Converting to Catholicism

[smplkd]

Hi all,

Wondering if you could help.

I'm Catholic, and my wife is CoE. We got our first daughter christened in a CoE Church when she was born (she's 4 in September).

We recently moved area, and I'd like my daughter to go to the local Catholic School (which I should have thought about before we get her Christened in a CoE church, but minor family politics...)

We've started attending the local Catholic Church, and I'm going to ask them details around getting my daughter baptised. But was wondering if there was anything I needed to do around conversion? Or whether or not I even need to get her baptised?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can’t have her rebaptised- you can only be baptised once. TheCatholic church recognises a C of E baptism. I would advise you to speak with the parish priest about future sacraments.

As far as I know non-Catholic can attend Catholic schools without any issues.

I’d ask your Priest about baptism. I know adults who attended classes, similar to what you’d do before first holy communion & confirmation, before joining the church when they then received the sacraments in one go.

Depending on whether the Catholic school is over subscribed or not, you may need to convince the priest your interest in bringing her up in the Catholic faith isn’t only to get her into the school.

Catholic schools will accept children who are non- Catholics but they would be lower down the admissions criteria. Depending on how subscribed the school is, you may need the priest to write a letter/reference to say she is now being brought up as a Catholic. I had a friend who did that. Her children had been baptised in another Christian denomination for her husband’s family. However, she did take them to mass weekly and they did have all the Catholic sacraments in due course.

@Fayrazzled

Depending on whether the Catholic school is over subscribed or not, you may need to convince the priest your interest in bringing her up in the Catholic faith isn’t only to get her into the school.

This. Also, as a pp said, you can’t ‘rebaptise’.

And a small child can’t ‘convert’.

Good luck at convincing the school and the church you are not converting into a practising catholic for the sake of a place in school.

One of the reasons I became a non practising catholic was because of all the busybodies both at the church and school questioning my commitment to the faith when I asked for a place at the local catholic school, which I firmly had until I was put through that shit.

The admissions criteria for the school should be very clear about what is needed to be considered under the Catholic category.

As EduCated says, the admissions criteria should be clear as to what is needed. Many Catholic schools simply require regular attendance to get priority, in which case you may not have a problem. If the school requires a Catholic baptism, I'm afraid you will miss out. As others have said, you can't get your daughter rebaptised. However, even if your daughter doesn't qualify for priority on faith grounds, she may still get a place. If the school still has places available after all the faith applicants have been allocated they must offer them to any other applicants.

@GrandmasCat

Good luck at convincing the school and the church you are not converting into a practising catholic for the sake of a place in school.

One of the reasons I became a non practising catholic was because of all the busybodies both at the church and school questioning my commitment to the faith when I asked for a place at the local catholic school, which I firmly had until I was put through that shit.

That really shouldn't happen, although I know it does. School admission criteria must be objective, which is why many use attendance. They must not make subjective judgements about people's faith or the reasons for attending church.

As others have said, most Catholic schools prioritise Catholic children in their admissions criteria and Catholic practice requires the child to have a Catholic baptism certificate and evidence of regular attendance at church. In many cases, practising Christians are next in the over-subscribed criteria so you may well still get a place, even if it’s off the waiting list.

@Fayrazzled

Depending on whether the Catholic school is over subscribed or not, you may need to convince the priest your interest in bringing her up in the Catholic faith isn’t only to get her into the school.

Good luck with that. They'll know exactly why you are there!

Good luck with that. They'll know exactly why you are there!

The OP's motives are irrelevant. School admission criteria are required to be objective. If they use attendance at church to prioritise, the OP's child must get priority if the required attendance is achieved. The priest cannot refuse to sign the necessary forms and they school cannot refuse to give priority just because they think the OP is only attending to get a school place.

I used to work for a Catholic Church with a catholic school attached to bigger church we sat under. The School can’t admit 100% catholics there is a cap. During the run up to getting a school place a lot of parents suddenly start attending church, getting their ‘cards’ stamped to as to proof of practicing (both primary and secondary both are in the area). The local priest is fully aware of those doing it for that reason and they have close links to the school - they ain’t stupid. If your doing just for a school place don’t set your hopes on it. We used to have laugh about it because it was so predictable…oh it such and such time again. The local priest also started applying strict criteria for Baptisms and First Communion due to the ‘abuse’ of the system. I’m not Catholic I am CofE and lots of Catholic kids go to our local CofE school because they can’t get into the Catholic school

The School can’t admit 100% catholics there is a cap

New academies and free schools with a religious character can only allocate 50% of places on faith grounds. There is no cap for existing VA schools. The Catholic church is very much against any cap, to the point where they prevented an independent Catholic school near Liverpool converting to a free school because of this cap, despite the fact that, as an independent school, it does not prioritise on faith grounds at all.

