Aibu going to church so my child goes to a Catholic school

That's unfair for all those who cannot afford it.

It's amusing to think of how many people think there is such a form of education that isn't considered "indoctrination" by one group or another. How do you know which group is the right one? Are you relying on the state for this?

No state funding should be given to state schools. Simple as that. If you want to discriminate on the basis of religion do that within a private school. Faith schools breed intolerance and division.

Posts in AIBU and responds aggressively to any differing opinion…

My daughter went to primary school which was Catholic. A really great school. I had a meeting with the principal who asked for birth and baptism certificate. I said birth certificate is fine but she's not baptised because DH is a Lutheran, I'm a very very very non-practising Catholic and we don't want to pretend to be believers and go to the church to keep pretences only for our DD's place at school. The principal said fair enough and we got the place at the best school in town.
To me, schools based on any kind of religious ethos make little sense if at all. Children should get great education which is independent of any religion or persuasion. TBH, I wouldn't like if a school would preach atheism either - it's important to maintain freedom of choice.

Everyone I know that went to a catholic school knew at least one teacher/staff member from their school days since charged with sexual assault. No doubt they are not as bad these days but I wouldn't want to have any association with an organisation that covered up and supported abusers to the extent the catholic church did.

I think it’s wrong as you would be taking the place of a child from a genuinely catholic family.

I just think it's teaching your kids hypocrisy and bending the truth to get what you want.

I wouldn't have my kids darken the door of a faith school though, let alone one which is going to give them a guilt complex for the rest of their lives.

What a farce.

This isn't true for all Catholic schools. In my local area the allocation of places is done by the local council, you just have to provide proof of baptism for faith schools.

Our local priest signs school applications to confirm the attendance of parents at mass.

In my part of London, catholic primary schools have dropped the certificate of catholic practice as a requirement for admission starting with applications this year.

I think as long as you don’t just stop attending once you have the place. My friend got married in a church purely for the photo’s. She justified it with a reason for why she didn’t believe (loss of a parent young) but I thought it was a bit off really. She also had her children christened and never attended the church since. Same goes for my other friend, children christened for the occasion rather than my belief in God. I had my eldest christened, but was a regular church goer and I took him to Sunday school every week. I didn’t have my other 2 christened as dad has a different religion.

My favourite thing about going to church was the community, they were a great bunch. I do sometimes think i’d like to start going again. Maybe one day.

There are other ways to belong to your community. Be a regular in places (the pub is a good start!!, joining 'helping' groups (whether that's food banks or litter picking), join activity groups walking/painting/whatever floats your boat.

id personally find the best state school, focus on education for your child, not religion or community.

No!

So weird or cognitive dissonance.
Some parents value education highly, scrimp and save to send their children to the best school they can afford. Some even though they don't have faith, send their child to the faith (Christian) school. Yet support governments that try to eliminate those types of schools under the guise of fairness, trying to create equal outcomes.
No country every excelled by reducing everyone to the lowest standards.
Put pride aside, enquire as to what makes these schools great and replicate that if success is to be seen.

If you were raised as a Catholic, OP, they did a lousy job. Maybe a Catholic education isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Parting the Red Sea 😂😂😂😂

C of E schools can be the same. We hadn't long returned from working in a military school in Germany when we applied to an over subscribed school, we had been regular church goers there and at our newish address, 18 months or so. I got a call from the school asking about our previous church and I suggested they contacted MOD for a reference from our last Padre

Oh holy moly.... The bible is a storybook for illustrative purposes.

Please don't conflate the stories in the bible with women's reproductive rights, or the biblical hypocrisy that are the 10 commandments.

Send your child to whatever school you feel is best. Be prepared for pushback if you are a pretend Catholic for the purposes of a school place. You might get less than you bargained for.

Both my dc had a catholic schooling, eldest was christened youngest not. The schools they attended were by far better than the local schools. Neither have attended a mass since school. If I could not have got youngest in as a sibling would I have attended church and had him christened? Yes I would have.

YABU. Why put your child through the religious dogma/claptrappery, if you don't even believe it yourself?

Catholic schools are not all they are cracked up to be. Fair enough if you were religious, if not a state school will be just as good.

When the church puts up 50% of the funding then it can decide how 50% of the places are chosen. VA schools get to decide the selection criteria as some archaic legacy from a time where the were providing much more of the funding than they do now. The Chirch of England have caught up and advised that preferably at least 50% of places should be non church places. The Catholic church is yet to catch up (and is unlikely to tbh)

They absolutely do discriminate! And the whataboutary on Jewish and Muslim schools is ridiculous. The poster said no state schools should be faith schools not just Catholic schools 🙄

We have a Catholic school next door to a state school. Some of my friends kids go there. They accept about 20% non Catholics but favour religious kids (of any religion) over atheists.
It used to be the desired school and people would be like you and pretend to be church goers. The priest got fed up and made people give details of their previous church to demonstrate that they didn't start going to church after they got kids just to get them in.

Now the pressure is off as the schools reputation has really gone down hill and is quite rough and the teaching not as good in comparison to the state school. So lots of people have moved over.

Do what's best for your DC and family, OP.

I've known people quite openly (to us, not the priest!) attending church for the school. It's pretty common in some areas. People don't usually admit to it in primary school, but admit it much more readily by secondary, by which time everyone is a bit more relaxed.

It worked out very well for them: they actually quite enjoyed the community aspect, and the school was good. The kids did hear quite a lot of Catholic ideas, but don't believe now as teenagers. The schools don't seem to have a problem with the kids not believing.

When you speak to Catholics who are very committed to the church, they are worried about dropping numbers of Catholics in the UK, and see Catholic schools as a way to get kids to believe from a young age. So a better school place in return for a chance to indoctrinate your DC seems to be a quid pro quo the church are happy with.

And you seem to have fairly ambiguous beliefs, and seem OK with going along with Catholic ideas, so it shouldn't be a clash. You can still talk to your DC about your beliefs and give them a broader view. Just bear in mind that they repeat everything to teachers when they're small!

Where are you getting your information regarding other faith schools from? Because whatever your source is, it seems to be rather racist rubbish.

My children attend a Jewish school. In a class of 30 children in my youngest child's class at least four are not Jewish. I obviously haven't asked everyone their religion so there might be more, but these are the ones that have told me they're not Jewish. There are non-Jewish children in every single class in the school. They all have the exact same admission criteria regardless of religion.