Religious Private School Ed-umication.

[Tmy]

I went to a northeastern typical catholic school until 9th grade. And because ofthat I am no longer religious! BA BUMP BUMP.


Looking back I have to say I was given a pretty good education, considering the schools limited resouces. One thing I find interesting, the education was very secular. Sure we had the prayers before/after school an lunch, and monthly feildtrips to the local church, but other than religion class we really didnt do much God talk.

We learned evolution, and sang Hava-negallia around Hannuaka time. We did have Jesus symbols at XMas, but we also had Santa Claus.

Did other people have the same experiences? Did you go to a school that taught creationism in science class??? I think theres somthing about Catholic schools. They arent so hard core Jesus.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I think theres somthing about Catholic schools. They arent so hard core Jesus.

Catholics tend to be born, not made. There's no point in talking about Jesus, unless you're a) an old maid, usually somebody's spinster great aunt, or b) a convert from another denomination who hasn't yet learned that religion is slightly embarrassing, and needn't be mentioned at all provided all the forms are carried out. Catholic schools reflect this pretty well.

I like Catholicism. For all the hierarchy and pomp and Vaticans, the religion itself is fairly low key, at least in the US version.

 

[Tmy]

Yeah. Every once in a while you'll run into an old school priest who still busts peoples chops about living in sin and not attending church.

I couldnt be my nephews godfather cause the preist wanted me to attend church regularly. Couldnt make that promis. But I know all kinds of godparents who never go to church.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Yeah. Every once in a while you'll run into an old school priest who still busts peoples chops about living in sin and not attending church.

I couldnt be my nephews godfather cause the preist wanted me to attend church regularly. Couldnt make that promis. But I know all kinds of godparents who never go to church.

The priests I've encountered in the last few years are just so pleased to see people in church, they couldn't care less what they were doing, or even whether they believed or not. It's a dying faith, I think. Which is a pity; they do know how to appreciate good stained glass windows.

 

[Hutch]

I tend to agree that Catholic Schools are fairly laid back on the religious issue. George Carlin does a great riff on growing up with a Catholic education...

What I would like to see is what is currently going down in "Christian" schools, especially in the South....for example, we have in my neck of the woods, Community Fellowship Christian preschool (with "Committed, Qualified Christian Teachers"), a large variety of Christian Academies (Faith Covenant, Westminister, Spiritlife) and the Catholic and Lutheran Schools.

I remember back in the 70's when I was a subsitute teacher, I applied to a place called Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. among the usual questions (age, college, etc.) was a couple that said (to the best of my recollection), Have you been saved? When and where were you saved? I think I wrote that I was Catholic and figured that was enough saving. Strangely, I never was called to subsitute there.

Doubtful you'll get much response, Tmy. But we shall see.

 

[Tmy]

When I went out west I ran into non catholic Xstians for the first time. Ironically they would look down of Catholics. Which I thought was laughable considering they belonged to trendy infant staged catholic church spinoffs religions.

 

[TragicMonkey]

When I went out west I ran into non catholic Xstians for the first time. Ironically they would look down of Catholics. Which I thought was laughable considering they belonged to trendy infant staged catholic church spinoffs religions.

I never paid attention or noticed fundies until I lived in Tennessee. Someone in my junior class told me he was raised to believe Catholics were born with small horns, and had to brush their hair forward to cover them.

That would have been so cool.

 

[LostAngeles]

When I went out west I ran into non catholic Xstians for the first time. Ironically they would look down of Catholics. Which I thought was laughable considering they belonged to trendy infant staged catholic church spinoffs religions.

All of them? You sure none of them were from say, branches of the Epsicopal Church that are based off or have many rites related to the Holy Apostolic Church and have several Catholic-similar rites as well?

 

[pgwenthold]

I never paid attention or noticed fundies until I lived in Tennessee. Someone in my junior class told me he was raised to believe Catholics were born with small horns, and had to brush their hair forward to cover them.

That would have been so cool.

That explains why my dad got the hairpiece when he went bald.

Apparently mine fell off when I unconverted

 

[TragicMonkey]

Apparently mine fell off when I unconverted

No, they just retract, waiting for the day when you'll suffer a relapse from lapsing, and find yourself in church again.

Which means, they can be used as a weapon in the meantime. Bar fight: lower your head, begin reciting the Hail Mary, and by the time you get to "Blessed art thou", you'll hear a springing noise and can gore your opponent. Then declare your disbelief, the horns pop back in, and you can walk out leaving people with the impression you were an extra from Buffy.

 

[Tmy]

All of them? You sure none of them were from say, branches of the Epsicopal Church that are based off or have many rites related to the Holy Apostolic Church and have several Catholic-similar rites as well?

