my kids want to go to catholic colleges

[medeak]

should I be worried? Oldest doing medieval studies for grad school so understand that...

but youngest chose small catholic university. This is kid who complains of being repressed in small red neck town.

Just can't see this kid at catholic school with priests living in dorms and his car is loaded with anti Bush stickers?

where oh where did I go wrong?

[Placebo]

1. i go to the "catholic" university...

but it's a bs one really, since it's located in the city, and crazy liberal, and you probably wouldn't know there was anything catholic about it aside from the occasional statue placed in a poorly lit corner somewhere.

[NightNurse]

6. My Husband And I Met at A Catholic College: St. Joe's in Philly!

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

[GalleryGod]

11. Yes We Did, Up on Hawk Hill

Great school;terrific education;wonderful location.:loveya:

[Patiod]

30. Yikes - that's where my SO went (class of 84)

I was always impressed that their food library (they had a special library for their food marketing majors) had a big mural depicting the importance of feeding the hungry.

I could be way off base on this, but I've always thought Jesuit schools were more politically liberal than other schools. You're always hearing Villanova dis-inviting some speaker who's views are "against Catholic teaching", but you never hear that about St. Joe's.

There are some amazing Catholic colleges - think Georgetown, for instance.

[Lavender Brown]

2. There is a Catholic college in my area... my cousin went there

It is a good school, many non-Catholics went there, and the student body was not overwhelmingly conservative as far as I know. I say, he should visit and spend time there to make sure it's the place he want sto be for four years before committing. It may not be as repressive as you think.

[Pirate Smile]

3. It sounds like you did well if his car is loaded with anti Bush stickers.

His political and moral mindset is already in place. He sounds like he would agree with the Catholic view of social justice and just war.

Let him go where he wants (if he or you can afford it and he knows what he is getting into).

[medeak]

5. thanks all

for assuaging anxieties.

We've spent all year touring colleges and I was just shocked.

Nothing wrong with experiencing new things...just hope it's not a mismatch.. they have great job placement anyway.

[pres2032]

4. nothing wrong with that

i went to a catholic high school that had Jewish kids attend, no one forced them to convert. I go to a Lutheran college now and no one is trying to get me to convert from catholicism to Lutheranism. let him go to whatever school HE feels best suits HIS needs.

[Demit]

7. Should you be worried? No. Plenty of liberal Catholics around.

And if the school is situated in or near an urban area, so much the better.

It's not like it's a Catholic high school, LOL. (I shudder to remember :) And if there are Jesuits teaching there, he's going to learn how to think & discuss & debate.

[DBoon]

8. There's some cool radio at Catholic colleges

KXLU in Los Angeles from Loyola Marymount is the best music station around. The SF equivalent (KSFO) is from another Jesuit school.

[demnan]

9. Clinton went to Georgetown

I really don't see the difference, as long as it's a good school.

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. My alma mater (Holy Cross) turned out a Berrigan and Clarence Thomas...

...Michael Harrington and Chris Matthews.

And there aren't enough priests left to have them living in the dorms.

[GOPisEvil]

25. Holy Cross also turned out one William Rivers Pitt.

[SOteric]

12. I teach at a small Catholic University,

a Jesuit school. Many are widely known for their excellent quality of education. Most of the priests of my acquaintance are quite liberal, or apolitical in their spirituality.

College tends to be a much less 'repressive' experience than any sort of primary school might be.

I suspect you've little to worry about and should feel pride that your children are seeking higher education at quality schools.

[medeak]

22. only worry

he won't have peer group.

But thank you ... yes they are very motivated re a good education. What do you know about Portland U since you are in academic world?

It just seems the tiniest place we've seen. Rated highly but I know how that is distorted. Oldest graduated from Reed and know they don't give data to US News any longer despite being rated #1 5 yrs ago.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. U of Portland

Located in a residential neighborhood, midlevel academically, produced two members of the Olympic gold medal women's soccer team. The presidents are always priests, but they have mostly lay faculty members. I knew the former Japanese instructor there, and she never complained about the school being Catholic.

