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!

Religious schools of any type are intense and extremely unnecessary. School is not for indoctrination.

Catholic schools are a bit overhyped in my experience but 1 mass per week is not too much.

Strange how opinions differ. My late mother was a practising Methodist but she strongly believed that Catholic schools were the best schools, particularly a now-closed school in Newcastle called La Sagesse, which my parents couldn't afford to send me to.

Doesn't seem like a big deal really.

I would choose this school for your children.

The local Catholic schools in my area, none are considered that great, they may have been when I was younger. In Enfield a Christian brothers Catholic school where my ex went, he said it was bad education wise. Both my aunties went to La Retraite Clapham in 60s and left with not many qualifications.

Cultural catholicism? New school time I think

That does sound intense. I went to a catholic school and we only had mass on holy days, but they were long services and the whole morning or afternoon was pretty much a write off.

They possibly do this in part to stop people just getting their kids baptised to get a good school place, despite not actually practicing the faith...

Was it At Edmonds in Enfield? It used to be rubbish but improved a lot from what I heard!

My son went to a Catholic prep school which did this. The Church was next door and the priests would hold a service in school assembly each month, parents and friends could attend too. We are not Catholics, but the school was very welcoming and we thought school discipline was good. I think if you want a catholic education then this is not unusual.

Interesting. I went to a RC school, indeed a convent, in the 1970s, mass was once a week at 8.30 (school day started at 9) and was optional. Having said that if you were known to be in the building at that time it was frowned upon if you didn't go. I used to get in early as my Dad dropped us off on his way to work and my lack of attendance was 'mentioned' at parents evening but there were never any consequences.

On topic, I think you need to decide what is most important to you.

Don’t like it, don’t send them to a Catholic school! It’s basically a weekly whole school assembly - which we had at my secondary school (state, non religious). I think it’s a good thing (if done well). Not all learning has to happen in classrooms in scheduled lessons to be valid.

Participating in and learning about the Mass is more important than anything on the school curriculum. At best the latter may offer fleeting worldly success, the former offers eternal life. Going to Mass is the most important thing we can do for ourselves and others each day. Why not try attending Masses yourself? There is nothing as great and as beautiful as the celebration of the Eucharist. As a parent of three children bapitised into the faith you have you not already accepted the responsibility to raise them in the sacramental life of the Mystical Body of Christ? Why not join in that extraordinary life which you undertook to help give your children?

One mass a week is intense, lol.

the headteacher proudly said in a presentation that “religion is woven through every subject we do, so even when we’re learning maths…”

I wonder what that means in practice. I've seen similar on a few catholic school websites. How do they weave it into maths?

I wonder what that means in practice. I've seen similar on a few catholic school websites. How do they weave it into maths?
It’s quite difficult to weave Catholic Social Teaching into Maths, but you could have reasoning questions about CAFOD cake sales if you do your own planning, I suppose. Even White Rose Maths has the option to use the characters to come up with extension activities, although I’ve never seen it done with a CST spin! Your behaviour policy is likely to be based on Catholic values too, so any behaviour rewards (you showed resilience when Maths got tricky, just like St X, for instance) could reflect that.

Not everyone chooses Catholic schools for the generally high results...some of us choose them mainly for the Catholicness.

DS1 came home the other day and said he'd been to confession (just the Catholic DC who wanted to went). I thought it was nice but I feel like OP might find it a bit much?

Catholic social teaching takes me back to secondary school. I've tried very hard not to buy any nestle products since that particular assembly (my friend talked about the nestle milk scandle and the school got rid of all the nestle products in the vending machines) 😊

A depressing number of posters seem perfectly happy with a)covert selection in tax payer funded schools and b) people of faith,or who are prepared to lie about being people of faith having a choice of around 30% more tax payer funded schools than people without faith or who are not prepared to lie about it. Which is pretty outrageous if you think about it.

Thanks

religion is woven through every subject we do, so even when we’re learning maths…”
How do they weave it into maths?

-Holy Trinity, three into one.
-If you have 12 disciples at a last supper, and one of them is a bit dodgy, how many are left?
-If you have 5 loaves and two fishes, how many people can you feed?
🤔

Im surprised it’s only once a week
YABU clearly

😀

Yup same, and a chapel in the school. I think its normal in a catholic school.

It's a Catholic school, so, you were expecting something else?

I went to a Catholic primary in Ireland many moons ago. Loads of prayers but no Mass. I thought there was a shortage of priests?