Vent Thread: My Son's School's *Agenda*

[TDC Nala]

I don't think in 5th grade they're even capable of understanding the Da Vinci Code. How can you make judgements about a book to a bunch of kids who can't read the book for themselves?

 

[PaulaSB12]

What a coincidence!! My DD12 came home from her Lutheran School with the story about how a child in class asked the teacher about he painting of the Last Supper. The teacher made it very clear that the painting, The DaVinci Code, etc were NOT to be discussed during class. She did mention that it was a work of fiction but they were not going to discuss it. She didn't make a big deal of it at all, just made herself clear. I thought she handled it very well considering that the ad for the movie is on TV every 5 minutes. It's definately going to come up in every "christian" school in the next few weeks.

Why on earth would a teacher mention the DaVinci code in relation to the painting of the Last Supper? The DaVinci code is a piece of fiction the Last Supper is a wonderfull picture painted by Leanardo DaVinci where is the connection. Just as a side their is a story about the picture of Judas that he hadn't got a model to use for that picture so he used the face of a priest that had irritated him instead.

 

[barkley]

have'nt read all the responses-but i can sympathize. dh was raised in the seventh day adventist church and went through their schools. although he fell away from the church he recognized their excellent educational system and as such our kids have been going their since k/and 1st (currently in 2nd/5th). i was raised catholic but have no affiliation with any church currently (devout christian, just can't deal with the church "politics" i've seen in every church i've attended).

dd gets confused sometimes because she attended a non denominational christian preschool up until 1st grade that taught "sabbath is sunday/when you die you go to heaven" but sda church teaches "sabbath is saturday/when you die you have to wait until the second coming of christ and ultimatly you will go to heaven". so we end up in these discussions about religion that confuse the heck out of ME! it gets even worse when she has a biblical question because (though it may have changed now) when i was a kid attending mass, cyo, communion classes...i rarely ever saw an actual bible cracked open-it was memorize the prayers of the catholic church, know your saints, know what to do during mass-so i have never had the day to day bible studies she (and ds and dh) have had.

i think our local school takes a pretty good stance on issues like "the da vinci code", "harry potter" and the like (and i should point out the dd is in a classroom of grade 3-8th) anything that has a fantasy or fictional aspect (that touches on supernatural things) is not permitted to be a topic of discussion-if a student brings it up the teachers tell them that is something they can discuss away from school. but i give a great deal of credit to our teacher/principal for the actual administration of this policy, and the way other "controversial" (sexuality, "sins"...) topics are handled-she (a practicing sda as are all staff members in sda schools) recognizes that the school has a varied mix of fervent sda, christian and catholics so while the "official position" of the sda church is taught-it is not pushed heavily. the emphasis is more "here's what the bible says-here is how the sda church interprets it-here is how the sda church puts it into practice". i think it's much easier for the students to develop critical thinking skills by virtue of this.

i know that catholic school can be very difficult for non catholics-it is such a different religious process. not that it's bad- it's just REALY hard to understand even the service if your used to anything other than perhaps a lutheran experience (no offense-but they've always felt like "catholic lite" to me-much the same without as much repitition and up/down/kneeling). but because there is no catholic schools in our area i know of several catholic students who attend christian schools and they experience much the same sense of akwardness (in fact in some ways it's harder when you are attending schools that practice spontanious out loud prayer directly to christ and other practices that are very alien to your religious experience). so i think it goes both ways.

hang in there-if nothing else these discussion will teach your son about tolerance and freedom of religion.

 

[mickeyfan2]

My understanding is that lying is not a mortal sin so it's not as serious as being in a homosexual relationship, but being in a homosexual relationship is no more or less of a sin than millions of heterosexuals having premarital or extramarital sex (myself included).

You did not get this correct. Adultry (extramarital sex) is a sin. It is one of the Ten Commandments. Homosexual relationships and premarital are not.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Some teachers are just a little more enthusiastic about their faith. My son has been going to a Catholic school for the past 8 years and he has gotten a fantastic education. He has a more enthusiastic teacher for his religion class. She was at the movie theater last night encouraging others not to see the movie. We still think the school is great and he'll be finishing up at that school next year. Then it's on to four years in Catholic high school. His choice.

All schools have their more enthusiastic teachers, whether it is a Catholic school, a temple school, public school or whatever. I'd just talk to the teacher before you condemn her to find out more about her.

 

[Captain Brain]

I have a sort of related story, and of course, I'm going to share it with you!

My mom's friend, we'll call her Angie, had a son who needed a daycare so Angie could go back to work. She sent him to Sacred Heart, the local Catholic Church. Her son comes home after about a month and says: Gays are bad, you will be punished if you are gay. (The kid was about 4 and a half, he had no idea what a gay is.)

Anyway, my point is that Catholic Churches all have their own Agenda, and we can't do anything about it.

 

[momof2inPA]

I posted the official position of the Catholic Church written by the now Pope when he was Cardinal on a different thread a couple of weeks ago, but people didn't like it and it hurt some's feelings. So if you want to look it up, go ahead. In fact, the post got a thread locked. The Church is not accepting of homosexuality, they see it as a condition which compels one to sin and that it should be suppressed. I don't agree with the Church, but I also don't understand why people try to pretend like the Catholic Church is progressive on the issue of homosexuality. As a whole, they are not, although, some individual priests may be.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Anyway, my point is that Catholic Churches all have their own Agenda, and we can't do anything about it.

And what church doesn't????

 

[jimmiej]

You did not get this correct. Adultry (extramarital sex) is a sin. It is one of the Ten Commandments. Homosexual relationships and premarital are not.

Really? The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual relationships (I assume you mean sexual) and premarital sex are not sinful?

