RE: Religion and schools don’t mix, Jan 12
I understand Mr. Chai’s article is an opinion, but I must point out that it is not a completely informed one. I, as well as the majority of my friends, attended Catholic school from the age of five to 17 and not one of their parents had to “pretend to be Catholic and make good with the priest” to get their child into the school; after all, we do live in a free country.
In fact a few of my friends in high school were Jewish and some were Muslim. And in high school there were only two required Religion courses: one was a class that I’d summarize as a “morals” class and the other was a “World Religion” class that taught students about the various beliefs around the world, including pagan. I feel Mr. Chai’s article focuses on a few radical cases that may have made the mainstream media, but as someone who experienced the Catholic school system first hand I’d like to say that I was never “trapped or manipulated” by shady priests.
I was well brought up and well taught thanks to a set of good teachers and I certainly don’t deny science as I am currently in the Chemistry program here at Laurier. Most of the time I keep to myself when I read something on the opinions page, but this is obviously a very biased opinion and I thought I’d share my personal experience within the Catholic school system to inform the readers.
—Patrick Smith
