Question about sacramental programme for non-Catholic child in Catholic school

[NonCatholicInCatholicSchool]

DS9 is starting at a local Catholic school in January next year.

We (DH and I) are humanists and Presbyterian and Anglican church-musicians (singing in choirs and playing organ for the last 30+ years); and DS attends Sunday School, sings in the choir and plays the organ for Sunday morning services at our local Presbyterian church.

We wanted him to attend the Catholic school partly because it's absolutely tiny and has good pastoral care, but mostly so he spends time in school specifically on developing his knowledge of and belief in social justice, care and concern for others, and worthwhile, dignified participation in community. There are no local primary schools that are Protestant, and the state schools don't teach ethics, so the only choice for this is Catholic. Thankfully the Catholics were happy enough with our reasoning and happy to take him.

If attending a Catholic school ultimately leads him into a faith journey into Catholicism, we’d support him in that, to the extent possible, since we're not Catholic.

The local Catholic parish runs a sacramental programme for children, leading up to baptism/ confirmation/ first Holy communion. Parents go along too. It's run by the priest who signed the form to allow DS into the Catholic school.

Would it be really naive/ unwise of me to ask if DS could be allowed to attend the sacramental classes so that he can learn a bit in advance about the specifics of Catholicism, so he has a clue what is going on when he gets to the school?

Would that be viewed as taking advantage since he's not really entering the programme with the intention of becoming Catholic (yet, anyway)?

Or could it be viewed as appropriate engagement from a family who is showing curiosity and goodwill and who otherwise would be less effectively engaged with the school and parish?

Hey, I can't imagine the priest not allowing this but of course, I can't say that definitively, so all you can do is ask.

Also, I think it's really lovely that you want to do this. Best wishes to you all.

I certainly think it’s ok to ask. Explain your reasons in exactly the same way you have in your post and see what they say.

Best wishes. 😊

In the end, the priest's version was to say there's no sacramental programme running at the moment, which I suspect might need "...for your child" adding to it, since I know two kids who are doing it at the moment. These kids will be in my son's class next year.

Still, good to know where we stand...

@NonCatholicInCatholicSchool Still, good to know where we stand...

I am not a Roman Catholic so have not a lot of knowledge about their programmes. You sound a bit miffed?

Taking a wild guess, I imagine that a specific sacramental programme leading up to baptism/ confirmation/ first Holy communion is, what it says on the tin and not a general course on Roman Catholicism methodology for a boy whose non-Christian parents want him to attend a school that has 'ethics' and simply because he has an interest in social justice, etc. That is all very laudable and admirable of the boy and his parents, but I support the Priest for acting with integrity in this particular instance. He avoided a potentially unhelpful 'discussion' by being very gentle in his response, imho.

If you and your boy are serious about wanting to know more, maybe attending a Roman Catholic expression of church would be your starting point?

@TarraDiddles as we already attend Presbyterian, Anglican and Anglo-Catholic (depending on what each wants musically this week), there isn't much time left over when Catholic services are actually on.

We'll read about it instead (currently watching Diarmaid MacCulloch's History of Christianity). I'm not particularly miffed, just very tired. I had hoped the sacramental course could be a simple solution that wouldn't involve me doing information triage on yet another topic that I now have to know about, but clearly not.

One of the reasons both the priest and the school were happy for our son to attend the school, was that we had this background of having a specific idea of what we believe in (humanism) while spending distinctly more time than the average per week in church (i.e. 15 - 20 hours each, spent in rehearsals and services). About 10% of their students are non-Catholic, which can be anything from atheist to Muslim to Jewish to Protestant. They seem to look for people who have a clear belief in something, rather than ones who just want the slightly nicer educational environment paid for by the Church.