would you attend Notre Dame as a non-Catholic?

[Anonymous]

To those who attended or who know the school well; would you attend if not Catholic?
My daughter is interested in the school.
Religion is quite important to her (active in weekly church and youth group) but we are protestants (Presbyterian) and she attends an Episcopal school (not in DC).

[Anonymous]

Yes. The bottom line at ND is that if you are a person of faith - whatever faith - they welcome you. It’s only if you are a person who derides or is intolerant of faith that you’re going to have a problem with fit.

[Anonymous]

So...it's not a question of whether she will feel welcome. It's a question of whether she will feel comfortable as one of the very few religious non Catholics. For example, will she have other friends who are not Catholic but who are still interested in going to church with her? If not, will she be okay going to church alone or will she want to go to Catholic mass?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So...it's not a question of whether she will feel welcome. It's a question of whether she will feel comfortable as one of the very few religious non Catholics. For example, will she have other friends who are not Catholic but who are still interested in going to church with her? If not, will she be okay going to church alone or will she want to go to Catholic mass?

OP here. Do kids go to Catholic mass while in college at ND? What percentage would you guess go on a weekly basis?

I guess it comes down to how many "grew up Catholic" or are social Catholics and how many are truly actively practicing, devout Catholics as college students.

[Anonymous]

Most arent IME

[Anonymous]

OP again.
some potential issues (?)

1)the Catholic kids and their families will all know each other or will be friends-of-friends (Can see this happening?)

2)The Catholic kids will be getting out of bed at 8am on Sundays to go to mass and my kid will be heading to the Presbyterian church at 10am. (Not sure how likely this is or not for any of them in college?)

3)The Catholic kids and my daughter will get into theological debates over the sacraments, Mary and church structure. (Have a hard time seeing my kid caring enough on her end ?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
some potential issues (?)

1)the Catholic kids and their families will all know each other or will be friends-of-friends (Can see this happening?)

2)The Catholic kids will be getting out of bed at 8am on Sundays to go to mass and my kid will be heading to the Presbyterian church at 10am. (Not sure how likely this is or not for any of them in college?)

3)The Catholic kids and my daughter will get into theological debates over the sacraments, Mary and church structure. (Have a hard time seeing my kid caring enough on her end ?)

1) No. The students are from all over the place.

2) No. There will be multiple masses on the weekends. 8 am masses won’t be popular. They’re still college students after all.

3) Only if she engages. And aren’t debates part of university life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
some potential issues (?)

1)the Catholic kids and their families will all know each other or will be friends-of-friends (Can see this happening?)

2)The Catholic kids will be getting out of bed at 8am on Sundays to go to mass and my kid will be heading to the Presbyterian church at 10am. (Not sure how likely this is or not for any of them in college?)

3)The Catholic kids and my daughter will get into theological debates over the sacraments, Mary and church structure. (Have a hard time seeing my kid caring enough on her end ?)

#3 will only be an issue if your kid is going out of her way to challenge those aspects of Catholicism. Some people can be very derisive towards Catholics about this and at ND that wouldn't be tolerated (i.e. a kid saying "you guys worship Mary and that's voodoo" would be both socially unpopular and also potentially get in actual trouble).

I do think your DD might feel a bit isolated if she is fairly devout, just because she's less likely to find other Presbyterians, or even just non-Catholic Christians, at the school. Other colleges often have strong organizations that are non-denominational where Christian kids get to know each other, have socials, volunteer, and do stuff like bible study. At ND, this is baked into the culture of the school but it's not non-denominational -- it's Catholic. So going to ND if she's pretty devout might rob her of opportunities to make those kinds of connects at another school.

[Anonymous]

Of course all of the Catholic kids don't know each other. It's a great school, even independent of religion. Catholic high schools have a lot of non-Catholics. They are often attended for the quality of schools rather than the religious aspect.

Not all Catholics attending Notre Dame go to mass.

Just because you are Catholic, and attend a Catholic univeristy doesn't mean you support every aspect of the church doctrine. Many Catholics believe in birth control, gay marriage, and some are even are pro-choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So...it's not a question of whether she will feel welcome. It's a question of whether she will feel comfortable as one of the very few religious non Catholics. For example, will she have other friends who are not Catholic but who are still interested in going to church with her? If not, will she be okay going to church alone or will she want to go to Catholic mass?

