<p>dunno what Baelor would say but I say LOL, schmalz…</p>
<p>Still, I would guess that having such a high percentage of students with some sort of Catholic background would give a college a different feel than if they were in a small minority.</p>
<p>
Those others are all rhetorical questions, but this one…</p>
<p>From what I saw at BC, it’s not drinking a Guinness that makes a guy feel Irish, it’s regurgitating about 10 of them.</p>
<p>There’s Catholic and then there’s IRISH Catholic…</p>
<p>Exactly. If someone told me he was wary of BC because there are too many Irish-Americans there, I’d say “I don’t blame you.” The whole Catholic thing is a red herring. I am reminded of the scene in Blazing Saddles where the African-Americans and Chinese-Americans [cleaned up for political correctness] were allowed in the town, “…but not the Irish!”</p>
<p>Actually I don’t agree the Catholic thing is a red herring.</p>
<p>Although Catholic schools aren’t necessarily similar, the Catholic-ness of a school can affect campus atmosphere and the experience of being a student there.</p>
<p>And I do think this is true in BC’s case.</p>
<p>As a college teacher who teaches at a school with a large population of Catholics, I can say that students who have been brought up Catholic (by that I mean have attended any kind of Catholic instruction) do behave differently in the classroom, so I imagine it would affect a school, albeit very subtly.</p>
<p>The reason I think the Catholic thing is a red herring is that Catholics are an incredibly diverse and non-cohesive bunch. They are all nationalities and all races, not in small numbers but in large numbers. Where I live, there are plenty of Catholic Arabs (Chaldeans). There seems to be about zero common ground between them and other Catholics. It is hard for me to imagine what traits a fendrock and others would be expecting out of a predominantly Catholic school. If you said a predominantly Irish-Catholic school, or a predominantly Chaldean-Catholic school, or a predominantly Filipino-Catholic school, I can imagine it. But merely Catholic?</p>
<p>Also, my kids have played in sports leagues composed of teams from public schools, and sports leagues composed of teams from Catholic parishes. Even though the public school teams are often all-white or all-black, the games themselves are nowhere near as intense or dirty as when the teams from different Catholic parishes clash. In other words, merely being fellow-Catholics means nowhere near as much as some non-Catholics seem to presume it does.</p>
<p>A predominantly Catholic student body will have been raised in, or at least had exposure to, a common worldview - the Pope, Mass, concepts of sin, confession, the role of women - etc</p>
<p>They will not raise an eyebrow at a crucifix or people crossing themselves - things that appear foreign to non-Catholics.</p>
<p>I arrived at BC one day as a long line of fully robed priests made their way to the chapel.</p>
<p>Does such an experience make me think that a Jew or Moslem would be uncomfortable at BC? - no, not necessarily.</p>
<p>Do I think it would color the experience of being a student at BC? - yes, I do.</p>
<p>Being required to take a class in religion, having daily mass in the campus chapel or having mass for families at orientation - a Catholic school may have these whereas a secular school will not.</p>
<p>“fully robed priests made their way to the chapel.”</p>
<p>To the chapel? Does BC have a chapel? I think there is a tiny one in the Jesuit residence, but as far as I know, that’s it. BC has a Hillel, but not a chapel. <a href=“http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Campus.aspx?AgencyId=17233[/url]”>http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Campus.aspx?AgencyId=17233</a></p>
<p>BC doesn’t even have it’s own church…there is a church adjacent to the campus, but it has no official tie with the school.</p>
<p>Did the line of fully robed priests try to hustle you off to be converted, too?</p>
<p>Anyway, how dare there be priests on a Catholic campus?!</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the BC theology courses: <a href=“http://www.bc.edu/crs/th/index/web/all.courses.shtml[/url]”>http://www.bc.edu/crs/th/index/web/all.courses.shtml</a><br>
Do you think you’d have trouble finding two courses to satisfy the theology requirement that wouldn’t involve being force-fed Catholicism? “Islamic Civilization,” taught by Professor Bloom, perhaps?</p>
<p>I have absolutely no problems with priests on a Catholic campus! - or any campus for that matter.</p>
<p>I was just surprised to see them - not sure where they were headed, I was in my car at the entrance gate at the time…</p>
<p>Just reminded me it was a Catholic school, that’s all!</p>