[medeak]

34. yikes

mid level academically?

thank you so much! Harvey Mudd here we come.

btw..edited to say...never met so many Minnesota kids in my life than on that campus?

[Book Lover]

13. Which university for medeival studies?

If it's the Pontifical Insitute, don't be put off by the name as it's a great place.

[medeak]

20. notre dame

hoping...but looking at London as prof wrote same thesis he did a year later...

[tjwmason]

24. Do you mean one of the Colleges of University of London (England)?

If so have no fear.

Actually ditto for Notre Dame. I know many conservative Catholic who would run a mile from these places, they all refer to them as 'catholic' colleges.

The University of London like all (bar one) of the British universities is a state institution. Religion is present in many of them (by default generally the Church of England), but one can pass through without actually noticing it at all (church-state issues are far more relaxed over here).

The most extreme display of Catholicism I can imagine would be a crucifix on the wall of lecture-theatres; and even that is far from certain.

[Book Lover]

26. Notre Dame is cited by the Catholic conservatives as a bastion

of American liberal Catholicism. I don't know anything about their medieval programs nowadays, but when I was considering grad school 10 years ago, they were on my list. May I ask what branch of medievalism he studies?

[medeak]

28. crusades

he lives for it..bless his heart. Heart and soul devoted to study..

[Book Lover]

35. Fascinating and rich field of study

Only in the past decade or so have disciplines like sociology and anthropology been applied to the study of the Middle Ages, and the Crusades (all of them) have received much of this attention. Very relevant today also, of course (but a medievalist will say that about *anything*. We're terribly impressed with ourselves sometimes :-) )

[medeak]

40. indeed

wrote thesis on 4th crusades. Terribly hard for him to communicate on parent's level. However think medievalists should be hired by administration....what a concept eh?

[cmf]

14. Depends on the school

I've had a lot of friends (including my lefty sister and brother-in-law who both work at their alma mater) who attended Catholic universities. Many of them attract liberal students who are more concerned with social justice than with your uterus. One local Catholic university (Seattle U) is currently hosting a homeless tent city on it's campus, students have raised thousands of dollars for the residents and on Sunday they hosted a Superbowl party for them.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Let us not forget that a lot of great activism from the 70's came from

catholic colleges...and even convents. We need to reclaim our religion back to the more Christlike version it once was. So I said to my pastor last week when he called asking 1. why I was not going to church (I used to be an every Sunday until politics hit the pulpit this year) and 2. If I could give him some $$$.

:hi:

[Allenberg]

16. I'm quire certain that Duquesne, a catholic school in Pittsburgh

is quite liberal...and in a great part of the city too :D

[ceile]

17. I went to a small Catholic college and loved it!!

I was raised Catholic, but that had nothing to do with my choice. St. Edward's gave me money and it was in Austin, and only about 1300 undergrads. We did have to take a religion class (one semester), but you could take anything from Hinduism to Catholicism to a class on the Chronicles of Narnia. Priests lived off campus or in their own dorm. Dorms we're coed. Great social life. My largest class had 30 people, my smallest, 6. Brothers of the Holy Cross (founders of St. Edward's and Notre Dame) are wonderful teachers and great role models. Tolerence and diversity are something that is practiced everyday at St. Ed's. And our dean was a lesbian. Go figure....
Have I raved about St. Ed's enough? I wouldn't trade a Catholic liberal arts education at my college for anything!

[GumboYaYa]

18. I studied philosophy with the Jesuits in a Catholic University.

One word I would not use to describe my education is "conservative."

Some of the most liberal thinkers I ever encountered are Jesuit priests.

[Dave Sund]

19. Jesuits are definitely liberal

It's unfortunate that most of the professors and students at my college are conservative, but nearly every teacher at the Jesuit high school I went to (in Omaha, no less) encouraged liberal thought. It depends a lot on the university.

