Hey Catholics...

[bluehenbillk]

Our pastor is pretty cool - he's probably not far from my age & is a big football fan.

[GannonFan]

Our pastor is pretty cool - he's probably not far from my age & is a big football fan.

We have a Monsignor as our pastor and he's got an Ed.D. - runs a pretty good parish as well. And amazingly, the CYO program is pretty good from an athletics standpoint. I know growing up the CYO was normally only a viable option in the city and the suburbs had better options, but I can see my kids playing b-ball and even track for CYO in the next few years.

[89Hen]

Which parish?

Church of the Holy Child on Naamans Rd. We were living in Boothywn just across the border in PA for about 5 years before we moved to where we are now. Again another good example of the benefits of parish selecting - I couldn't stand the one in PA we were geographically slated to attend. It's good to shop around and find the right one.

Not familiar with it. I assume they were in different archdiocese? That can be as big a change as one church to another.

[Ibanez]

Do you think the Catholic Church is against Oral Sex?

[Grizalltheway]

I attend church at a lake house in Polson, MT. Pastor is a big, loud sumbitch who likes good food and good beer.

[89Hen]

Do you guys have schools associated with your parishes? IMO that makes a GIANT difference in the parish. Really brings in all ages. Most of our parishes close to DC have schools. The one my kids just left is expanding to Pre-K and we have a waiting list every year to get in.

[89Hen]

Do you think the Catholic Church is against Oral Sex?

Only in church.

[GannonFan]

Church of the Holy Child on Naamans Rd. We were living in Boothywn just across the border in PA for about 5 years before we moved to where we are now. Again another good example of the benefits of parish selecting - I couldn't stand the one in PA we were geographically slated to attend. It's good to shop around and find the right one.

Not familiar with it. I assume they were in different archdiocese? That can be as big a change as one church to another.

They were, of course. Holy Child was in the Wilmington diocese while living in PA I was/is part of the Philadelphia archdiocese. But I still find the church to church differences to be pretty stark. I probably have 3-4 Catholic parishes I can go to right now and one is clearly less than the others in terms of quality. IMO of course.

[GannonFan]

Do you guys have schools associated with your parishes? IMO that makes a GIANT difference in the parish. Really brings in all ages. Most of our parishes close to DC have schools. The one my kids just left is expanding to Pre-K and we have a waiting list every year to get in.

Mine do, but frankly, I thoroughly enjoyed the one downtown (the Jesuit one) that didn't have a school associated with it. I've never sent my kids to Catholic school and unless I decide to send them to a preparatory high school (might still do that - not convinced the public high school in the area is academically rigorous enough and there are some top notch Catholic high schools not too far away) I don't see that changing. The kids still get the REC (or CCD, or Sunday school, whatever you'll call it) but I don't think having the school helps or hurts the overall experience.

[HI54UNI]

Over the last two years, the priests are encouraging the congregation to remain until the end. They do it at the beginning of Mass and just before Communion. I have to admit, I blow out after Communion. I stand in the back of the church and say a prayer and then I'm out. I never return to the pew. This is a big church and only 1 entrance with one lane going in and one going out.

We stay to the end only when my kid has Sunday school immediately after 9:00am mass. If not we do the same thing.

Normally I stay out of the religion threads but I'm LMAO at you guys that can't stay another 10-15 minutes. God only gets an hour!

[89Hen]

We stay to the end only when my kid has Sunday school immediately after 9:00am mass. If not we do the same thing.

Normally I stay out of the religion threads but I'm LMAO at you guys that can't stay another 10-15 minutes. God only gets an hour!

We normally stay until the end unless we have to get to a CYO sport. That's allowable.

[CAA Flagship]

Do you guys have schools associated with your parishes? IMO that makes a GIANT difference in the parish. Really brings in all ages. Most of our parishes close to DC have schools. The one my kids just left is expanding to Pre-K and we have a waiting list every year to get in.

I grew up in that situation. My kids are not as fortunate. They go to a school run by the Sisters of Mercy and it is not associated with the parish. I am often surprised at how separate the parish tries to keep it. I made a comment once that I thought we were on the same team.

[bluehenbillk]

Our parish has a school connected with it as well. It's getting to be a less common thing in the Philly Archdiocese as they just closed a couple dozen schools a few months ago due to declining enrollment.

[89Hen]

Our parish has a school connected with it as well. It's getting to be a less common thing in the Philly Archdiocese as they just closed a couple dozen schools a few months ago due to declining enrollment.

Must be a regional thing. All but one of our grade schools is overflowing. They even opened two new schools in the last 12 years.

[JohnStOnge]

All other things aside, to say that the Catholic Church opposes "reproductive rights" is ridiculous. In no way, shape, or form does the Catholic Church propose forcing anyone to reproduce or not to reproduce.

An abortion is not stopping a reproduction. Once conception occurs, reproduction has already taken place. A new animal exists. Abortion is not avoiding reproduction. It's the act of killing your own progeny.