Being Catho-centric I could never really tell the othe denominations apart. All I know is that they didnt follow the pope, divorce might be ok, and the reverends could marry.


ya know the catholics could lean from that preist marrying thing. But like most churches they are 100years behind the times. Why any day now they might be annoucing that American Indians are not godless savages.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Why any day now they might be annoucing that American Indians are not godless savages.

Are you nuts? Many of them are Baptists now, which puts them in Godless Savage Square, right next to the mall that sells Godless Savagery goods with a special sale on Godless Savage Day.

They're almost as bad as calvinists!

 

[pgwenthold]

Being Catho-centric I could never really tell the othe denominations apart. All I know is that they didnt follow the pope, divorce might be ok, and the reverends could marry.

For me growing up, the big difference between Catholics and Lutherans was that the Lutherans didn't have to go church on Sunday.

A lot of them still did. I never understood that.

 

[Snide]

Being Catho-centric I could never really tell the othe denominations apart. All I know is that they didnt follow the pope, divorce might be ok, and the reverends could marry.


ya know the catholics could lean from that preist marrying thing. But like most churches they are 100years behind the times. Why any day now they might be annoucing that American Indians are not godless savages.

They also seemed to have a thing against Mary, or more accurately, a thing against anyone who would pray to her.

 

[Luke T.]

I also went to Catholic schools for many years. They even taught us sex education, although the boys and girls were separated during the showing of the dirty parts. We all saw the same films and anatomical posters, though.

And I have Sister Thomasina in eighth grade to thank for awakening my love of mathematics and science and my future career in electronics. She literally beat it into me.

side note: Sister Thomasina loved Andy Williams' singing. To this day, around this time of year, I always think of her because one of Williams' Christmas songs gets a lot of air time.

 

[pgwenthold]

I couldnt be my nephews godfather cause the preist wanted me to attend church regularly. Couldnt make that promis. But I know all kinds of godparents who never go to church.

True story: Because I am nominally catholic (a confirmed member of the catholic church and never ex-communicated), a friend asked me to be Godfather for their new baby (it was an offer I couldn't refuse). She is similarly nominally catholic, and did it to make the family happy. I agreed. I love having an excuse to spoil kids, especially when they are others' kids. However, the priest wanted a letter from the priest of at least one of the godparents, apparently attesting that we are fine, upstanding people, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, the godmother, another nominal catholic, hasn't been in a church since she moved to town, and I have been with my wife a few times to the local place, on special occasions. So they figured I should be the one to get the letter.

OTOH, it worked out ok because despite the fact that I didn't know the priest from church, I did have a good chat with him one night at the local Brew Pub. He recognized my wife, and came over to chat over a beer. So I send the guy an email reminding him who I was and telling him the other priest wants a letter so I can be Godfather. He says, sure I'll talk to him at the meeting next Tuesday.

I can only imagine that conversation. "Well, I don't remember seeing him in church, but when I talked to him at the Brew Pub, he seemed like a pretty nice guy."

(ok, to be fair, we talked a lot about experiences growing up catholic and catholic places (i.e. monastaries) that we knew in common so I could sound like an informed catholic)

 

[pgwenthold]

I also went to Catholic schools for many years. They even taught us sex education, although the boys and girls were separated during the showing of the dirty parts. We all saw the same films and anatomical posters, though.

And I have Sister Thomasina in eight grade to thank for awakening my love of mathematics and science and my future career in electonics. She literally beat it into me.

I like to tell people that the only thing I learned from Catholic education is that beating and humiliation are a bad way to teach penmanship.

 

[Luke T.]

I like to tell people that the only thing I learned from Catholic education is that beating and humiliation are a bad way to teach penmanship.

My penmanship sucks.

I must say the education I received in Catholic school was far superior. When I was finally placed in a public school in the ninth grade, I was light years ahead of my classmates. After a couple weeks, I was placed in varsity math classes.

 

[pgwenthold]

My penmanship sucks.

I must say the education I received in Catholic school was far superior. When I was finally placed in a public school in the ninth grade, I was leap years ahead of my classmates. After a couple weeks, I was placed in varsity math classes.

Oh sure, I was ahead of my classmates, but that was just because I was smarter than everyone else (yes, I was validictorian in the end)

Our high school class was a mix of two catholic grade schools, and the public school elementary, about in equal amounts. I don't think there was a significant difference in the overall levels of the three groups.

 

[Tmy]

I like to tell people that the only thing I learned from Catholic education is that beating and humiliation are a bad way to teach penmanship.

But its a great way to deal with learning disabilities liek dsyleixa........or mabye not.