Any Protestants Go To A Catholic School?

Vinny-Chase

Hey guys,
Just doing a bit of research and was wondering if there was any Protestants that went to a Catholic School?

From where I grew up I can only remember there being the usual Catholic primary & secondary schools.

Would the schools a few years ago been more sectarian about accepting non-Catholics to the schools?

If any one was in this position, did you encounter any problems? Please feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable discussing the issue on the public forum.

Many thanks.

Peace & love to you all

paulaa

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

Hey guys,
Just doing a bit of research and was wondering if there was any Protestants that went to a Catholic School?

From where I grew up I can only remember there being the usual Catholic primary & secondary schools.

Would the schools a few years ago been more sectarian about accepting non-Catholics to the schools?

If any one was in this position, did you encounter any problems? Please feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable discussing the issue on the public forum.

Many thanks.

Peace & love to you all

I did because my parents could not afford to send me to a C of I boarding school 40 miles away.This was in the late 60s , early 70s.

I did get some stick when I started first at 13 but it settled down . What exactly do you want to know ?

Vinny-Chase

Hi Paula,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Just a general question in regards to the teaching at the time. While covering "Catholic" ideas would the teachers have made a point of saying that it didn't apply to you or would it have been a case of "you're here, this is what we teach, like it or lump it" and they would make no mention of it's relevance to you.

Do you think being a Protestant in a Catholic school made your school years harder?

homer911

Just some perspective from the other side of the street, so to speak:

My children attended a CofI primary school and are currently in a fee paying protestant school

Most of the time they would be completely unaware of what faith their friends and wouldn't have cared less. The only way us parents knew (being in urban Dublin) was by seeing who came out of the Catholic communion classes which were held on the CofI school premises after school hours. Catholic children would not have been exempted from any aspect of school life including RE and school church services.

In secondary school its much the same - the only exceptions would be for Jewish and Muslim children, of which there are a small number

paulaa

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

Hi Paula,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Just a general question in regards to the teaching at the time. While covering "Catholic" ideas would the teachers have made a point of saying that it didn't apply to you or would it have been a case of "you're here, this is what we teach, like it or lump it" and they would make no mention of it's relevance to you.

Do you think being a Protestant in a Catholic school made your school years harder?

No I enjoyed secondary school and I was included in everything. If a particularly "Catholic" subject came up I was always asked my opinion, which was treated with respect. My friends learned a lot from me as well I think and it dispelled a few myths about Protestants.

I could stay in for Religious education classes if I wanted to and I often did to see what the differences were and was asked what I thought about a lot of things that came up. My own Rector came to the school once a week and I had my RE class at the same time as the others.

One elderly nun thought that I would make a lovely nun and she spent 5 years looking for a Protestant order. She eventually found one, a silent, enclosed order somewhere in Wicklow. My friends thought the idea of me being a nun was hilarious and they rolled around laughing when she suggested writing to them for me

Vinny-Chase

Haha that's a good one Paula.
Thanks to every one for taking the time to reply it is appreciated.

Excuse my ignorance here, but you say your "Rector" came to the school. Is Rector the correct term for a Church of Ireland priest?

I hear different terms on here, Vicar, Minister etc.

What is the correct term used to describe a CoI priest?

paulaa

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

Haha that's a good one Paula.
Thanks to every one for taking the time to reply it is appreciated.

Excuse my ignorance here, but you say your "Rector" came to the school. Is Rector the correct term for a Church of Ireland priest?

I hear different terms on here, Vicar, Minister etc.

What is the correct term used to describe a CoI priest?

We use "Rector" down here in the sticks, although my kids (in their 20s) call him The Rev. Vicar is used mostly in the UK I think.

paulaa

homer911 wrote: »

Just some perspective from the other side of the street, so to speak:

My children attended a CofI primary school and are currently in a fee paying protestant school

Most of the time they would be completely unaware of what faith their friends and wouldn't have cared less. The only way us parents knew (being in urban Dublin) was by seeing who came out of the Catholic communion classes which were held on the CofI school premises after school hours. Catholic children would not have been exempted from any aspect of school life including RE and school church services.

In secondary school its much the same - the only exceptions would be for Jewish and Muslim children, of which there are a small number

My own kids went to C of I primary and boarding school schools. There were children of all faiths and none there but it was predominantly C of I. The same as yours they didn't really care what religion their friends were.

Gloomtastic!

paulaa wrote: »

My friends learned a lot from me as well I think and it dispelled a few myths about Protestants.

What are the myths about protestants!

Dick Turnip

I'm not Protestant myself and went to Convent of Mercy Sec. school but the protestant kids in the school used to be excused from religion class and had a study class instead from what i remember. There was a CoI primary school near enough by so I presume most went to that before ending up in the sec. school.

Overall i don't think it was much of an issue.

paulaa

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

What are the myths about protestants!

Remember this was in the 60s. Some of the girls in my class thought we worshiped the Devil and it wasn't a "real religion". I remember 1 or 2 of my friends being told not to bring me to their homes because I would be a "bad influence" and they'd go to hell

paulaa

Dick Turnip wrote: »

I'm not Protestant myself and went to Convent of Mercy Sec. school but the protestant kids in the school used to be excused from religion class and had a study class instead from what i remember. There was a CoI primary school near enough by so I presume most went to that before ending up in the sec. school.

Overall i don't think it was much of an issue.

In my case it wasn't anyway, except the C of I's mother's were better at baking for school sales of work than the rest who brought shop bought cakes

onlyrocknroll

paulaa wrote: »

Remember this was in the 60s. Some of the girls in my class thought we worshiped the Devil and it wasn't a "real religion". I remember 1 or 2 of my friends being told not to bring me to their homes because I would be a "bad influence" and they'd go to hell

:eek:

There was a feature on the radio a few months ago (I think it was on Pat Kenny but I can't remember) about the experience of Protestants living in Ireland.

