Catholic college for a Protestant person?

[Janeway]

My husband was raised Catholic and does not want our children at a Catholic school. University of Dallas appears to have so much that son wants. Is it worth visiting or should I just keep it off the list? We have raised our children in a protestant church. Baylor is Baptist but I would not keep it off the list over not being Baptist. I have heard from people of a variety of religions, including Catholic, that have no problem with Baylor. Would that work with University of Dallas?

[chiguirre]

It's almost certainly worth visiting because it's near your home, isn't it? We plan to do the tours at Rice and U of H just to get a feel for liberal arts/elite/fairly small vs. huge state university even though I don't think dd will apply to either of them. I wouldn't do a road trip to visit UDallas if I were you, but I think it's worth a half day to tour.

My dd is doing their summer Latin in Rome program this July. I'll post about her experience when she gets back. We're nominally Catholic but she wouldn't want to go to a very religious, very cloistered school so we'll see (for example, Notre Dame is fine, Franciscan University or Ave Maria would be a big nope for her).

Edited May 22, 2019 by chiguirre

[Lawyer&Mom]

Catholicism is vast, I think it would help to clarify what part of “Catholic” your husband wants to avoid.  For example, UDallas sounds way too conservative for us, and we are Catholic!  But maybe “orthodox” Catholic like UDallas would be closer to your Protestant faith on moral issues?  But maybe he is like my mom and just wants nothing at all to do with the Catholic Church no matter what, no exceptions?     

[Janeway]

4 hours ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

Catholicism is vast, I think it would help to clarify what part of “Catholic” your husband wants to avoid.  For example, UDallas sounds way too conservative for us, and we are Catholic!  But maybe “orthodox” Catholic like UDallas would be closer to your Protestant faith on moral issues?  But maybe he is like my mom and just wants nothing at all to do with the Catholic Church no matter what, no exceptions?     

Wants nothing to do with Catholicism at all. 

[Lawyer&Mom]

47 minutes ago, Janeway said:

Wants nothing to do with Catholicism at all. 

 

We had my kids baptized Episcopalian just so my mom would even attend the baptism.  Her rejection of Catholicism, after being raised Catholic, is pretty absolute.  (They were received into the Catholic Church afterwards without difficulty.)

Can a Catholic University be a good fit for a non-Catholic?  Absolutely, of course.  Fit might not matter if your Dh will veto.

 

[mom1720]

I have a Protestant (Episcopalian) kid at a Jesuit Catholic university. It's been a non-issue. The school is about 70% Catholic, but with 10,000 undergrads that leaves 3,000 who aren't.

Interesting you mention Baylor -- my kid refused to even consider it due to the mandatory chapel requirement.

[...................]

THere is a sense in which for us, a Catholic U would be a better fit than some of the Protestant colleges which have legalistic requirements about attending chapel and taking Bible classes.  The watered down and yet legalistic version of Protestantism strikes us as being worse than the fact that to most Catholics, their religion is like a lifetime club more than a personal thing....

I am truly rambling but my point is that how people practice and live out their Christian faith is so variable that I personally would rather see my daughter at many Catholic Us than at many other Christian Us.  As it is we cant' afford the Catholic U that is close to where she wants to attend school, so she will end up at  Christian or even public U.

But for you, it sounds like your dh is more than adamant so unless your kid is really bugging you about it, then I'd let the matter drop. There are a lot of other things spouses can find to disagree over and a thousand and one other good colleges (in TX and beyond.)

[J-rap]

I don't know much about that school, but our dd was protestant and attended a Catholic university.   It probably helped that my dh was raised Catholic and so my dd had some familiarity with Catholicism.  She was raised Lutheran and there's a lot of crossover between Catholic and Lutheran.  Our dd loved the school!  It was quite a progressive school, and students from all backgrounds were very welcome.  My dd was more comfortable there than she would have been at a very conservative protestant school.  There was some Catholic theology that would pop up here and there, but it was mostly a non-issue.  My dd was very happy there.  It's been our experience that many Catholic schools and organizations seem to put an emphasis on social justice issues, which are very important to my dd.  So in many ways, it was a very good match for her.

Edited May 23, 2019 by J-rap

[DawnM]

It wouldn't bother me at all.  Most colleges with a religious bent have varying people attending.  As long as you are ok with the rules, I don't see the issue.  

 

[catz]

I'd check out individual schools for feel.  We visited DePaul in Chicago and that seemed very friendly to everyone.  They had groups for Islamic and Jewish students, etc.  Plenty of secular students.   My kid is atheist and one of his top choice schools was Lutheran.   Also a very progressive and welcoming to all college.

[Bootsie]

DD went to University of Dallas and we are Protestant.  It was a good match for our daughter and she received a fantastic education.  (She also went to a Catholic high school).  University of Dallas considers itself to be "enthusiastically Catholic"  It embraces its Catholic heritage and tradition.  Although the undergraduate student body is primarily Catholic, it attracts students from a wide-range of Catholic backgrounds.  DD had some friends who were extremely conservative Catholics, some who were more liberal, and some who were not Catholic.  She never felt pressure or uncomfortable, on campus or in classes, not being Catholic.  

University of Dallas has a new president, a UD alum, who has recently served as dean of the Honors College at Baylor.