How religious are catholic universities?

[Anonymous]

I was a lapse Catholic at a secular university and surprised at how many other kids were going to Church, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.

I stopped going in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a lapse Catholic at a secular university and surprised at how many other kids were going to Church, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.

I stopped going in middle school.

Huh? What's your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience is with Jesuit schools (think BC, Georgetown, Loyola's). I am not Catholic and not religious. Many classmates were Catholic but they weren't particularly religious. Some went to mass on Sundays, but I would say most did not.

My day to day in the class was not impacted by religion or Jesuits. I had 2 Jesuit teachers my entire time there....and they were both amazing.

As an institution, I'd say the messaging from Jesuits was mostly about having a strong supportive school community, to seek and support love of learning, the importance to give back to society, and how knowledge helps to do that. These were all good messages for young adults. I later went to a top-5 school for grad school and was appalled by lack of any such messaging to the undergrads at that school. It could see a real difference in the kind of people/students they were becoming.

Four courses, there was a theology class requirement (along with other liberal arts core, like science, philosophy, english, world history etc). However, most of the theology courses could have been listed as a pure history or pure philosophy class and the options included non-Christian religions.

I am also female and had no problems getting appropriate reproductive care at a clinic right off campus. This was never an issue for anyone I know.

I loved my undergrad, loved the Jesuits, and would never trade it for another experience.

My son's Jesuit HS also has this as the primary message: helping others, loving others, inclusivity. They practice it just don't preach it and help communities at home and all around the US/World. They kids really care for one another.

We are culturally Catholic and my kids didn't attend church regularly prior. The messaging about tolerance and giving back when you are fortunate has been very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a lapse Catholic at a secular university and surprised at how many other kids were going to Church, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.

I stopped going in middle school.

Huh? What's your point?

That was meant for the person that said they felt left out by students going to church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

That was 30+ years ago, for pete's sake. Not relevant today.

And not even true at the Jesuit university I attended in the 90s.

My sister's 'regular' university didn't even have mixed sex dormitories. This was VA Tech in the late 80s. They were all female or all male, like many college campuses.

The advent of the mixed suites--(not just dorms) everywhere a few years later was an eye-opener for me.

Same here - my Jesuit university in the 80's had coed dorms. Each floor was single sex but there were no curfews on when students could be out of their rooms and no restrictions on when students of opposite sex could be in each others' rooms (or even sleep over). I was an RA for a freshman dorm - this was not something we paid attention to. We cared more about mental health (especially since these were new students, often away from home for the first time) and planning bonding and social events. We also planned educational events on alcohol/drugs. The only sort of "policing" we did was for obvious alcohol-related parties and sometimes late night noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

No on BC. I worked at Georgetown 20 years ago and my BC wasn’t covered under the employee plan.

[Anonymous]

I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience is with Jesuit schools (think BC, Georgetown, Loyola's). I am not Catholic and not religious. Many classmates were Catholic but they weren't particularly religious. Some went to mass on Sundays, but I would say most did not.

My day to day in the class was not impacted by religion or Jesuits. I had 2 Jesuit teachers my entire time there....and they were both amazing.

As an institution, I'd say the messaging from Jesuits was mostly about having a strong supportive school community, to seek and support love of learning, the importance to give back to society, and how knowledge helps to do that. These were all good messages for young adults. I later went to a top-5 school for grad school and was appalled by lack of any such messaging to the undergrads at that school. It could see a real difference in the kind of people/students they were becoming.

Four courses, there was a theology class requirement (along with other liberal arts core, like science, philosophy, english, world history etc). However, most of the theology courses could have been listed as a pure history or pure philosophy class and the options included non-Christian religions.

I am also female and had no problems getting appropriate reproductive care at a clinic right off campus. This was never an issue for anyone I know.

I loved my undergrad, loved the Jesuits, and would never trade it for another experience.

My son's Jesuit HS also has this as the primary message: helping others, loving others, inclusivity. They practice it just don't preach it and help communities at home and all around the US/World. They kids really care for one another.

We are culturally Catholic and my kids didn't attend church regularly prior. The messaging about tolerance and giving back when you are fortunate has been very good.

