Should an Atheist go to a Catholic School?

[mamam69]

thank you!

[mamam69]

Thank you -

It is less the friend (who is really her sister’s friend) and more the location, which is in the Bay area - just the right distance from home with a cool city nearby and more than generous merit aid.

I think the concept about learning about the Bible is not and issue, as she recognizes it as an important influence on modern US society - but yes I think for someone who has never set foot in church other than the occasional historical tourism spot, seeing fully robed ‘Brothers’ on campus and potentially in her dorms might feel pretty ‘weird’.

[mamam69]

I appreciate everyone’s thoughtful remarks. I will look into the book mentioned.

The college in question is St. Mary’s of California - which seems to be a bit of a sleeper in terms of information on the web. We are not local to the area and it does seem that many of the current students are from in state.

The school has about 50% self-identifying catholics and is in the Bay area - so a geographic area that is very liberal in general. I’m not worried about my kid having access to reproductive health, bc we will make sure she has it - but philosophically it ‘bugs’ me (and I think her) that it would not be accessible on campus to all. One of th ‘offensive’ things is that one of the college slogans is “God is a Gael (their mascot” - which is problematic in a variety of ways. However the ‘friend’ mentioned earlier actually ‘discovered that she liked girls’ (her words) while at school - so clearly there is acceptance (if not celebration) of the LGTBQIA community.

This is my 3rd kid to go through this and the 2 before her were very high achieving and applied to, were accepted by and ended up at very selective colleges. This kid, while just as capable, was hit hard by the pandemic and doesn’t want to hustle the way her siblings have.

So this kid chose schools to apply to that she knew she would get into, and didn’t really apply to any reach schools - just ones that would offer good merit -which they all have. This is also a kid, who is more introverted and while she has strong opinions, she may not always feel able to express them when folks are louder or more insistent than she is. That is one thing that appealed to us about St Mary’s, which is that they supposedly help people ‘find their voice’ - but I don’t know how that would play out if the voice is in disagreement with the core beliefs of the organization.

[gardenstategal]

If it’s St.Mary’s, I know a pretty laid back (and go with the flow), non-Catholic who was comfortable there. Does not necessarily mean your D will be, but my friend (who had attended a quaker high school) didn’t find it oppressive.

[mamam69]

thanks - yes it is St Marys’

[Wjs1107]

If you look at some of the online reviews on Niche, no one mentions religion. The school’s site also doesn’t make a big mention of it. It’s there, under student life, way down in the long list of navigation items.

There are other themes of complaints—a limited social life, lousy food, need for a car—nothing that a small, suburban school doesn’t hear in a lot of places. Lasallian values seem to be more about service than religious indoctrination. To be honest, they wouldn’t survive in the Bay Area without being very accepting of multiple faiths or alternate beliefs.

I think if your D isn’t offended by a mix of kids, some of whom may be Catholic, others who are other faiths, and doesn’t mind any religious coursework, then it may not affect her experience too much.

I live in the Bay Area, and Moraga is a tiny town on the other side of the tunnel from Oakland. It’s possible to get to Oakland easily enough on Bart, or assumingthey make it easy to get to the stations it looks like there might be a commuter culture, suitcase school—that would be a bigger concern because it can make it hard to make friends and have a social life. But I don’t think religion would be the reason to turn it down