AIBU to think weekly mass at Catholic schools feels quite intense?

[Endoftheway]

My DH and I have 3 children, we are going to be moving after summer to a new town, quite far from where we are right now.
Our children are baptised Catholic but really we don’t go to church much, I’d say it’s very much cultural Catholicism more than true belief.
Anyway the town we are moving to has one secondary school with a very good reputation, but it’s hard to get into as it’s a Catholic school, the admissions criteria right now has

1. Baptised Catholic Children attending a feeder school (any of the about 7 Catholic primary schools in the wider area)

Since that is the first line of the admissions criteria we are looking at the Catholic primary schools. Our children are currently in a Catholic primary school and I’d say the religious element is notable not all consuming, they have lots of children in the school who aren’t Catholic and many who are other religions.

What has shocked me is, the Catholic primary school we are looking at has a weekly mass, that is open to the public and all pupils attend, the above mentioned secondary school also has a weekly mass open to the public.

This has shocked me, one as the secondary school is losing a period a week to mass and as I find it hard to believe enough of the children are actually Catholic!
I understand that these are Catholic schools and I am all for prayers in assembly, and a general Catholic culture but weekly mass seems quite unavoidable for any children who aren’t Catholic or who are questioning religion.

AIBU to think this is quite intense? Even my schools growing up weren’t like this!

Then don’t choose that school then.

Being raised in Ireland we had religion most days of the week with prayers every day also. Communion and confirmation years was so much religion I am surprised we learned anything else. It is a huge reason why I didnt send mine to catholic schools.

Catholic primary and secondary school attender here, sounds about normal to me. Plus in secondary in the 80's we had mass on Holy Days of Obligation.

I had mass weekly at primary and then termly in secondary but there was a voluntary mass weekly in secondary too.
We had daily prayer in class, weekly assembly with more religious content & hymns. And retreat days / trips too.
Loved it! Not grown into a rosary rattler but I enjoyed the solid foundation.

Ultimately if you don't agree with it you don't send them to that school. Most decent Catholic schools are over subscribed so someone else will have the space.

Ha, it goes with the territory. We had that all through primary school. Just a regular Wednesday morning service. Sometimes it was a funeral. Of a total stranger. And I'm not joking!

Rolling my eyes. Obviously a very traditional Catholic school, doing (shock, horror) traditional Catholic things. If the school doesn´t reflect your ethos, choose another one. But perhaps it will be a lower performing school and you won´t like that either.

I'm not baptised into any religion and I went to a Catholic school that held a weekly mass, I quite enjoyed it, the priest usually had something interesting to talk about when he was doing the freestyle bit. I've never believed in a god and still don't.

Those are the best ones. You can evade yourself and sort a hell of a lot of pending stuff in your head.

That’s exactly what it is.

Send your child to a secular school if you don’t want the trappings of Catholicism, OP.

When I was at my Catholic primary, the day began and ended with a religious assembly and, as a pp said, everything was subordinated to First Communion and Confirmation in those years. At secondary, there was a morning prayer and and end of day prayer, and the Angelus at noon over the intercom, and many lessons began with a brief prayer.

I generally spent Mass engaging in teenage sexual fantasies.

You're complaining about mass once a week but choosing to send them to a Catholic school? What level of mass would be acceptable to you?

I was brought up Catholic and remember all the prep involved woth communion, confession, confirmation, it was all consuming. I'm really not sure what you were expecting but I'd send them elsewhere.

🙂

Completely normal for lots of Catholic schools. I had some friends from my school whose parents went to mass every day. Weekly isn't that intense.

If religion is used in the admissions policy then the schools is going to be more intense than a school that doesn't prioritise a particular faith.

Around here there are a number of Church of England Primary schools. However, they don't specify any conditions in respect of religion in their admissions policy. usually because they are the only school in the village/town. So they are deemed inclusive not faith schools. They do still have to have a Christian distinctiveness and collective worship but do recognise other faiths and non-faith.

I’m an atheist but DD attends a Catholic school. I don’t see your issue - it’s a Catholic school, they have mass. It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things - a relatively short church service. If you don’t want the Catholicism, don’t send your kid to Catholic school.

Also, it’s a bit cheeky to lean into being a Catholic to get a good school but then lean out when it comes to the religious bits. You can’t have your cake and eat it.

If that has shocked you, OP, wait til you hear what they say about people who are attracted to the same sex, or who are sexually active outside marriage, or use contraception.

Imaging a catholic school having mass! Don’t send them there then if you don’t like the religious aspect! It’s not rocket science is it.

See also: "but I didn't mean for the leopards to eat MY face!"

Not in my experience, and I attended convent school from 1977 till 1990. We weren’t taught about contraception (in part because the person who taught sex ed was an elderly nun), but homosexuality or extramarital sex were literally never mentioned.

How is it any different from weekly assemblies at a secular school?

I don't see it as an issue. Even though a lot of my family are either atheist, or a different religion, lots went to Catholic schools if they were the nearest, and there was no issue. It was good for them to learn about one of the main religions in the country, and they enjoyed some of it.
(My GGG gran on the Scottish side said everyone used to send their kids to Sunday school as it was the only free childcare they got back then, and that it was important children went to Mass to learn to sit quietly!)

You're picking a Catholic school, but you're surprised they are doing Catholic things? Don't like it, pick a different school.

Catholic schools is Catholic. Hold the front page.

Midweek mass run about 30 min and can be lovely.