 

[momof2inPA]

Really? The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual relationships (I assume you mean sexual) and premarital sex are not sinful?

No, I'll send you a pm.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I have always found the catholic churches teachings odd considering the behaviour of its leaders, I don't think you will find any popes from the first 1600 years of the church in heavon

Saint Peter married 3 children
Pope Anastasius father of Pope Innocent
Pope St Hormisdas married 1 daughter
Pope Adrian II married 1 daughter
Pope Sergious III supposedly father of Pope John XI
Pope John XI was infamous for turning Basilica di san Giovannis into a brothal
Pope Clement IV married with children
Pope Pius had several illegitimate children
Pope Innocent VIII had sveral illegitimate children
Pope Alexander V had several illegitimate children this was the famous borgia pope!!!!!!!!
Pope Clement VII probably father of Alessandro de Medici who he made Duke of Florence
Pope Paul III held up ordination inorder to continue his promiscous lifestyle fathering 4 illegitimate children nicknamed cardinal petticoat made his son Pier Luige Furnese Duke of Parma
Pope Pius IV several illigitimate children
Pope Gregory XIII the same
my favourite Pope Benidict IX accused of many vile aduteries and murders Pope Victor refered to "his rapes murders and other unspeakable acts his life as a pope so vile, so foul, so excreble, that I shudder to think of it"

its been a case as do as we say not do so I don't think you will see many popes in heaven.

 

[momof2inPA]

Yes, the Catholic Church, like other countries and other religions, has survived many trials, many mistakes, many sins, and many sinners.

I believe it wasn't until the 1100's that celibacy was officially required of priests. I'm not sure about Popes.

 

[mickeyfan2]

The reason that Priests stopped getting married was a legal one. During the middle ages the laws were such that the Priest "owned" his church. If a Priest married, then when he died his wife and kids would inherit the church building. This is problematic for obvious reasons. So the Priests did not marry but still produced kids (with one women) and the kids got his name and he left them his personal belonging, but the church was not passed to them. It was common for the older kids to actually live with the Priest at his church and he educated them. After a while all Priests were unmarried and then some probably chose not to have kids. Eventually the celebate Priest was seen as pious and others tried to emulate them. Today there are married Priests in the US Catholic Church. Most were Catholic Priests who feel in love with Nuns so they left the Church to get married. They became Episcopalian Priests. The Catholic Church then invited them back and they could remain married. Many took the Church up on that offer.

 

[mickeyfan2]

its been a case as do as we say not do so I don't think you will see many popes in heaven.

I am so glad that you know who will and will not got to heaven!

 

[agnes!]

Jesus said that if you break *any* of the Ten Commandments that you are guilty of breaking them ALL. (Coveting, especially, is something I probably wrestle with on a daily basis - it's hard not to covet what others have, especially in our culture of buybuybuy, getgetget.)
What his statement means to me is that I need to *stay* busy minding my own spiritual business, *not* keep busy trying to mind others, To take care of the log in my eye before I even dare in love tell my brother or sister about the supposed speck in theirs.

JMO,
agnes!
PS - Just read another poster's listing of the various Popes' failings and crimes. Almost all of them I had heard of, except for Saint Peter. I know according to the Gospels he did at least deny Jesus three times before Jesus' death, but was unaware that he married three children(?).
But actually, if you think about it, Jesus always did at the very least pick "interesting" folks to be his disciples...including the murderer Paul, complicit in the murder of Steven(by standing by and approving of Steven being stoned to death).

 

[princessesrule4]

I think if you send your child to a Catholic school and are not Catholic you open yourself up to questions about beliefs that you may not agree with and/or may not be able to answer.
You have acknowledged that you have a problem with what the teacher said, not with the school. So, if you are going to speak to anyone about it ,I would speak to the teacher!

 

[tnkbl]

IMO I think it is unfair that you say that this is the schools agenda. I teach at a Catholic School and I do not believe that the school has this in the curriculum, much less for a fifth grade class. I am pretty sure that the administration does not know what the teacher was talking about in the classroom. Instead of basking the school for what the teacher is doing, make an appointment wiht the principal and discuss it with them.
I totally agree that this is inappropriate for school discussion, go to the principal and politely tell them that you disagree with this being discussed in your son's classroom.
I teach second grade and sometimes things get brought up in class that I have to tell the kids that they need to go and talk about this wiht thier parents. I don't know if your child's teacher is inexperienced or really comfortable in her job, but IMO she was out of line discussing either topics with a fifth grade class.

 

[tnkbl]

All ya'll that have had bad experiences at Catholic schools should come to my school down south, we are calm and nice! I attended Catholic school (k-6) and have taught at Catholic schools for 13 years and would not change. I live in a nice community and we have good schools, but I want to teach in a Catholic school and my child will begin in the fall.
I hate it that ya'll have had bad experiences, we are a terrific school, no we have had some "wacos" teaching at our school, but they don't last long. If one of our teachers discussed what was talked about in theis fifth grade classroom we would be in bg time trouble. Like I said in my other post, these are things that should be discussed at home!

 

[jimmiej]

its been a case as do as we say not do so I don't think you will see many popes in heaven.

What about Moses (muderer), Paul (accessory to murder of Stephen), David (murder for hire AND adultrey)? Are they going to miss heaven also? The truth is, we're all sinners. None of us is "good" enough on our own. The blood of Jesus covers all our sins, if only we believe.

 

[rie'smom]

One of our local priests just 'came out'. He is not a practicing homosexual. Homsexuality is not a sin practicing it is. Heterosexuality is not a sin practicing outside of marriage is-both premarital and extramarital.
Our Catholic school does teach both of these. It's what our faith teaches us.