All of you all who are responding about poor immigrate who go to catholic and are fine don’t understand blessed sacrament. It’s a whole differnt animal and I would not send. A Jewish child there.

Anonymous wrote:Do you remember during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings how supposedly all these women from his childhood signed a letter talking about how great he was? That wasn’t purely connections from childhood. That was driven by all the mom’s blessed sacrament who knew his family and who had also known him a little bit potentially when they were all youth. You want to be a part of that? I mean, that’s the wrong question because you won’t be a part of it. But you’d have to deal with your kid navigating the social clicques of generations.

This kind of thing happens at pretty much all private schools and other self-selecting groups. My wealthy public school had that going on (generations of wealthy, connected people).

Anonymous wrote:Hi — Thoughts on Blessed Sacrament for our kids?

We’re a liberal Jewish family (but not very religious) in the neighborhood.

Our neighbors seem to like BS, and we like that it’s nearby, affordable, and smaller than public but not too small.

We are looking for a school that will provide a good education, in a welcoming community, where our kids and we can make friends.

look at Milton. It has a liberal parent body (many are not religious) and offers sicnifigant financial aid to many families. It sounds like you and your family would fit in well there. Good education, welcoming community (many in Chevy chase), not super far away, will be a place for you and your kids to make friends for sure. It is also pretty diverse.

Do you remember during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings how supposedly all these women from his childhood signed a letter talking about how great he was? That wasn’t purely connections from childhood. That was driven by all the mom’s blessed sacrament who knew his family and who had also known him a little bit potentially when they were all youth. You want to be a part of that? I mean, that’s the wrong question because you won’t be a part of it. But you’d have to deal with your kid navigating the social clicques of generations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to get a lot of “Hell nos” here, but we’re at another Diocesan school and also very liberal (not Jewish). Know that you are going to have *alot* of discussions at home, but otherwise we love the education and community. And know that anything you don’t like or agree with will basically never change; you just have to be at full an acceptance of the rules and there are a lot of rules.

I don’t know what school you were talking about but blessed sacrament has generations old cliques based around Catholic connections.

Kids are still kids. I don't have a problem not being included by adults as long as everyone is cordial. Kids, even non-catholics, will find friends anywhere. But if by "very liberal Jewish," OP means her kid is going to go in trying to skip mass, roll eyes at the teachings, and rail against Trump and conservatives, sure that family could well be excluded and shunned.

Anonymous wrote:You are going to get a lot of “Hell nos” here, but we’re at another Diocesan school and also very liberal (not Jewish). Know that you are going to have *alot* of discussions at home, but otherwise we love the education and community. And know that anything you don’t like or agree with will basically never change; you just have to be at full an acceptance of the rules and there are a lot of rules.

I don’t know what school you were talking about but blessed sacrament has generations old cliques based around Catholic connections.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not

NP. Care to elaborate?

BS is a very old, established Catholic parish in CC/DC. Many of the families have gone there for generations. They are Catholic and want to be with their own. They will send their kids to Catholic high school. You are Jewish. They will be nice to you, but you will never fit in.

Maybe it's different because I'm a 2nd gen immigrant, but "not fitting in" doesn't necessarily rule out any schools for me. We did rule out several really rich, cutthroat, competitive privates. But having been in and out of several different public and parochial schools over the years, we have found that we don't really fit in anyway as a mixed race, educationally conservative, politically moderate, wealthy family that doesn't buy name brands. We are never going to be the majority. We ended up choosing Catholic schools because we are Christian (but not Catholic), but the Christian schools were too conservative for us, and because of the low ed and behavior standards at our nearby publics. It is what it is.

Anonymous wrote:Hi — Thoughts on Blessed Sacrament for our kids?

We’re a liberal Jewish family (but not very religious) in the neighborhood.

Our neighbors seem to like BS, and we like that it’s nearby, affordable, and smaller than public but not too small.

We are looking for a school that will provide a good education, in a welcoming community, where our kids and we can make friends.

Can you ask your neighbors about it? They might be able to give you an honest answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not

NP. Care to elaborate?

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate Catholic children. Not to be nearby, affordable, and small-but-not-too-small to non-Catholic children who will put up with Catholic teachings to escape from public school. There are several non-Catholic students at my kids’ Diocesan K-8 school and, TBH, I’m not sure why they’re there. They are excluded from receiving the sacraments and are surprised at how much parish life and school life overlap even though, once again, the purpose of Catholic schools is to educate Catholic children.

That is true that the purpose of Catholic school is to educate Catholic children, particularly within the parish, but Catholic schools have long relied on non-Catholics and non-parish children to help their schools remain open. We are non-Catholics, but Christian, and chose to enroll our child in a Catholic school. I'm not sure I would do the same if we were a Jewish family, however. As it is, DS is very familiar with the Bible, Christian ideas, and most of the church routines and services will be very familiar. He will be able to attend mass with his class and instead of receiving communion as he usually does at our Protestant church (non-Catholics cannot take communion in a Catholic church), he will cross his arms and receive a blessing. I know there are several posters here who rail against non-Catholics who attend parochial schools, but I have not run into that attitude in real life.

Anonymous wrote:It's also a very competitive admit for K. They almost always have enough parishioners to fill slots, any open slots then go to Catholics outside the parish. So I wouldn't bet on admittance.

