Hi
I am an international student (from Italy) and I’m considering HC because it has a good reputation, but I am not a catholic. Personally I wouldn’t mind a college that has an emphasis on spiritual life as well, but I am not sure whether I would fit in if the vast majority of students are catholic. Also my parents wouldn’t want me to go there if they thought I would be ‘indoctrinated’ in any way.
Opinions?
Wherever you go in the US, the vast majority of students are Christian. On the scale of being religiously pushy, American Catholics are at the bottom of the scale, Jesuits would be the least likely subset of Catholics to push religion. In some areas of the US, non-Catholic Christians are much more overt in terms of religion.
Holy Cross has religious symbols, statues and artwork, that is the extent of it.
In the course of 4 years, I would bet you never have a priest or nun as a professor. In fact, even in the Theology department there are only a few clergy teaching.
You shouldn’t be concerned, unless seeing religious symbols bothers you.
no that doesn’t at all. Most students in Europe are christian too. I was just worried about the actual religious life on campus, that’s all! Thank you @ScaredNJDad
Other than symbols there is no religious life unless that is what you want.
Maybe this will put you at ease, all of student residences are Coed. This is not the case at many other Catholic schools.
So if unmarried males and females can live together at Holy Cross, it certainly would not be a strict traditionally Catholic school.
My S went to a different Jesuit College (Fordham in NYC). I would say that religion is available on campus for those who which to participate but it is not forced on anyone. That said, you will see religious symbols on campus and it is likely that there is a church on campus. And the core curriculum likely includes some philosophy and theology coursework. In general, I’d say you do not need to be Catholic but should be respectful of religion if you choose to consider Holy Cross.
And to comment on the post above, at Fordham the dorms were all co-ed as well (just no co-ed bathrooms).
If Holy Cross has a thread on the alphabetical list, you may want to post the question there since it is school specific.
As others have said, it’s mostly in the less obvious things that the Catholic affiliation becomes noticeable.
In addition to artwork, for example, Catholic colleges such as Fordham do not make contraception available to students – unlike their secular peers.
^^^True about the contraception but kids seem to figure out ways to skirt rules like that pretty easily – for example at Fordham students walk to the drug store a block off campus.
There is a religious studies requirement for any degree but it can be filled in ways that are not necessarily christian. I can’t find the explicit class requirements are but I do see that they have classes studying the Quran, Buddhism, Islam, etc. http://catalog.holycross.edu/academics/rels
I would respectfully ask you to consider other colleges. If your asking how religious is the school, then do you even understand what the Jesuits are trying to do with their educational establishments? Go to Boston University if your worried about religion. The Catholic colleges have as their primary aim to education young catholics. Just going there because it is a good school means taking away a spot from someone who may truly have a passion for what the Jesuits aim for. And that my friend is Social Justice.
I’m a freshman this year and I was a bit apprehensive initially about coming to a religiously affiliated school. I come from a non-Catholic tradition, have never been very religious, and I was never really exposed to religious life growing up. Over the past couple months I’ve come to really appreciate the Jesuit tradition here, and there really is a place here for people of all faith traditions, even if that means being agnostic or atheist. There is no pressure here to be religious and students are very accepting, and there are a lot of great opportunities through the Chaplain’s Office no matter what faith background you come from (like immersion trips). The only thing I would say is there are religiously affiliated events that you’ll be required to go to as a freshman, but it’s very minimal. Of course, the vast majority of students here are Catholic and there are so many great opportunities for those that are Catholic, but it is absolutely a very welcoming community to everyone and I wouldn’t worry at all about Holy Cross’s religious affiliation.
Like @NicaBenji, I come from a pretty secular background and was afraid that it’d be weird. But honestly, it doesn’t play a role in your time here if you don’t want it to. In fact, despite growing up agnostic/secular and going to a Catholic college, I’ve actually been in the process of converting to Zen Buddhism! No one will force anything on you in terms of religion, nor will you get chastised for not being religious 
@NicaBenji thank you for you answer! I decided to go to Sewanee, the University of the South in the end