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!

But the majority of families sending their children to Catholic schools in the UK are not Catholics or in any way religious.

You've come on here to find the culturally Christian parents. The ones who dont mind a quick 'Our Father' in exchange for a decent school place and you're probably surprised to find there are some Christian parents on here who value their children attending mass and would describe their religion is more important than academic success.

If you find the Catholicism aspect of your child's school problematic or strange, you're probably in the wrong place.

YABU. If you don’t like it, go to another school.

The only bit that concerns me is the open to the public bit as how do staff know who is in there?

You can walk into any church, any time. It's like libraries, or shops.

Convent educated in the ‘70s, prayers at the start of every lesson, religious assembly every morning, mass in chapel every lunchtime, mass on Sunday. Benediction throughout Lent. Mass once a week is positively amateurish in comparison!

As others have said, academic results weren’t impacted, it and the related boys’ school were the best in the city.

We had that at my school and I was a Eucharistic minister in 6th form

We got taken to morning mass at primary not sure how often, but yeah funerals were a regular thing!
At secondary we had a chaplain and mass would be said on holidays of obligation
(compulsory) & lunch time masses during Lent which were open to the public. My DGPs often attended these as the school was very close to their house.

Does anyone think the OP is coming back?
When my child went to catholic school (we are Church of England) I enjoyed the open service (mass) the children stayed at the front. And other than a casual wave from DD. No other interaction.
I do love a good hymn.

This.

It always amazes, and entertains me, that people are desperate to get their children into church schools because they are so good, but complain about the church aspect of the school. Do you not think that perhaps there's a connection between the grounding in faith and the school being so good?

OP doesn’t exist. It’s a wind up post - no one is seriously this daft.

Attending mass is so central to Catholicism. I was brought up Catholic and my family went in for it all in a BIG way. Went to a convent school too.

Despite my complete immersion in the whole religion and culture it didn't stick and I never felt anything for any of it. But I do know that for those who are Catholic the opportunity to attend mass is a real treat - the more often the better. Mass on a Sunday was absolutely non negotiable (to the extent that we weren't allowed to go to sleepovers or on overnight trips if it would prevent Mass attendance) as was going on a Holy Day of Obligation. If there were weekday masses/finerals/weddings then my relatives would be in a rush to get a bonus turn in!

DH and I have similar backgrounds and similar Celtic routes with similar relatives. We both went to Catholic schools throughout. Neither of us are practising as adults and our dc are clueless (couldn't recite the (old) creed like automatons with us 🤣)

There is NO WAY I would want dc to go to a Catholic school. I find it baffling that so many people lie and cheat their way in but have seemingly no understanding of the tenets of the faith, nor any real tolerance or respect for those who follow it! Weird!

I went to catholic schools in primary we had weekly mass the church was right next to the school . In secondary we didn't we did however have Dec's brother father donnely come in easter and Christmas to do mass during the weekly assembly.

In other shock news the Pope is also Catholic

Very normal, as in regards to practising the religion. Same for staff who aren't catholic to attend masses for special occasions and end of term etc.

OP, my DDs went to a Catholic secondary school, and they had mass once a week. At their C of E primary school, there were weekly assemblies that were open to the parents to attend, and also a service in church at the end of every term. It’s perfectly normal.

Not shocked at all. what are you shocked about? Honestly the mass is usually pretty cool at our child’s.
if it is that big a deal, don’t select it just to get into a feeder school!

Oh for goodness sake ........

There is such an emphasis on every single moment of every single lesson being spent in LEARNING in schools nowadays that I believe it increases stress on students as well as teachers to the point of being counter productive. Stress is not the single ingredient for making brains work and thrive. So a lesson of respite and reflection - spiritual or not - is almost certainly beneficial.

This was my experience- I liked the reflection, enjoyed learning the mass, and enjoyed the hymns

I’m sure some actual practising Catholics would love those places that you’re angling for.

YABVU. A few of our kids went to a religious private school. There were religious studies daily that took up an hour, up until senior school. In Senior school that swapped to compulsory religious syllabus for standardised exams for all people in our State that took the subject. On top of this was a weekly Chapel encompassing from Reception to Senior School in the nearby church. On top of that, there was one week each year where it was one full day and 4 half days of worship. To balance all this, they made the school day an hour longer.

We were not of that religion but it was a school that suited some of our kids in other aspects. It would have been extremely unreasonable of us to voice dissatisfaction with the religious element, so we didn’t. If we were dissatisfied, we had the option of moving those kids elsewhere, but that was not necessary.

I think it's far too intense. But I'm against indoctrinating children and wish we didn't have any kind of religious schools so I'm bound to think that.

What do you base this on? I'd agree it's true of C of E schools but I don't think it's true of Catholic schools. Sending your child to a Catholic school is a very distinct choice, it's not usually the default option.
And OP, if you're still reading, if you feel like this then send your child elsewhere as I think that you may spend years feeling irritated.