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!

The last supper : Peter - ' Lord , I don't like the look of that suspicious package under the table '
Jesus - 'Oh don't worry - it's only Judas's carry out'

Sorry .... couldn't resist

Back in the early 60s my C of E secondary school congregated, every first lesson period on a Thursday at the local C of E church for a service. The other days there was assembly in the hall.
If you don’t like the system don’t sign your DC into it, pick another school.

Same .
Well I’m Irish , still live here .
Went to a Catholic school .
We had morning & evening prayers , religion every day .
The priest came once a week to say mass .
We had confessions once a month , it was so fucking weird , ( the confessions I mean ) , looking back .
You’re right , communion & confirmation year was akin to studying for state exams !.
I sent my children to Catholic schools but far different now thankfully .
Good schools, & religion not emphasised at all like back in my time .

I cackled at this 😂

I am an atheist who taught in just such a Catholic school for 20+ years. It too was high achieving and still is. There is an ethical ethos and Christianity underlies all- but faiths of all types are respected. The mass was always interesting-just like assemblies are. There was communion for those who wished to partake. Just a part of the life of the school. It was interesting to see 15/16 year old rogues and scoundrels, heads bowed, receiving the blessing. They knew how to behave.
Nothing at all to be concerned about as a parent, in my view. A ‘normal’, caring and hardworking secondary school with add-ons!

Don’t think so.

St Ignatius. All I recall my boyfriend saying was he hated the brothers (monks) and didn’t seem to learn much there. My current boyfriend went to a catholic boys school in Kingston on Thames and he liked it, went onto college afterwards.

Oh yes😀I meant St Ignatius! St Edmonds is the church in Edmonton my kids were baptised in!

Yes, never heard the term Cultural Catholic before but that describes me. Definitely a layer of identity, and one I feel defensive about, even though I'm not a believer and probably never was.
But when I got married in a Catholic church to a non-catholic I was happy to agree to bring my children up as catholics, and when they were old enough they made their own choices (and are now strong atheists!). But I know the values and life views have stuck.

I know St Edmond’s well!

I mean, it is the 2nd commandment, keep holy the sabbath day, of course they’re going to have weekly mass. It’s actually considered a mortal sin to miss it

Before you start a handout / questions you pray for guidance.

My daughter attended a Catholic primary school and went to Mass weekly until she was about 14. It didn't do any harm. It is a time when they are required to be quiet and calm, giving them an opportunity to think about stuff without interruption. Given the noisy, busy environment found in most schools, it is worth a missed lesson.

It’s probably one of the ways in which they filter out the families that are only after good exam results.

should a resolute catholic child loose their place for your kids?

Yep. And it’s you ha ha ha

Shocker!

Faith based school practices faith based activities.

I hope your ‘with beasting’ was a typo or autocorrect fail 😂

In my DCs' RC elementary school in the US, weaving Catholic values into the entire school.day meant being inclusive, kind, and respectful of everyone in the building.

In math and science it meant helping others who were having a hard time understanding concepts, being honest about how difficult you found homework or tests and communicating difficulty to the teacher, being honest about handing in homework, not considering yourself special or superior if you were quicker than others, and never distracting the class with misbehavior. If group work was assigned, it meant not talking about group members behind their backs, and contributing your best work.

As the DCs got to algebra and geometry, the history of these areas of mathematics was part of the curriculum, giving an idea of mathematics as an ongoing field of intellectual exploration and also acknowledging the debt the west owes to the world of Islam.

In Religion class, the sections of the Catechism relating to the Church and scientific inquiry were studied (on top of other topics related to religion). The prevalence of fundamentalist Christianity in the US made it imperative to present to kids of 13/14 the RC Church philosophy on many topics close to the heart of fundamentalists - evolution, etc.

Its a Catholic school so would have masses! You need to choose a non faith school if you are not keen on the masses!

Interesting that it’s improved. Ex now has 2 girls unsure if he’d send them to catholic schools.

I was in a rush, I was late for Mass. 😆

Ps I kept an eye on him, priest managed not to abuse any kiddies.

It's a Catholic school. If I sent my kid to an Islamic school I'd expect there to be daily prayers. If I sent my kid to a Buddhist school I'd expect there to be meditation. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't send my kids to a religious school because I am not religious, but if it feels too much for your family I'd recommend looking at one of the secular schools.

Lapsed (extremely ... I've fallen off that wagon so far that I'm all but hanging underneath it 😂 ) Catholic here ... educated at both primary and grammar school levels in Catholic schools (the grammar school was run by nuns!!) and I don't recall weekly Masses in either. We had daily Assembly, with prayers and hymns in primary school, but nothing as intense at the second school. I don't understand why the school would use up valuable education time by sticking a Mass in the day. Are attendances mandatory for Catholic pupils? If not, then no problem, but if so, then I'd re-evaluating the balance and considering an alternative establishment; as you freely admit, you're not active practising Catholics, so I'm not sure what adverse difference an alternative good school would make.

If you dont like catholic things being done in a catholic school then dont send your children to a bloody Catholic school. Of course they are going to have Mass. It pisses me off when people choose the Catholic school because often its the best school in the area, and then dont want it to be catholic? if you want non denom education, send your children to a non denom school.

If its the best school, then the "missed period" isnt doing too much harm is it? ffs

I mean we moved away 10 years c ago partly because of the secondary school cover but friends who sent their kids there said it had improved.