How religious are catholic universities?
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Anonymous
| We are agnostic. DC is interested in some catholic universities (ex. Villanova). How religious are these schools and can you fit in if you weren’t raised catholic or in any religion? |
Anonymous
| I have a similar question and wonder if Jesuit universities are less “Catholic” feeling or have more liberal student bodies than non-Jesuit Catholic ones. Especially for a daughter (birth control access, etc). Thank you. |
Anonymous
| Check with the health center to see if they will prescribe birth control. I bet the answer is NO. A minute clinic could be an option. |
Anonymous
If she needs a new prescription, she would get healthcare off campus. She would us a pharmacy off campus. This is not difficult. |
Anonymous
If he can handle lots of Catholic kids from New Jersey, Villanova will be fine. Jesuit schools also fine. Usually there will be a couple of theology courses required, though they are from a historical/philosophical viewpoint, not proselytizing. Go for a visit. |
Anonymous
| Should be at the bottom of the factors to consider. |
Anonymous
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Most will have a lot of culturally Catholic students, and a fair number of religious students.
Most will have a Church somewhere on campus and some people will go there once a week, a very small minority may go daily, lots won't go at all. College tends to be a big phase of Catholic rebellion. Most will have religious artwork in various places. Most will require that you take a core that includes at least some theology classes. This is a good thing IMO, as most people argue about or judge religions without any basis in understanding what religion even is; even an atheist needs to actually understand what it is that they are against. And in fact, most Catholic kids, particularly those who did not attend a Catholic high school have a very juvenile understanding of their own religion and benefit tremendously from deeper learning about the history and philosophy. So a good philosophy or history based theology course will be most interesting and useful, to many and is also useful if you are prelaw, as a lot of common law is based on the same moral philosophy as many religions. Notably, most universities offer similar courses, but don't require them of all students. Birth control on campus: some have it, many don't, so be prepared. IME: You are also likely to encounter more virgins that in other places, so make sure your child expects this if they are sexually active (also a small number of kids who may be judgmental about it); also more kids who have little to no sex ed beyond Theology of the Body, if even that, so be 10x more cautious about things like consent and birth control -- this goes for all genders and orientations. Don't assume the other person is savvy in any way. And see also, Catholic rebellion above. Other than that, it's just college, like anywhere else. Live in a dorm, get your first apartment, study all day, party all night, road trip to sporting events, tail gate on the weekends, etc. |
Anonymous
| My friends who went to Catholic colleges in the 90s had limits on boys and girls mixing in the dorm or in each other’s dorm rooms enforced by dorm mother clergy. That was way different than in my private liberal arts school with zero limits. |
Anonymous
I consistently got my bcp perscription filled at Notre Dame in the 90s. As long as you are using it to "regulate your periods" and not to "prevent pregnancy" than they'll happily dispense it. I'm very confident there were lots of girls at ND who reported irregular periods. |
Anonymous
That was 30+ years ago, for pete's sake. Not relevant today. |
Anonymous
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Main stream Catholic schools (Villanova, ND, Georgetown, etc) will be very welcoming for an agnostic who isn't anti-religion.
As a PP said, you'll probably have a theology requirement, but the classes are generally truly academic studies, and can often be of world religious or things like that. They aren't Sunday School type classes. Many kids will go to mass most Sundays, but no one will bat an eye if your daughter never goes. I think if Villanova is a good fit otherwise, the fact that it's a Catholic school shouldn't deter her from going. |
Anonymous
Notre Dame still has parietals. (No people in opposite-sex dorms after midnight weeknights and 2am weekends) https://dulac.nd.edu/community-standards/standards/parietals/ I don't think that's a really big deal breaker for most people, but it is a reality. (plenty of other places, including obviously off-campus apartments, to fraternize as you wish, and I loved that there was a semi-enforced quiet time in the dorms.) |
Anonymous
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I'll most gladly trade 'No people in opposite-sex dorms after midnight weeknights and 2am weekends' with admission to Notre Dame LOL
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Anonymous
Parietals still in place at Providence. Because some things ONLY happen after midnight and 2 AM, right?
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Anonymous
take DD's spot |