And, while the Catholic Church does make certain moral rules for Catholics, I am not aware of it pushing for laws preventing people from using means that prevent conception.

[CAA Flagship]

Our parish has a school connected with it as well. It's getting to be a less common thing in the Philly Archdiocese as they just closed a couple dozen schools a few months ago due to declining enrollment.

Must be a regional thing. All but one of our grade schools is overflowing. They even opened two new schools in the last 12 years.

What? DC suburbs doing well during the Obama term while the rest of the country is not? Shocking.

[D1B]

Do you think the Catholic Church is against Oral Sex?

Only in church.

Also must involve altar boys.

[D1B]

Grown men who need other creepy men to tell them what to do.

Fathers forcing their children to believe their superstitions.

The cycle of abuse continues.

[GannonFan]

Must be a regional thing. All but one of our grade schools is overflowing. They even opened two new schools in the last 12 years.

What? DC suburbs doing well during the Obama term while the rest of the country is not? Shocking.

I think most suburbs are doing better. The places you see close are predominately city schools and the Catholic population has clearly shifted away from the cities to the suburbs over the last 50 years. The Catholic schools out where I live, which is a suburb that 50 years ago was vehemetely anti-Catholic, are now full to capacity and they're building more. Like I said, I prefer the public schools in the are myself, but I may even be wary of the quality of the high school when my kids get there and choose an alternative.

[CAA Flagship]

What? DC suburbs doing well during the Obama term while the rest of the country is not? Shocking.

I think most suburbs are doing better. The places you see close are predominately city schools and the Catholic population has clearly shifted away from the cities to the suburbs over the last 50 years. The Catholic schools out where I live, which is a suburb that 50 years ago was vehemetely anti-Catholic, are now full to capacity and they're building more. Like I said, I prefer the public schools in the are myself, but I may even be wary of the quality of the high school when my kids get there and choose an alternative.

My point is that much of America is either unemployed or underemployed outside of government workers. And the largest concentration of government workers is in the DC area. So it is not surprising that enrollment numbers are not declining there when it is in other areas (predominantly private sector workforce), including where I live.

[89Hen]

Must be a regional thing. All but one of our grade schools is overflowing. They even opened two new schools in the last 12 years.

What? DC suburbs doing well during the Obama term while the rest of the country is not? Shocking.

DC suburbs will always do well until the federal goverment moves.

[D1B]

Have you idiots checked out your priest on bishopaccountability.com?

Delaware has a huge catholic pedophile priest problem.

[D1B]

Delaware catholic pedophile priest settlement tops $100,000,000!

Gannon, they need that second collection!

Two Roman Catholic Church groups in Delaware have settled for a total of $102.2 million in in two separate pedophile priest sex abuse cases involving 39 victims spanning twenty years. In addition to the financial settlement, one Church will release the names of twelve priests involved in the case.

The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales “agreed Thursday to pay $24.8 million to settle lawsuits filed by 39 survivors of priest sex abuse in Delaware,” according to a report today in the Washington Post. “As part of the settlement, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales also agreed for the first time to release the names of 12 of its members identified as child molesters and to disclose personnel files and records related to their placement, supervision and handling.”

“The settlement was announced one week after a federal bankruptcy judge in Wilmington approved the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, which is based on a separate $77.4 million settlement with about 150 victims of priest sex abuse, including 37 of the 39 plaintiffs who also sued the Oblates.”

The website of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales includes this statement:

[89Hen]

What? DC suburbs doing well during the Obama term while the rest of the country is not? Shocking.

DC suburbs will always do well until the federal goverment moves.

BTW, just checked and we have 27 Catholic grade schools in my county. I wonder if there are that many in Montana and Wyoming combined.

[GannonFan]

I think most suburbs are doing better. The places you see close are predominately city schools and the Catholic population has clearly shifted away from the cities to the suburbs over the last 50 years. The Catholic schools out where I live, which is a suburb that 50 years ago was vehemetely anti-Catholic, are now full to capacity and they're building more. Like I said, I prefer the public schools in the are myself, but I may even be wary of the quality of the high school when my kids get there and choose an alternative.

My point is that much of America is either unemployed or underemployed outside of government workers. And the largest concentration of government workers is in the DC area. So it is not surprising that enrollment numbers are not declining there when it is in other areas (predominantly private sector workforce), including where I live.

Oh, I agree with that (although "much" of America isn't unemployed or underemployed - I'll be the first to say the economy is horrible right now, but even the full unemployment number is only around 14% or 15% - it's bad, but not as bad as your word would make it out to be).

Still, I'm amazed at the number of kids who go to Catholic schools in my area. Starting to see the local charter school take off as well. I'm not sure the public schools around me are used to the type of parents and families moving into the area - used to be very rural and very insular up where I live, with a large Mennonite population (among others). Differentiation in the schools (for both the top and bottom ends) hasn't been something that has been stressed up here before.