Ditto

But in practice my classmates don’t want to feed the poor, house the homeless, protect womens health, treat immigrants with respect, respect LGBT people, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

No we want men to be taught not to rape.

Are you saying if Catholic men are not locked away from women they rape them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

No we want men to be taught not to rape.

Are you saying if Catholic men are not locked away from women they rape them?

Just stop. That's not the point and you know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience is with Jesuit schools (think BC, Georgetown, Loyola's). I am not Catholic and not religious. Many classmates were Catholic but they weren't particularly religious. Some went to mass on Sundays, but I would say most did not.

My day to day in the class was not impacted by religion or Jesuits. I had 2 Jesuit teachers my entire time there....and they were both amazing.

As an institution, I'd say the messaging from Jesuits was mostly about having a strong supportive school community, to seek and support love of learning, the importance to give back to society, and how knowledge helps to do that. These were all good messages for young adults. I later went to a top-5 school for grad school and was appalled by lack of any such messaging to the undergrads at that school. It could see a real difference in the kind of people/students they were becoming.

Four courses, there was a theology class requirement (along with other liberal arts core, like science, philosophy, english, world history etc). However, most of the theology courses could have been listed as a pure history or pure philosophy class and the options included non-Christian religions.

I am also female and had no problems getting appropriate reproductive care at a clinic right off campus. This was never an issue for anyone I know.

I loved my undergrad, loved the Jesuits, and would never trade it for another experience.

My son's Jesuit HS also has this as the primary message: helping others, loving others, inclusivity. They practice it just don't preach it and help communities at home and all around the US/World. They kids really care for one another.

We are culturally Catholic and my kids didn't attend church regularly prior. The messaging about tolerance and giving back when you are fortunate has been very good.

Ditto

But in practice my classmates don’t want to feed the poor, house the homeless, protect womens health, treat immigrants with respect, respect LGBT people, etc

Mine do..... (Boston College)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

No we want men to be taught not to rape.

Are you saying if Catholic men are not locked away from women they rape them?

Just stop. That's not the point and you know it.

Catholic or not, increases the chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

No we want men to be taught not to rape.

Are you saying if Catholic men are not locked away from women they rape them?

Of course we teach not to rape, but if you didn't know it happens all the time a lot in colleges Catholic or Not
I suspect it happens less at Catholic schools though, I'll do some more search.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_sexual_assault#:~:text=Research%20estimates%20that%20between%2010,per%201%2C000%20students%20per%20year.

Campus sexual assault
"generally find that somewhere between 19 and 27% of college women and 6–8% of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college."

So watch out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's interesting that so many posters make a big deal out of single sex dorms while at the same time complaining on other threads that colleges aren't doing enough to protect women students. You'd think they'd WANT single sex dorms.

No we want men to be taught not to rape.

Are you saying if Catholic men are not locked away from women they rape them?

Just stop. That's not the point and you know it.

Catholic or not, increases the chance.

Stepping fully aside from the Catholic angle on this...

Are there studies that show co-ed dorms increase the chances of female residents being raped? I mean, sure, if you prefer to live with all women (or all men) in an environment that has gatekeepers at the entry to get permission for opposite sex visitors - then - seek that out. Never once in my life did I feel that the presence of men living in the same building as me put me at risk of being raped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I imagine that some health centers at Catholic universities can prescribe certain types of birth control if the doctor is prescribing it for reasons other than birth control (e.g., BC pill to make periods more regular) -- or, more accurately, if the doctor can at least make that claim. This is the same situation one faces as a patient at, say, Georgetown Hospital (men can't get vasectomies at GU Hosp because there's no non-birth control reason for such a procedure). So it's not like some Catholic colleges just ignore Catholic doctrine and prescribe birth control; the question is how willing the doctors at a particular university's health center are to bend the rules. In any event, you can always get BC off campus, so I don't know why anyone would make this a reason not to go to a college. That all being said, I don't think agnostics/atheists should go to Catholic colleges. People of other religions -- sure, no problem. But why would agnostics/atheists attend a college whose fundamental mission you don't believe in? Sure, your kid might be "fine" at Villanova, BC, or wherever, but it just seems like a bad fit. There are plenty of non-religious schools out there. Pick one of those.