The local priest also started applying strict criteria for Baptisms and First Communion due to the ‘abuse’ of the system

The only criteria the priest should have been applying are those laid down in the school's admission arrangements. If the priest went beyond that due to "abuse of the system", it would actually be the priest who was abusing the system, not the parents. A properly trained appeal panel should have no problem deciding to admit any child where the priest has incorrectly refused to support the application.

As per my previous posts, admission arrangements must be objective and applied consistently. There is no room for priests to make subjective judgements of the strength of parents' faith or their reasons for attending church.

CofE is usually based on attendance whereas catholic schools are based on baptism and possibly attendance in addition. On Catholic baptism is accepted and you can’t rebaptise. There is a process for converting them young but once they’re at the age of being able to convert independently (around seven iirc) then they’re expected to go through the process themselves. I think the process for you to convert them is a bit of a faff but it can definitely be done. Speak to your priest. I think the most reliable route would be for your wife to convert and then I think it’s quicker and easier for your daughter to convert with her. You’re running out of time for next year’s intake though.

It is beyond credence that we are all financially supporting state catholic schools via taxes, local and national, and perpetuating this divisive and inequitable system.

A child is a child for heaven's sake and the religion of their parents is entirely irrelevant.

All schools should be non-faith schools, and parents should have the right to inculcate whatever religion they choose at home.

What is so laughable is that these church schools know that there is a lot of cheating with "mock" church attendance, and they continue to go along with this.

Get rid of state-funded religion-based schools and spare the OP his dilemma.

I have nothing against religion per se, but no-one should be forced to fund schools that are divisive.

It is beyond credence that we are all financially supporting state catholic schools via taxes, local and national

Your local taxes are not supporting Catholic schools. A small proportion of your national taxes goes to them. The land and buildings belong to the church which provides at least 10% of any capital funding. In many cases the church also provides some revenue funding.

parents should have the right to inculcate whatever religion they choose at home

They do.

What is so laughable is that these church schools know that there is a lot of cheating with "mock" church attendance, and they continue to go along with this.

That's because the government forces this. Admission criteria must be objective. If someone attends church as required by the admission criteria, their reasons for attendance are irrelevant. Someone who is not of the faith attending church to get a place at a faith school is not "cheating".

Get rid of state-funded religion-based schools and spare the OP his dilemma.

If we stopped funding faith schools or stop allowing them to prioritise on faith grounds, all Catholic schools would close and probably some others. That may sound like a good thing to you, but the problem is that the government would have to spend billions of pounds setting up schools for the displaced children. The cost to the taxpayer would be enormous. That's why it is unlikely to happen.

You have Miss read me, criteria relating to Baptism and First Communion have nothing to do which school admissions.

@Crispycremedelight

You have Miss read me, criteria relating to Baptism and First Communion have nothing to do which school admissions.

Ah, so you mean the priest was limiting who he was prepared to baptise and/or give communion to. That's ok from an admissions perspective. Whether it is ok from a church perspective I don't know.

@prh47bridge

Good luck with that. They'll know exactly why you are there!

The OP's motives are irrelevant. School admission criteria are required to be objective. If they use attendance at church to prioritise, the OP's child must get priority if the required attendance is achieved. The priest cannot refuse to sign the necessary forms and they school cannot refuse to give priority just because they think the OP is only attending to get a school place.

Which is why some schools now require evidence that the child was baptised as an infant, rather than opportunistically in the run up to school applications, and also a history of church attendance, rather than ‘showed up periodically in the run up to school applications’.

I can live with the idea of spending a shed load of money on getting rid of religion based schools. One-off spend and we suddenly find ourselves in the 21st century with an equitable system. France outlawed these divisive schools years ago - we can do the same.

Religion is a matter for the home and not for state-funded indoctrination, which is fundamentally wrong.

People like the OP are looking at conversion as a way of getting a child into school - how can this possibly be right? It has nothing to do with faith. Hypocrisy of the highest order.

Not all Church schools get funding from the Church.

@toomuchlaundry

Not all Church schools get funding from the Church.

Catholic schools are VA schools and receive funding from the church or a religious foundation - at the very minimum they are required to fund 10% of all capital work.

Anglican schools are a mixture. Some are VA schools which receive funding from the church or a religious foundation. Some are VC schools which may not receive any such funding. The admission criteria for VC schools are set by the LA. It is therefore up to the LA whether to give priority on faith grounds for such schools.

I missed out academies and free schools. The church or religious foundation is not required to give them any funding, but I believe most do. The land and buildings remain in church ownership.