Not OP but swooping into this thread to ask about this. Is there no chance for non-Catholics at BS for K? We are specifically looking for a religious school but the DC area ones are $$$ except Catholic, and we live closest to BS. I was hoping we had a fighting chance.

It's also a very competitive admit for K. They almost always have enough parishioners to fill slots, any open slots then go to Catholics outside the parish. So I wouldn't bet on admittance.

Anonymous wrote:There's the Catholic thing and there's the we've been here for generations thing. Between those two, you'll be an outsider. As PP said, people will be nice to you but you'll never fit in.

Also, how could you send a Jewish kid to a school called "Blessed Sacrament"? Even explaining the name is a piece of work.

I'm at a similar school and people care more about whether you're rich and "fun" than whether you're Catholic when it comes to fitting in. Especially the men.
That said, I don't think it matters provided you don't make a stink about Catholic teachings. The big one obviously is abortion but also same-sex marriage and gender stuff in general. No one is going to honor your non-binary kid's truth so please don't bring that in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not

NP. Care to elaborate?

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate Catholic children. Not to be nearby, affordable, and small-but-not-too-small to non-Catholic children who will put up with Catholic teachings to escape from public school. There are several non-Catholic students at my kids’ Diocesan K-8 school and, TBH, I’m not sure why they’re there. They are excluded from receiving the sacraments and are surprised at how much parish life and school life overlap even though, once again, the purpose of Catholic schools is to educate Catholic children.

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate children. Most are Catholic because there is a lot of Catholicism baked into the school day. But there are plenty of non-Catholic kids in Catholic schools. Some Catholics are more welcoming to children than others. You are an example of less-welcoming. WWJD?

In the US, Catholic schools were formed to educate Catholic children—largely poor, immigrant children—who were not welcome at public schools. No, Catholic schools don’t exist to educate non-Catholic children, and Catholicism in schools isn’t watered down to appeal to non-Catholic children. I’m Catholic. My children attend Catholic school. I would never send my kids to an LDS school, for example, because I’m not Mormon.

And you think all of the immigrant children educated by Catholic schools are Catholic? My mother taught in a DC Catholic school fifty years ago. Most of the students were poor and not Catholic. You just don’t like feeling that non-Catholics are somehow taking advantage of you and will demand your school change how it teaches. It’s a very insular view of Catholic education.

I think it’s changed since 50 years ago. Parents who send their kids to Blessed Sacrament want their kids to be around other Catholics and perhaps can’t afford one of the more expensive privates (see Kavanaugh).

Neither the overall mission of Catholic schools nor BS has changed in 50 years. The former is still more liberal than the latter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not

NP. Care to elaborate?

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate Catholic children. Not to be nearby, affordable, and small-but-not-too-small to non-Catholic children who will put up with Catholic teachings to escape from public school. There are several non-Catholic students at my kids’ Diocesan K-8 school and, TBH, I’m not sure why they’re there. They are excluded from receiving the sacraments and are surprised at how much parish life and school life overlap even though, once again, the purpose of Catholic schools is to educate Catholic children.

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate children. Most are Catholic because there is a lot of Catholicism baked into the school day. But there are plenty of non-Catholic kids in Catholic schools. Some Catholics are more welcoming to children than others. You are an example of less-welcoming. WWJD?

In the US, Catholic schools were formed to educate Catholic children—largely poor, immigrant children—who were not welcome at public schools. No, Catholic schools don’t exist to educate non-Catholic children, and Catholicism in schools isn’t watered down to appeal to non-Catholic children. I’m Catholic. My children attend Catholic school. I would never send my kids to an LDS school, for example, because I’m not Mormon.

And you think all of the immigrant children educated by Catholic schools are Catholic? My mother taught in a DC Catholic school fifty years ago. Most of the students were poor and not Catholic. You just don’t like feeling that non-Catholics are somehow taking advantage of you and will demand your school change how it teaches. It’s a very insular view of Catholic education.

I think it’s changed since 50 years ago. Parents who send their kids to Blessed Sacrament want their kids to be around other Catholics and perhaps can’t afford one of the more expensive privates (see Kavanaugh).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not

NP. Care to elaborate?

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate Catholic children. Not to be nearby, affordable, and small-but-not-too-small to non-Catholic children who will put up with Catholic teachings to escape from public school. There are several non-Catholic students at my kids’ Diocesan K-8 school and, TBH, I’m not sure why they’re there. They are excluded from receiving the sacraments and are surprised at how much parish life and school life overlap even though, once again, the purpose of Catholic schools is to educate Catholic children.

The purpose of Catholic school is to educate children. Most are Catholic because there is a lot of Catholicism baked into the school day. But there are plenty of non-Catholic kids in Catholic schools. Some Catholics are more welcoming to children than others. You are an example of less-welcoming. WWJD?

In the US, Catholic schools were formed to educate Catholic children—largely poor, immigrant children—who were not welcome at public schools. No, Catholic schools don’t exist to educate non-Catholic children, and Catholicism in schools isn’t watered down to appeal to non-Catholic children. I’m Catholic. My children attend Catholic school. I would never send my kids to an LDS school, for example, because I’m not Mormon.

And you think all of the immigrant children educated by Catholic schools are Catholic? My mother taught in a DC Catholic school fifty years ago. Most of the students were poor and not Catholic. You just don’t like feeling that non-Catholics are somehow taking advantage of you and will demand your school change how it teaches. It’s a very insular view of Catholic education.