatha had to calm her husband down and offer him a more reasonable plan. The trust and bond between the two was strong and it wasn't long before Bill had indeed settled down.

Ask A Catholic "WHY" and See What You Get

The couple called the boys in for a family discussion. Agatha explained to both Billy and Jason that they would be baptized as Catholics. Without surprise, the boys erupted with a plethora of questions...

"What's baptized?" asked Jason.

Even Billy knew a bit about that so he joined in helping his younger brother to understand.

Excitedly, the rapid volley of questions continued.

"When..."

"Where..."

"How..."

Then Jason asked the bomb, "WHY do we have to get baptized?"

Bill looked at Agatha as if to say, "It's your show."

Slowly, with carefully measured words, Agatha spoke, "It's a symbol of being accepted into God's family."

Bill could feel his face burning. He was radically opposed to telling young, innocent children that they were ever 'separated' from God, either now or at any time in their lives. Yet, he and Agatha had agreed a long time ago never to override each other, especially in front of the kids. His blood pressure continued to mount as Agatha patiently fielded the boys' intense inquisition. Bill would have much preferred that Agatha be honest with the boys, telling them, "Oh, it's just some silly Catholic rule they use to manipulate their followers... nothing but big business, really."

The Catholic 'Lie' vs. the Truth

However, even Bill realized that you couldn't talk this way to a little five year old. After all, Jason repeated EVERYTHING he heard! Better to allow this tiny 'white lie' than embarrass everyone and risk possible expulsion.

In the end, Agatha went through the motions and 'took care of it'. She attended the prerequisite meetings, paid the certification fees and even took the boys to church a couple of times. In her mind it was a very small price to pay to get a first-class education in an environment that stipulated good behavior and values while stimulating spiritual awareness. She did this all without having to 'buy into' the total Catholic belief system.

Smart woman, that Agatha!

During the years the boys attended the little Catholic school around the corner, they would come home with more questions about what they had heard in class. This was the spiritual awareness that Bill and Agatha had hoped for and they welcomed the chance to openly discuss these things with their growing sons.

John 14:27 - It's All About Peace

Now Bill and Agatha actually encourage Billy and Jason to explore their own spiritual truth, teaching them to discern between universal laws and man-made rules and rituals. Bill sometimes is still tempted to instill his own views on the boys, intending to protect them from 'religious' charlatans. However, Agatha gently reminds Bill to be grateful that he had the opportunity to seek and find his own inner peace.

Ah, inner peace... the bottom line. You gotta Love That Feeling!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christian TV presenter reads out Star Wars plot as story of salvation

An email prankster tricked the host of a Christian TV show into reading out the plots of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Star Wars in the belief they were stories of personal salvation. The unsuspecting host read out most of the opening rap to The Fresh Prince, a 1990s US sitcom starring Will Smith , apparently unaware that it was not a genuine testimony of faith. The prankster had slightly adapted the lyrics but the references to a misspent youth playing basketball in West Philadelphia would have been instantly familiar to most viewers. The lines read out by the DJ included: "One day a couple of guys who were up to no good starting making trouble in my living area. I ended up getting into a fight, which terrified my mother." The presenter on Genesis TV , a British Christian channel, eventually realised that he was being pranked and cut the story short – only to move on to another spoof email based on the plot of the Star Wars films. It began: &quo

Are You an Atheist Success Story?

By Avangelism Project ~ F acts don’t spread. Stories do. It’s how (good) marketing works, it’s how elections (unfortunately) are won and lost, and it’s how (all) religion spreads. Proselytization isn’t accomplished with better arguments. It’s accomplished with better stories and it’s time we atheists catch up. It’s not like atheists don’t love a good story. Head over to the atheist reddit and take a look if you don’t believe me. We’re all over stories painting religion in a bad light. Nothing wrong with that, but we ignore the value of a story or a testimonial when we’re dealing with Christians. We can’t be so proud to argue the semantics of whether atheism is a belief or deconversion is actually proselytization. When we become more interested in defining our terms than in affecting people, we’ve relegated ourselves to irrelevance preferring to be smug in our minority, but semantically correct, nonbelief. Results Determine Reality The thing is when we opt to bury our

So Just How Dumb Were Jesus’ Disciples? The Resurrection, Part VII.

By Robert Conner ~ T he first mention of Jesus’ resurrection comes from a letter written by Paul of Tarsus. Paul appears to have had no interest whatsoever in the “historical” Jesus: “even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:16 ) Paul’s surviving letters never once mention any of Jesus’ many exorcisms and healings, the raising of Lazarus, or Jesus’ virgin birth, and barely allude to Jesus’ teaching. For Paul, Jesus only gets interesting after he’s dead, but even here Paul’s attention to detail is sketchy at best. For instance, Paul says Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” ( 1 Corinthians 15:4 ), but there are no scriptures that foretell the Jewish Messiah would at long last appear only to die at the hands of Gentiles, much less that the Messiah would then be raised from the dead after three days. After his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus—an event Paul never mentions in his lette

ACTS OF GOD

By David Andrew Dugle ~   S ettle down now children, here's the story from the Book of David called The Parable of the Bent Cross. In the land Southeast of Eden –  Eden, Minnesota that is – between two rivers called the Big Miami and the Little Miami, in the name of Saint Gertrude there was once built a church. Here next to it was also built a fine parochial school. The congregation thrived and after a multitude of years, a new, bigger church was erected, well made with clean straight lines and a high steeple topped with a tall, thin cross of gold. The faithful felt proud, but now very low was their money. Their Sunday offerings and school fees did not suffice. Anon, they decided to raise money in an unclean way. One fine summer day the faithful erected tents in the chariot lot between the two buildings. In the tents they set up all manner of games – ring toss, bingo, little mechanical racing horses and roulette wheels – then all who lived in the land between the two rivers we

Morality is not a Good Argument for Christianity

By austinrohm ~ I wrote this article as I was deconverting in my own head: I never talked with anyone about it, but it was a letter I wrote as if I was writing to all the Christians in my life who constantly brought up how morality was the best argument for Christianity. No Christian has read this so far, but it is written from the point of view of a frustrated closeted atheist whose only outlet was organizing his thoughts on the keyboard. A common phrase used with non-Christians is: “Well without God, there isn’t a foundation of morality. If God is not real, then you could go around killing and raping.” There are a few things which must be addressed. 1. Show me objective morality. Define it and show me an example. Different Christians have different moral standards depending on how they interpret the Bible. Often times, they will just find what they believe, then go back into scripture and find a way to validate it. Conversely, many feel a particular action is not

I can fix ignorance; I can't fix stupid!

By Bob O ~ I 'm an atheist and a 52-year veteran of public education. I need not tell anyone the problems associated with having to "duck" the "Which church do you belong to?" with my students and their parents. Once told by a parent that they would rather have a queer for their sons' teacher than an atheist! Spent HOURS going to the restroom right when prayers were performed: before assemblies, sports banquets, "Christmas Programs", awards assemblies, etc... Told everyone that I had a bladder problem. And "yes" it was a copout to many of you, but the old adage (yes, it's religious) accept what you can't change, change that which you can and accept the strength to know the difference! No need arguing that which you will never change. Enough of that. What I'd like to impart is my simple family chemistry. My wife is a Baptist - raised in a Baptist Orphanage (whole stories there) and is a believer. She did not know my religi