Private School Being Forced

[mistoffolees]

The Pope will be quite surprised to hear that as Pope John Paul II gave an updated Catechism to the faithful as recently as 1992. I think the Vatican still expects the American Catholic churches to teach the faith as defined by the Church. (You may be thinking of the pre-Vatican II Catechism, which is, of course, gone.)

In all my years of Catholic schooling as a pupil, a parent and a teacher, I have never seen a school that did not require daily religious instruction which focused on teaching children the faith.

Since I have not seen all of the Catholic schools in the country, I will have to accept your assertation that there are Catholic schools that do not require religious instruction.

OP - you'd need to check with the specific Catholic school in question to see how they operate.

Just to clarify: I'm not saying that it's not an issue and that a court couldn't bar the change on those grounds. Just that the discussion needs to be based on fact and not prejudice or pre-conceived notions. If OP goes into court and says "the school will force my child to learn the Catholic faith" and that turns out not to be true for that particular school, OP would look like an idiot - and possibly lose the case.

Furthermore, the fact that the religion issue wasn't brought up until considerably later suggests that it's not that big a deal (whether it is or not).

I agree that the court is not likely to require the kids to switch schools based on the information given, but am simply stating that putting too much emphasis on the religion element distracts from legal arguments that are at least as good. Present the religion concerns, but do not count on them winning the day by themselves.

 

[mistoffolees]

The Pope will be quite surprised to hear that as Pope John Paul II gave an updated Catechism to the faithful as recently as 1992. I think the Vatican still expects the American Catholic churches to teach the faith as defined by the Church. (You may be thinking of the pre-Vatican II Catechism, which is, of course, gone.)

The Pope would be surprised to hear a lot of things that happen in the U.S. Catholic Church. After all, the Church is still teaching that birth control is a mortal sin. Not all parishes slavishly follow the teachings of the Pope.

In all my years of Catholic schooling as a pupil, a parent and a teacher, I have never seen a school that did not require daily religious instruction which focused on teaching children the faith.

Since I have not seen all of the Catholic schools in the country, I will have to accept your assertation that there are Catholic schools that do not require religious instruction.

OP - you'd need to check with the specific Catholic school in question to see how they operate.

And that's what I am suggesting - rather than simply relying on the outdated belief that every Catholic school is going to enslave your children's minds.

 

[michele2377]

I found the school's mission statement:

The fundamental purpose of (removed)Catholic School is to assist the church in its ministry of a christian education, and take responsibility with parents to develop the education of the whole child through word, worship, and service.

There is nothing on their website that tells me much more about their religious teachings.