Before I get into the details of this article, I would just like to say that this article is not something I am writing to bash Catholic schools or to put the school I went to in a negative light. The Catholic school that I attended is a school that I am proud of and a school that I actively enjoyed, and still love. By writing this article, I am not saying that the school that I attended was horrible. I am not trying to trash the school I went to and made me who I am. Instead, I am just trying to suggest change within the Catholic school community in order to promote a truth about the Catholic Church and to lead people to an accurate version of the Catholic faith.

You here a lot of people say, "I survived Catholic School". When someone hears this, they obviously receive a sense of negative connotation. How many times do people tell us they went to a Catholic school and they absolutely hated it? How many times do we hear someone attended a Catholic school that made them fall away from the Catholic faith? Catholic schools are placed with the Catholic church obviously for the fact that they teach Catholic religion and base their school rules and the school environment around it. The question is, are these school rules and environment an accurate depiction of the Catholic faith?

For example, let's look at a Catholic school's policy regarding same-sex relationships. We have seen time after time that Catholic schools tend to shut down same-sex relationships that happen within their school community. For example, a school might ask a student to remove a photo of them and their significant other from the same sex at a school function. Why would the school want this? While the school may try to pass this off as the fact that these are the kind of things that don't align with their values, it's pretty evident to see that the school is worried about their reputation so they are trying to their best to control the lives of students so that they seem like they are fitting the Catholic image.

Another example is a Catholic school may have a policy where if a female student has sex before marriage and she becomes pregnant with a child, she is expelled from the school. The school may say that this policy is so that the girl can reflect on making the best decision for the next steps of her pregnancy when in reality, it is just another reflection of the school trying to maintain an image for the public. Another example is that a Catholic school may not hire someone who has been divorced and remarried because in the eyes of the Catholic church that is a sin. This is another example where the school takes the idea that they must fit the image of the Catholic church.

But is this really an accurate reflection of the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church? The Catholic Church believes that each person is created in the image of Christ and that we should try our best to live our lives like Christ himself. Would Christ shame someone who was attracted to the same sex? Would Jesus kick someone out of school for having premarital sex? Would Jesus turn away someone who had been divorced and remarried? Would Jesus disassociate himself from the sinner? The obvious answers to these questions are all no. Jesus tells us to come to him as we are. He understands that we are all broken sinners yet he loves us unconditionally anyway. He wants to have a relationship with us despite our brokenness, our faults, and our sins.

Jesus does not turn away sinners so why do Catholic schools? Everyone wonders why a large number of people who enter into a Catholic schooling system don't remain Catholic or sometimes even Christian. It is pretty evident to me that these people who leave the faith never experienced Christ's love in a place that claimed that they were all about it. So if we really want people to start feeling accepted by Christ and his church, then we need to stop worrying about our reputation and instead worry about how we are living our lives. Jesus never worried about his reputation. Instead, he worried about spreading the love of God. If Catholic schools truly want to resemble Christ, then we need to get rid of our anxiety surrounding what our reputation is and instead focus on spreading the love of Christ within our school community. So, instead of asking a student to remove their prom photos of them and their same-sex partner, allow them to keep the photos up. Instead of kicking a female student out in light of her pregnancy outside of marriage, be truly pro-life and allow for a community to love and support someone who is going through a hard time. Instead of not hiring someone because they got divorced and remarried, allow them to start again by hiring them and allowing them to use their God-given talents to teach.

While I am extremely proud of the Catholic school I attended and while I love my Catholic school, I think there is obvious room for improvement. No school is perfect but that doesn't mean we can't strive to make improvements and strive to be better. Do I think that Catholic schools are an accurate representation of the Catholic Church? Currently, I think that the answer is no, but I do have faith that we can make adjustments to where our Catholic school system is an accurate reflection of the Catholic faith and church.