<p>It occurs to me now that in the parcel of land that BC obtained in the last few years was previously the home of the Archbishop of Boston…so it might have a chapel of some sort. But any sort of hint that attendance at services there should be in any way required is unthinkable. Sorry, Baelor.</p>
<p>I went to graduate school at BC. No religious course, no catholic push - at all. Now the Irish Catholic thing - when I walked onto the campus in the early 80s, with my reddish hair and freckles, I thought I had found my people - we all looked the same. Hopefully that has changed by now.</p>
<p>When we visitied Fairfield, DS loved the campus, the sky was blue and all the flowers were bloomin’, it had the right programs, would have been a great safety, was in a good location, costs would have been in line. All looked good. We had discussed the Jesuit approach to open minded learning; it seemed intellectually attractive. Then in the introductory lecture hall presentation to visitors, the good Father stepped up in his robes to give the welcoming speech. DS whispered, “no way,” and that was that. Walking back to the car we passed a group of robed Priests (?) walking the paths to don’t know where. That was a learning experience for us. I think if DS had attended a BC type school and then had crucifixes affixed (heh) to the walls over winter break there would have been hell (heh heh) to pay.</p>
<p>And yeah, I have been informed by a few evangelicals and one catholic that I’ll be going there (h.e.doublehockeysticks as they so quaintly put it when we were 8 years old) since I am Jewish. Fun times!</p>
<p>I avoided considering any Catholic colleges eons ago- was raised Catholic in a liberal diocese. Did go to mass on weekends (cool to go in T-shirt and shorts late Sat pm or Sun noonish) at the extremely liberal public U but quit later when on a Catholic campus in a conservative diocese (the student communion servers were horrified that we gave each other the host- that kept me reverent, for the other person’s sake- this was the pre AIDs era), likewise in yet another conservative diocese I couldn’t tolerate church.</p>
<p>That said- every Catholic college will have many Catholics with a common set of background familiar practices, whether liberal or conservative. Different parts of the country even have different religous “flavors”. Wisconsin has a significant number of Catholics- and Friday fish frys. Many southern states are in the Bible belt with a different set of norms. Even public schools are influenced by regional demographics. The dominent ethnic groups set the tone- historic immigrant populations. This influences every student’s comfort zone. I was told by a physician at Duke when I checked out residency programs that there was a Catholic church in town- this floored me then as my experience was every small town in Wisconsin had at least one Catholic church and bar, other denominations may or may not have had a church. I found that the Catholic run hospital in Indianapolis was utilized mainly by nonCatholics because of the city demographics.</p>
<p>BTW- some Catholic colleges are in trouble with the Pope for their liberal tendencies- the Jesuits don’t typically toe the party line.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that BC currently requires students to take a course in religion - and a survey course is a prerequisite for many, so that you can’t necessarily just take the type of religion course that interests you.</p>
<p>
Of course a Canadian flag represents only a social/political identification, whereas the crucifix also represents an ideological one. Canadians are bound by shared history, geography and culture, but not by a shared set of beliefs about the governance of the universe. So there’s a bit of an apples/oranges issue here. </p>
<p>That said, a person might certainly feel out of place in a foreign university (even though you did not), and that might turn out to be a dealbreaker, and they might not realize it till they visited. So to that extent, the analogy does hold up.</p>
<p>The theology requrement must just be for undergrad, unless things have changed. </p>
<p>“How could anybody make sense of the global situation these days without understanding something about religion?”</p>
<p>I totally agree. I am a fallen catholic, my children are not religious, but we talk religion with them all the time - many religions.</p>
<p>The core theology courses (updated):</p>
<p>[Courses</a> Satisfying University Core Requirements](<a href=“http://fmwww.bc.edu/core/coretheol.php]Courses”>http://fmwww.bc.edu/core/coretheol.php)</p>
<p>Yeah, the theology rqmt is undergrad-only.</p>
<p>“Of course a Canadian flag represents only a social/political identification…”
It also represents beer and hockey, so there are two more overlaps with the crucifixes at BC. ( I recall seeing a commercial-size beer truck making a delivery at the Jesuit residence hall.)</p>