To up dcs chances in this way

[benetint]

I've always believed in God. I went to a church school and really enjoyed the religious education and found a lot of comfort in my faith. However my parents weren't religious at all so I was never baptised and we didn't attend church. In adult life I gained the confidence to start exploring my faith and I really wanted to start attending church. I considered myself a Christian but had no idea which church to go to. My gran was a devout catholic so I decided to go on the Rcia course which I really enjoyed and I was baptised catholic last Easter. I could have as easily gone down the cofe e route.

Now it's coming to school applications and some of the really good schools around us are catholic and cofe. To get your kids into catholic school they need to be baptised catholic (which they are) but to attend the cofe school it's church attendance that's required.

So basically I wanted to know if it would be really wrong for me to attend a cofe church as a baptised catholic? Like I say I was religious anyway and didn't really mind which side I went down so there would be more to me going than just schools..but it would tick both schools boxes too. I feel guilty even asking...

But then you would get actual religious families kicking off that people only want into the church school for the grades and not the faith a d xx missed out on a place to someone who doesn't wen believe etc

You would get loads of appeals and resentment

You would get loads of parents 'how dare you teach religion to my non religious child etc'

Too much of a headache!

I just wanted to thank everyone so much for taking the time to reply. I'm sorry its taken me so long to say this, the whole situation has been eating me up with guilt.

Thanks so much in particular to those people who have supported me. Being a Christian means so much to me and this is why I had my children baptised. But the catholic vs cofe route has made me feel awful. I'm not a bad person I promise - I want to do what's right by my kids but also God! Thanks to all those for saying a Christian is a Christian and denomination is more about organisation/rules. That makes me feel a lot better.

I feel at home in the catholic church because of my family's background and I have met so many wonderful people along the way. But the cofe church have welcomed me with open arms and I find myself agreeing with a lot of their more moderate beliefs.

Benetint if you believe in God and chose a type of Christianity because of your Granny (which sounds like a lovely reason to me), I can't imagine God will mind you going to a CofE church. At the end of the day, these schools are all set up to nurture faith communities. If you get your kids into the CofE school and continue to go to the CofE church and bring them up in the CofE, or if you go to the Catholic school and you bring them up as Catholics...you're fulfilling what the school hopes for wherever they are. Anyway, isn't the definition of catholic something of broad, liberal scope? "We believe in one catholic and apostolic church" is in the Nicene creed used by the CofE as well. I would have no moral problem with sending a Catholic child to a CofE school or vice versa, not if you are a sincere Christian. Where religion is fanatical and has no flexibility, it is almost always destructive and poisonous - any sane person will find themselves agreeing with the moderate views of a large number of religions. And difficult, gray situations are not the same as "hedging your bets" - life isn't black and white. Great religious leaders are usually a lot broader and more human in their thinking than we sometimes give them credit for.

While I don't think there's any problem either with you choosing to attend a church of another denomination, or with your children attending a school of another denomination, I think you know already it is technically dodgy to choose a different church in order to get double school place chances, rather than for the church itself. Also, what will you do once they get their place? Will you, if you end up with a place at the CofE but not at the Catholic school, then keep them going in the church of that school? Or will you zip out of the CofE church along with all the pray not pays? Or will you zip out and take them back to mass, but still consider the fact they're in a church school at all to be a good outcome? Will your actions have a negative impact on other children who believe they should only try for one denomination? How you reconcile all this with your beliefs is up to you, and I don't think "greater good" is a moral cop-out. If this is really troubling you, and you have a priest or vicar or someone who you like and trust, perhaps you could talk to them honestly about it? If it were me I'd feel better for having admitted my dilemma to my own faith leader. I might not end up with the answers I'd been hoping for, but I would at least have been sincere and brave.

Anyway, it sounds like you have a good chance of getting a place at a good school so in practical terms I would try not to worry too much. If you don't want to have it out with the priest but you still feel guilty doing both I would probably just put them down for the Catholic schools.

My bro is a vicar in the c of e and the school attached to his church requires attendance. Some vicars take a 'register' to check attendance of kids whereas my bro takes the time to get to know the ppl in his congregation and will tell parents he will be honest with the reference he provides. Ie, he will not lie about the length of time they have attended or the commitment they have made (ie, he gets some turning up once every couple of months and then expecting a glowing ref in order to get into school). At the end of the day, once they get into the school, the pupils are then taught about church life and my bro has an active part in the school - he does assemblies in school and the kids walk down to church for services at different festivals and saints days.
It always baffles me why non religious parents (no reflection on you benetint, just a comment) would want their child to attend a religious school where they are going to be part of/and educated in a religious community!
It doesn't matter what a persons background is-if they choose to join the church, my bro will try to make them feel welcome.

that would be an ecumenical matter!

go. God is God.

It always baffles me why non religious parents (no reflection on you benetint, just a comment) would want their child to attend a religious school where they are going to be part of/and educated in a religious community!

For us because our catchment school is a VA c of e school and we have no hope in getting in anywhere else. Ours doesn't require church attendance but is quite religious with church attendance. DH and I are not religious but I don't mind my dc having the religious education and choosing for themself.

FWIW I am a communicant member of the C of E and I don't think it's for the state to subsidise religious schools of any type, nor should it be a requirement of attendance. Totally baffling idea. Has nothing to do with modern schooling at all.

seeker i am 48 and have always been allowed, as a Catholic, to go to other faith's churches. You must be even older than I am.

Thank you again everyone, i keep reading through this when i start having doubts and it really helps.

Weissbier, I can't thank you enough for your detailed and supportive post, it meant such a lot.