One woman talked about meeting somebody once who said "You're the first Protestant I've met, and I have to say, you're very nice" :rolleyes:

The person who said it was obviously trying to be nice, but the poor woman said that she was never so insulted in her life!

I'm sorry to laugh because it's quite mean on the woman whose feelings were understandably hurt, but there's something pretty funny about the naive stupidity of Irish people sometimes.

Vinny-Chase

Any one hear on the D'Arcy show a few months back that Protestants keep their toaster in the press and not on the worktop?

hinault

My grandmother was born in Bolton and was raised as Church of England.
She met my Irish grandfather while on holiday in the Isle of Man in 1925 and my grandfather proposed to her in 1927.

But with her being a Protestant they had to make a decision - either she convert or he convert.
My Gran converted to Roman Catholicism in 1928 and they got married immediately afterward.

I remember asking her about this and she said that the sitaution at the time here in the Republic played a huge role.
She said that she didn't mind converting and that she grew to really love the Roman Catholic faith.
She even started to take regular trips to shrines like Lourdes and Fatima.

Vinny-Chase

paulaa wrote: »

We use "Rector" down here in the sticks, although my kids (in their 20s) call him The Rev. Vicar is used mostly in the UK I think.

So is Rector & Reverend the same thing? Which would be the "proper" term. Sorry just trying to clarify for my own thoughts here.

For example if you met the local Rector on the street would you greet him as Rector or Reverend? Likewise would you tell your friends that you were talking to Rector "such & such" or Reverend "such & such"?

Bottle_of_Smoke

paulaa wrote: »

In my case it wasn't anyway, except the C of I's mother's were better at baking for school sales of work than the rest who brought shop bought cakes

Last year I was living in the north, my mate said the main difference between Catholics/Protestants is when you go to their house Catholics give you biscuits with your cup of tea whereas Protestants give you cake.

Gloomtastic!

paulaa wrote: »

Remember this was in the 60s. Some of the girls in my class thought we worshiped the Devil and it wasn't a "real religion". I remember 1 or 2 of my friends being told not to bring me to their homes because I would be a "bad influence" and they'd go to hell

Ah good, nothing serious then.

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

One woman talked about meeting somebody once who said "You're the first Protestant I've met, and I have to say, you're very nice"

I've heard that before. Why would someone find that an insult?

who the fug

Was always jealous of my Protestant school mates they didn't have to put up with three hours a week of RE, and had to go to the Tech for 1 hour a week, which was a doss because they never showed up

paulaa

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

:eek:

There was a feature on the radio a few months ago (I think it was on Pat Kenny but I can't remember) about the experience of Protestants living in Ireland.

One woman talked about meeting somebody once who said "You're the first Protestant I've met, and I have to say, you're very nice" :rolleyes:

The person who said it was obviously trying to be nice, but the poor woman said that she was never so insulted in her life!

I'm sorry to laugh because it's quite mean on the woman whose feelings were understandably hurt, but there's something pretty funny about the naive stupidity of Irish people sometimes.

I wouldn't be insulted by that but I would ask if she'd like to see my cloven hooves

paulaa

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

Any one hear on the D'Arcy show a few months back that Protestants keep their toaster in the press and not on the worktop?

Oh we do lol. Can't abide dust on my toast. Also my son had a habit of sticking things like toy cars and knives into the toaster .

onlyrocknroll

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I've heard that before. Why would someone find that an insult?

Because it implies that the person who said it always walked around thinking that Protestants were horrible people, and they're surprised to meet one who isn't.

It would be like if you went to London, and someone said to you "You're the first Irish person I've met, and I have so say, you don't seem that drunk."
:pac:

Vinny-Chase

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

Because it implies that the person who said it always walked around thinking that Protestants were horrible people

:eek: You mean they're not?!

I jest, I jest

prinz

Secondary school I went to is a Catholic School in that it is owned and was run by the Dominican Order. There were quite a few Protestant, and other religions, students and it never really came up tbh. Religion class was instruction in all the major world religions and agnosticism and atheism, and any school masses (graduation for example) were totally discretionary and voluntary. It never emerged as an issue tbh.

In primary there was the Catholic primary and the protestant school up the road a bit, there was a cross over of students attending each school for geographic reasons and for communion/confirmation classes etc the students went back and forth. Our Protestants went up the road to their school, and their Catholics came down to the Catholic primary. Never an issue there either, the Reverand used to visit our school quite often and the Priest theirs.

Bit of a nonsense arrangement that the schools weren't combined.

paulaa

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

So is Rector & Reverend the same thing? Which would be the "proper" term. Sorry just trying to clarify for my own thoughts here.

For example if you met the local Rector on the street would you greet him as Rector or Reverend? Likewise would you tell your friends that you were talking to Rector "such & such" or Reverend "such & such"?

I don't know about anyone else but I call mine by his first name, George. Someone I don't know that well it's Reverend. The next parish to mine has an Archdeacon and I call him Archdeacon when I meet him .

alex73

There were some protestants on our catholic Secondary school, it was run by Nuns,, They came down like a ton of bricks on anybody who bullied a protestant because of their religion. Infact to don't remember there ever being a issue.. Religion class was optional, I remember some of the Protestant girls would take Piano classes with a Nun while we did religion. Can't remember their ever being issues.

santing

We don't have a protestant school in our area ... even the VEC is dedicated to an RC priest.

philologos

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Last year I was living in the north, my mate said the main difference between Catholics/Protestants is when you go to their house Catholics give you biscuits with your cup of tea whereas Protestants give you cake.

The CofI are great for their traybakes :pac: - Biggest generalisation ever but probably true. I've been in CofI communities in both rural and urban settings now.