I attended catholic school as does my DC and mass has always been held with the public. Although I understand your fear, your concern is not based on actual data. The statistical chances of a school shooting or a shooting at mass are extremely low. Priests schedules, especially at the smaller parishes, are tight. He met you half way and offered a good compromise.

Complain to the Bishop. The Arlington Diocese needs to start taking security of the schools seriously. Unarmed security guards? Public mass and then giving the dates and times? Come on!!!!

I would be upset OP. We are at another Alexandria parochial and the parents also pitched a fit that our school mass was open to the public.

It’s silly that they won’t do two holy day masses. Why would those be any different? They are all only about an hour long.

Our pastor is also very inflexible and this is totally something he would do. Unfortunately I have found that complaints fall on deaf ears.

I would probably sign my kid in at 10 and do the dumb and unnecessary mass card. Since he’s just publicized WHICH MASS the children will be attending….

Our DD went to open mass on Fridays. Not many from the public showed up anyway.

Not sure the layout of your church, but at our current church (not the one where DD went), there's a balcony section. It would be easy to make that section for students only and it's separated quite well from the rest of the pews.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I went to NCS in the nineties too and until you posted, it didn't occur to me to think of how unsafe that could be in the days of mass shootings. I don't think you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Cathedral, do you? A mass shooter could take out a lot of government leaders' kids at a Cathedral service. I'm sure they have cameras at the entrance, though. And the "God Squad," which was a joke when I attended, looks pretty well armed these days.

That is crazy when you think about it.

“Unarmed security.” Oxymoron.

Somebody needs to complain to the bishop.

Our school has daily Mass in an open church, and there was a shooting a few weeks ago in broad daylight a block away unrelated to church or school, but still too close for comfort. I think it’s fine though and haven’t asked anything to change. We do have a police car during dropoff and pickup courtesy of the city we are in, like every other school, but that is it.

What is your fear/ concern? I see no problem with kids going to mass.

I know about the shooting at a school mass earlier this year, but making it a school only mass won’t solve that concern.

So what’s the fear?

Wow. I went to NCS in the nineties too and until you posted, it didn't occur to me to think of how unsafe that could be in the days of mass shootings. I don't think you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Cathedral, do you? A mass shooter could take out a lot of government leaders' kids at a Cathedral service. I'm sure they have cameras at the entrance, though. And the "God Squad," which was a joke when I attended, looks pretty well armed these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That seems like a reasonable compromise. The church can’t host two services on those feast days.

But I went to NCS, and we attended Cathedral service every Friday morning at a major tourist attraction open to the public. I guess attending a public Mass occasionally as a supervised, chaperoned group of students doesn’t seem that unusual to me.

NP. How long ago was this? I went to Catholic school and we never attended a public mass. I feel this is a new thing but I am in my late 40s.

Personally I have a problem with the fact your parish priest does not know the holy days of obligation. Ash Wednesday is NOT one and it seems ridiculous he does not know that.

It was in the 90s, but NCS still has Friday morning Cathedral services, and the Cathedral is not closed to the public during them.

But it’s also not a Catholic school, nor a typical service. It’s not publicized as a parish service. It’s a school service, but held in a tourist attraction. Not that there were usually a lot of tourists at 10 am on Friday mornings, but it did happen. It’s not the same as students attending a public Mass, I was just explaining why my perspective might be different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That seems like a reasonable compromise. The church can’t host two services on those feast days.

But I went to NCS, and we attended Cathedral service every Friday morning at a major tourist attraction open to the public. I guess attending a public Mass occasionally as a supervised, chaperoned group of students doesn’t seem that unusual to me.

NP. How long ago was this? I went to Catholic school and we never attended a public mass. I feel this is a new thing but I am in my late 40s.

Personally I have a problem with the fact your parish priest does not know the holy days of obligation. Ash Wednesday is NOT one and it seems ridiculous he does not know that.

I think there is a difference between Holy Days and holy day. No need to nitpick the letter. We all get the gist.

Anonymous wrote:That seems like a reasonable compromise. The church can’t host two services on those feast days.

But I went to NCS, and we attended Cathedral service every Friday morning at a major tourist attraction open to the public. I guess attending a public Mass occasionally as a supervised, chaperoned group of students doesn’t seem that unusual to me.

NP. How long ago was this? I went to Catholic school and we never attended a public mass. I feel this is a new thing but I am in my late 40s.

Personally I have a problem with the fact your parish priest does not know the holy days of obligation. Ash Wednesday is NOT one and it seems ridiculous he does not know that.

That seems like a reasonable compromise. The church can’t host two services on those feast days.

But I went to NCS, and we attended Cathedral service every Friday morning at a major tourist attraction open to the public. I guess attending a public Mass occasionally as a supervised, chaperoned group of students doesn’t seem that unusual to me.

Sorry, apparently cannot share that way. Here is cut and paste, not even bothering to hide the church since it was sent to everyone.

Dear Queen of Apostles Catholic School Families,
At Queen of Apostles Catholic School, the physical and spiritual safety of our students remains
at the heart of everything we do. We are deeply grateful for your continued partnership in
helping us provide a safe, faith-filled environment. With your support through the PTO, we
have made great progress this year by implementing our weekly school-only Mass and adding
unarmed security—thank you for making this possible.
As a small school with limited resources, there are certain feast days when we are unable to
hold a private school-only Mass. On these Holy Days, our students will join the parish
community for Mass. This year, those dates are Monday, December 8, 2025 (the Solemnity of
the Immaculate Conception) and Wednesday, February 18, 2026 (Ash Wednesday). On
both days, the school will attend the 9:00 a.m. parish Mass.
We understand that each family prayerfully discerns what is best for their children’s safety and
spiritual well-being. If you prefer that your child not attend the parish Mass on these days,
please follow these steps:
1. Email the school office and your child’s teacher at least 24 hours in advance to let us
know you will bring your child to school at 10:00 a.m. and sign them in at the office.
2. Please take the attached Mass card to your local parish and have your parish priest sign
it after your family attends Mass. Return the card to the school office the following day.
Families receiving the Catholic tuition rate are expected to fulfill the obligation of Holy Day
Mass attendance. If a signed card is not returned, a $50 fee will be applied to the FACTS
account in lieu of verification.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we continue to work together to nurture
both the faith and safety of our children. We are truly blessed by your support and partnership
in our shared mission of Catholic education.

In Christ,
Fr. Alexander Diaz
Pastor

So our Catholic school has pretty good security and security measures. The admin and the faculty seem to take it seriously and understood that walking kids across a large parking lot to an open mass, could pose a potential danger to the students, particularly with what has happened in recent years.

The Pastor, on the other hand, refused to listen or address any concerns. This has been an issue for years. There have been some incidents that could have been bad (thankfully were not) but his continued solution is that families were ridiculous to want a mass in the school, just for students, or a mass not opened to the general public. After the most recent church shooting, he bowed to the school and PTO paying for security and also having closed masses. Not what the school and family wanted ideally, but a step in the right direction.

How would you react to this?

[url]https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQOVYGTdtIYU0DClbA_DBxGZX2dBakrfh7QJQHk7Ij3_in09nv6u49VB1Me89oUHA/pub[url]