If your child is not Catholic

Yes you have to be baptised (in any denomination) to take communion in the CofE, although no one is going to ask for proof when you're there! You used to have to be confirmed as well, but a lot of CofE churches have relaxed this rule.

Catholics only let Catholics take it though.

My kids all went to/go to a church school, although not Catholic. They're not baptised, we're not Christian (not any other religion either) so no, we didn't go to any sort of church service outside of the school ones.

I would have preferred them to have gone to a secular school but there just aren't any in the area.

The Anglican Church is different, they let orhers take communion.

@Goldenbear You definitely have to be Catholic to receive it in a Catholic Church and you need to be confirmed.

i know this 100% as I was once gently told off by a Catholic priest when I went up to receive it one Easter. I’m an Anglican and somehow he knew even though we were visiting ppl and had never been to that church before. 🤣

As to that, I was never baptised and was not allowed to take communion in an Anglican church. They offer you a blessing if you care to kneel in front of the minister. I did not so care.

I think the notion of eating the body of Christ is more than a little disturbing anyway (clearly old pagan nonsense at work there), so wasn't too bothered about being excluded.

In my case there was absolutely NO alternative.

Unfortunately all the state primaries around me when my children were young were also faith based. It's pernicious. All state schools should be secular and if parents want to inflict religious education on their children then it should be done in non school time.

You're not supposed to take communion in a Catholic church as an anglican.

I'd go to Mass if my child specifically wanted me to. Likewise I'd go for a friends special event, eg marriage, baptism, 1st Holy Communion etc. But otherwise no. I wouldn't choose to attend a Catholic service. I'll stick to my CofE where I'm allowed to have communion and not treated as some kind of lesser Christian.

Hasn’t bothered to take her children out of RE lessons and worship, hasn’t told the school but waiting until Holy Communion time, even bothering to send them there in the first place is ridiculous. If I hated an institution there’s not a chance I’d send them to the school, let alone not request they don’t do the RE lessons etc.

Wow 4 out of 8. We are expected to have full attendance every Sunday in First Communion year, although we do attend Mass every weekend others don't so I can see why they arent keen on it being mandatory.

They won't be doing that unless they have been baptised as a Catholic.

I have a family member who has sent her children to both Catholic primary and high school despite being quite against Catholicism - they were simply the better schools. So she refused to do any prayers or attend anything religious, and told the kids they're not Catholic, they're at good schools and if they wanted to do anything religious then they could crack on by themselves.

I am Catholic and my children went to Catholic primary, but I then sent them to a non-denominational high school because it was a much higher attaining school.

I don't think children get confused if they go to a faith school. I went to a non-denominational school (I became a Catholic as an adult), but way back then you still sang hymns, had the minister in for sermons etc. I found it so boring and just something we did at school. I didn't think more into it than that.

Probably not but with regards to communion, I attended an Anglican church when I was a child and was confirmed, you don't need to be a Catholic to receive communion.

Why? It’s hardly a niche position to have significant issues with the Catholic Church, and its consistent failure to protect or prioritise the safety and wellbeing of women and children, its institution-wide failure to hand paedophile priests over to the criminal justice system etc.

Catholic here and kids went to a catholic school with lots of multi denominational families there too. Masses that happened during school year parents were invited to but not expected to attend. I did as I enjoyed hearing the kids sing and watch them take part. Most of the kids that weren't catholic attended also as did some of their parents.

If you child/children are going to be receiving any sacraments I do believe that they should attend a certain number of masses in order to participate. Our school now insists on this as the number of children that didn't have a clue but were receiving their communion (more than likely for the party and the money) was unbelievable. The children and their families are now asked to attend 4 out of 8 masses before the communion ceremony and to ensure that the majority do children are given readings, prayers of the faithful or bringing up the gifts in one mass to encourage attendance. I think it's only right if the child is receiving a sacrament they participate.

Also, I have am a middle aged Catholic and don't call it Holy Mass either and neither does anyone I know.

DC are in a Catholic school. We go to Church on Sundays but they do often go to church during the school day. I usually make the effort to attend school Masses that welcome parents. Most of the children are also from Catholic families, but not many parents can drop work to attend the services. It's normal to not have parents attend.

There are some special masses you might want to attend; mainly the ones where your kid plays a key part, like if they sing a solo verse in a hymn, or read alone, part in the Nativity etc etc.

Mine went to a Catholic school for several years as it was an excellent school academically and we met some lovely people there-I’ve remained friends with several parents from the school and they’re by no means all Catholic.

I did attend some services for special occasions but non-Catholics don’t take Communion, we just stay in the pews.

My DC are Catholic but I am not, they go to a Catholic school. I go to the odd one where their specific class are doing a song or whatever just like I would go to anything else they were taking part in but not just the bog standard monthly ones.

My daughter is Catholic, so am I, they have a family mass at the school chapel sometime in November, and no I don´t go. You turn up if you want and don´t turn up if you don´t, why the angst?

I went to a catholic college despite never going to church, never being christened.

I was as expected to attend religious activities within college time - mass and Hail Marys. Nothing outside of that.

recommend watching on YouTube as they came as a bit of a surprise to me! Quite a lot of call and repeat during some of the ceremonies.

Faith schools are almost entirely state funded now.

I would have loved my village school to not be C of E, but no one asked me! So it was walk to that school in 2 minutes or pay and spend however much time shipping him back and forth on the bus to our nearest non faith school.

No wouldn't attend OP.

I did four weeks of work experience in a catholic school. I am agnostic, but attended the services. I found it interesting and enjoyed being included.

The school won't care if they're not Catholic.
At least 30% of my DS school year didn’t make their communions.
Are you happy for them to be taught about religion. It seems ridiculous that you haven't opted them out, inside of pretending as you seem so against it.
It makes no difference to the treatment or friendship for the child.

so a moderate point of view

Im intrigued that people are under the impression there is always a non-faith option for people to choose....
This is not the case. In many villages and smaller towns where theres only 1 primary school often its a CofE school and there is no other catchment school you can choose.