Don't be worried. He'll have a lot of arguments with friends there, although I'm sure he's used to that by now, but his viewpoint won't be repressed.

[Blue-Jay]

21. So? I went to a Southern Baptist college.

It's what turned me into an athiest and a critical thinker. Plus, the music department staff were mostly all asskickers (who have mostly moved on to other colleges, I'll admit.)

[ProfessorGAC]

23. I Went To More Than One

I fell away (at Warp 7) when i was 14. But, i still went to a Catholic uni for undergrad and for one of my grad degrees. There was ZERO religious influence at either of them. I've since taught some graduate classes at one of those same schools. Same deal. I detect nothing but a university doing the business of being a university.
The Professor

[bigwillq]

27. Let them go where they want to go

they will find out on their own whether or not the school is right for them.

BTW, you didn't go wrong at all. I'm sure you're a great parent.:hi:

[no name no slogan]

29. My wife is a grad of a Catholic college-- same one as Eugene McCarthy

Actually, it's two colleges in partnership, like Harvard and Radcliffe. She graduated from the women's college, but her degree also has the men's college on it, too.

I graduated from a Lutheran college, and I can tell you for a fact that she did much more partying at her Catholic college than I did at my own party school of a college.

Catholics get slagged a lot around here for the church's birth control stance, but don't forget that the Pope was one of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq war, and that the church has a very good record of standing up for human rights over the last several decades.

Your kid could do a lot worse-- like Bob Jones U or Oral Roberts U.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. Anti-Bush stickers wouldn't be a problem at most Catholic colleges

I taught at one for a year and know people who have taught at others.

The priests were not in the student dorms; they had their own dorm-like housing. The only way you knew that it was Catholic was that daily Mass was available (not required), and that three religion courses were required for graduation. Otherwise, it was just like any other liberal arts college, and it had no trouble hiring me (a Lutheran at the time) to teach.

The academic standards actually tend to be pretty high.

[Tweed]

32. I go to the largest Catholic University in the nation

and I can tell you that there is almost nothing Catholic about it. Students don't have to practice if they don't want to and the ministry office caters to all religions. The Muslims have their own prayer room in the student center.

That being said, there can be some smaller Catholic Universities that are much more Catholic and much less diverse than mine. What school are we talking about here?

My guess is that priests don't live in the dorms, but I could be wrong depending on the school.


As for Notre Dame, I have a friend who goes there and it's much like the college that I attend. It's just more obsessed with football.

Also, I must say that Catholic college stress Democratic ideals of social justice and helping the poor.

[NewJeffCT]

36. There are many good Catholic universities

I'm an atheist, but if in 15-16 years my daughter wanted to go to one, I would not hesitate to send my daughter to a school like Notre Dame, Georgetown or Villanova... assuming she doesn't get a full scholarship to MIT, Harvard or Princeton. ;=)

[Arkana]

37. I'm a self-proclaimed atheist

and I go to Providence College--can't get more Catholic than that.

[Reverend_Smitty]

38. Generally if the school is run by Jesuits...

chances are it is going to be a pretty liberal campus. I love the Jesuits, the most awesome order around. That's something to take into consideration as well

[DelawareValleyDem]

39. Don't fret too much

I have liberal friends who went to the likes of Fordham, Manhattan College, and Boston College without getting warped.

[mcar]

41. Catholic universities are generally liberal arts oriented

Don't confuse them with fundie colleges. Catholic universities have been around for a long, long time and generally do not propagandize.

At least, that's been my experience. Now, if only the rest of the church would be like that...

[MsAnthropy]

42. As long as they are skilled at critical thinking they can handle it

They can throw all the theology at them they want, but if your kids are taught to think critically for themselves, you don't need to worry.

[Ellen Forradalom]

43. I went to DePaul

It's a Vincentian college. It's not the least bit repressive. A wide range of political and social viewpoints on campus. Leftist groups rent facilities there for conferences.

I wouldn't sweat it.