Would you send an atheist/non religious student to a Catholic university?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does she feel compelled to want to attend a Catholic college/university ?

OP here - none of the earlier responses were me.

She has a list of about 15 schools and three of them are Catholic (Jesuit I think) They are attractive to her because of location, mission (social justice), they aren't horribly hard to get into, and the cost is a little more affordable than some other schools on her list.

As I said, I grew up Catholic (very religious) but it I never would have considered a Catholic college. She has not grown up Catholic and doesn't have any negative associations with the church. To be honest, I don't think she actually understands how conservative many Catholic churches can be.

I'm not surprised, this thread is juvenile and kind of offensive.

OP, I think your daughter has great reasons to keep these schools on her list. We've visited a few Jesuit schools, and they definitely talked about their LGBTQ group, lots of social justice-oriented extracurriculars. I think ensuring access to reproductive care if she needs it is a valid concern. Everything else, I'd keep an open mind. You usually have to take a few religion classes, but they are diverse, interesting topics.

I'm a pretty big fan of Jesuit education. They have a strong tradition of quality academics, scholarly inquiry, critical thinking, and social justice. They tend to be and produce more liberal thinkers (I always say I'm a liberal because I was taught by Jesuits). Theology classes were usually pretty interesting -- lots of philosophy, history, etc., not proselytizing, as befits an academic class. I learned a lot about Church history, doctrinal evolution, theological disputes, etc. I would explore the specific schools carefully to ensure that they will be a good fit, and do consider access to reproductive care (including BC).

[Anonymous]

my kid is being ridiculous and won't apply to catholic schools on moral grounds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kid is being ridiculous and won't apply to catholic schools on moral grounds

Seems reasonable. There are lots of non-Catholic colleges, after all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid is being ridiculous and won't apply to catholic schools on moral grounds

Seems reasonable. There are lots of non-Catholic colleges, after all.

There are lots of better catholic colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The jesuit schools that people actually want to go to are pretty socially liberal (Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham, Villanova, etc)

Interestingly, on a recent BC tour, during the full auditorium session, only 2-3 kids said they were attending a Jesuit HS. (Made me wonder how much bump, if any, that would give an applicant).

[Anonymous]

True story. I have a friend who is notably anti-Catholic who has two daughters that decided to attend Catholic colleges. Her husband is a lapsed Catholic and they never baptized their children and never joined/attended church of any denomination. As soon as the first one was admitted to college, she joined a Methodist church and got all three of her daughters baptized. It's quite obvious she was trying to avoid the daughter being captivated by the Catholic religion and perhaps converting on her own. I found the mother's reaction to be quite amusing.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course. Don't buy into the stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm certainly trying to! Georgetown, to be exact. Jesuits is a far Catholic as I'll go. DS is looking forward to the theology requirement. They are very open-minded.

Lots of Catholic orders are social justice liberal. Lots. Not just Jesuits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For an atheist, all Catholic colleges except ND would be fine.

What do you have against ND (and please don't say the one law professor who was part of a crazy left wing cult that is actually mostly Protestant -- and who was opposed by half of the other law professors there)? If you don't like it because of the football thing, OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely, why would I limit my child’s education?

Explain?

[Anonymous]

Oh hell no. I wouldn't send a son, daughter, or non-binary child to any institution affiliated with the Catholic Church. But in the case of any Catholic university, I'm not giving my money to support a religion that is institutionally biased against women and is institutionally anti-choice. Those are just the facts. It's not bigoted to call out bigotry, and the Catholic Church is bigoted against women from top to bottom. A particular institution may be better on an individual basis than the Papal See, but you buy their ticket, you're supporting their ride.

And in fairness, I wouldn't send my child to any college or university affiliated with any religion, because I believe religious organizations do far more harm than good in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does she feel compelled to want to attend a Catholic college/university ?

OP here - none of the earlier responses were me.

She has a list of about 15 schools and three of them are Catholic (Jesuit I think) They are attractive to her because of location, mission (social justice), they aren't horribly hard to get into, and the cost is a little more affordable than some other schools on her list.

As I said, I grew up Catholic (very religious) but it I never would have considered a Catholic college. She has not grown up Catholic and doesn't have any negative associations with the church. To be honest, I don't think she actually understands how conservative many Catholic churches can be.

Does she, and do you, understand how liberal many Catholic churches can be too? It sounds like you came from a very strict conservative family. Not all Catholics are like that, so you are limiting her choices based on a narrow view of Catholicism -- which by the way, has nothing at all to do with getting an education at a college founded by a Catholic order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us: Maybe a Jesuit college, but no others (and we’re Catholic and kids in Catholic schools k-12).

Same background, agree with this advice. Research each school very carefully, dig up Instagram accounts of kids at the smaller schools to get an idea of the student experience, and find anyone from your area who has attended recently to understand if the academic and social scene would be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm certainly trying to! Georgetown, to be exact. Jesuits is a far Catholic as I'll go. DS is looking forward to the theology requirement. They are very open-minded.

Lots of Catholic orders are social justice liberal. Lots. Not just Jesuits.

But none come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you going to make a decision for a soon to be adult based on what they'll be "exposed to." Surely she knows that some religions don't have female leaders, I disagree with that, but it's not going to harm her to be around people from that religion.

I just want a higher standard than not harm. I think it is important for a young woman to see by some women in the highest leadership positions of the organization at a time of such growth in her life. I went to a Catholic college and I don't think that part of it was helpful to me.

Catholic women are leaders. Women in Congress alone: Roman Catholics (House 34; 26 Democrats, 8 Republicans; Senate 6; 4 Democrats 2 Republicans). Two Supreme court Justices, one liberal one conservative.

But all people see here is ACB.