OP here. Do kids go to Catholic mass while in college at ND? What percentage would you guess go on a weekly basis?

I guess it comes down to how many "grew up Catholic" or are social Catholics and how many are truly actively practicing, devout Catholics as college students.

OP yes they do many of them.

This is a non starter. If your kid wants a Catholic education great otherwise why in the world are you even entertaining this?

Seriously find another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course all of the Catholic kids don't know each other. It's a great school, even independent of religion. Catholic high schools have a lot of non-Catholics. They are often attended for the quality of schools rather than the religious aspect.

Not all Catholics attending Notre Dame go to mass.

Just because you are Catholic, and attend a Catholic univeristy doesn't mean you support every aspect of the church doctrine. Many Catholics believe in birth control, gay marriage, and some are even are pro-choice.

No not at a school that is predominately Catholic.

Absurd.

OP look elseware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So...it's not a question of whether she will feel welcome. It's a question of whether she will feel comfortable as one of the very few religious non Catholics. For example, will she have other friends who are not Catholic but who are still interested in going to church with her? If not, will she be okay going to church alone or will she want to go to Catholic mass?

OP here. Do kids go to Catholic mass while in college at ND? What percentage would you guess go on a weekly basis?

I guess it comes down to how many "grew up Catholic" or are social Catholics and how many are truly actively practicing, devout Catholics as college students.

I’m the poster who said it would absolutely be fine, but reading your responses I’m now not sure it really would be. And not because of your daughter but because of you.

The honest truth is that a “devout protestant“ would probably feel more comfortable at ND than any other top 25 school. You seem to assume that virtually everyone there is Catholic and every Catholic there is devout. Neither is the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course all of the Catholic kids don't know each other. It's a great school, even independent of religion. Catholic high schools have a lot of non-Catholics. They are often attended for the quality of schools rather than the religious aspect.

Not all Catholics attending Notre Dame go to mass.

Just because you are Catholic, and attend a Catholic univeristy doesn't mean you support every aspect of the church doctrine. Many Catholics believe in birth control, gay marriage, and some are even are pro-choice.

Correct

[Anonymous]

I would go there in a heartbeat. To your points:


OP again.
some potential issues (?)

1)the Catholic kids and their families will all know each other or will be friends-of-friends (Can see this happening?)
Ummm, no. Kids come from literally all over the country to go to ND. Even the strongest feeder high schools will probably only send about 5 kids.


2)The Catholic kids will be getting out of bed at 8am on Sundays to go to mass and my kid will be heading to the Presbyterian church at 10am. (Not sure how likely this is or not for any of them in college?)

There are multiple Masses, including at night, and including dorm Masses. It's baked into the culture, but there are still plenty of kids who don't go at all, or would love to invite your daughter, or would be happy to attend your daughter's church with her.


3)The Catholic kids and my daughter will get into theological debates over the sacraments, Mary and church structure. (Have a hard time seeing my kid caring enough on her end ?
Why would this be a problem? And most Catholics don't sit around debating any of this. Abortion and gay marriage, maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So...it's not a question of whether she will feel welcome. It's a question of whether she will feel comfortable as one of the very few religious non Catholics. For example, will she have other friends who are not Catholic but who are still interested in going to church with her? If not, will she be okay going to church alone or will she want to go to Catholic mass?

OP here. Do kids go to Catholic mass while in college at ND? What percentage would you guess go on a weekly basis?

I guess it comes down to how many "grew up Catholic" or are social Catholics and how many are truly actively practicing, devout Catholics as college students.

I’m the poster who said it would absolutely be fine, but reading your responses I’m now not sure it really would be. And not because of your daughter but because of you.

The honest truth is that a “devout protestant“ would probably feel more comfortable at ND than any other top 25 school. You seem to assume that virtually everyone there is Catholic and every Catholic there is devout. Neither is the case.

No, my post literally asked if the Catholics students are by-in-large devout or not.

For example there is a massive spectrum of college students who identify as Presbyterian: from those whose religious identification does not impact their life at all on a daily basis to those who attend weekly church and find their college friends entirely through Intervarsity or Campus Crusade. I understand this world because I grew up in it but I'm not at all familiar with impact of Catholicism on a typical Notre Dame student's life. Or maybe there isn't a typical ND student (which in itself answers my question).