Jewish kid at Saint Mary's high school?
Hi There!
We are currently looking at high schools for our current 8th grade son. He loves Saint Mary's and at a first glance I think it would be a good fit for his learning style, personality, etc. We are a mixed religion family who are mostly jewish identifying. Candidly I never thought I'd send my son to a catholic school.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Saint Mary's if you're a current family there, especially a jewish family. So far in the admissions process, the role of religion and more specifically, Jesus Christ seems to be downplayed and fairly minimal. We're heard so much more about academics, extra-curriculars, etc. How has your experience been?
Thanks so much
Nov 20, 2017
Parent Replies
We are a half-Jewish family who had one kid who thrived at St. Mary's and one kid who loathed it and switched to Berkeley High as soon as she could. But caveat emptor: St. Mary's is NOT just fooling around about Catholicism . Sure, they focus on social justice and the benevolent aspects of the religion, but your kid will have four years of Religion classes and eight or nine liturgy days, including mass, for religious observances (such as the Feast of the Assumption), per year. Furthermore, I would call some of the teachers illiberal interpreters of dogma (anti-Semitic would be overstating the case), and there's a definite old-boy network feeling about the place. On the positive side, though, attending St. Mary's really solidified my kids' Jewish identity.
Catholic schools are not private schools, though often confused as such, they are a ministry, or outreach of the Church. From the Diocese of Oakland's Catholic School website "Our Catholic schools educate in many ways, helping to build a child's self esteem, their ability to learn and their connection to the Catholic faith." Catholics believe that Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church, and as such, it is disheartening to hear that this fact is being 'downplayed' by any school calling itself Catholic. Your child will be required to attend mass and adhere to the moral teachings of the Church at any Catholic school. If you object to this, or to your child learning about and being asked to be reverent towards Jesus, then if I were you I would probably not send them to a Catholic school.
My son is a senior at Saint Mary's; our family is Jewish. In terms of religious requirements, religion courses are taken 2 out of every 3 trimesters. Freshman and sophomore years the course work is set; 1 course on the "Old Testament" and 3 on Christianity. Now he knows more about Christianity than his parents, we view this as a good thing. As an upper classman students have more choice. This past trimester my son really enjoyed the discussions in his class entitled Does Religion Matter? There are other course choices such as Ethics, that cover a gobal curriculum. These courses do limit the number of electives students can take. Our other child attended JCHS in San Francisco, this was true there as well. Another religious requirement is attendance at school services which occur about 6 times a year. The final religious practice I'll mention, (which you may have already experienced on campus), is that a prayer is said at every gathering, including at the beginning of each class. Saint Mary's has been a wonderful place for our son. For him, being with people who believe differently has caused him to clarify what he thinks and believes for himself. He has also attended some Jewish classes outside of SMCHS which have provided a counterpoint to the religious school course work. Good luck with your process. You are welcome to contact me if you have other questions. Ruth Ehrenkrantz