Today was the first all school mass at my kiddos' school. Mass was nice. I sat in the cy room with Chris and Monica and felt oddly lacking in children. I actually was able to focus on the mass in between the moments of putting Monica in the corner for time out due to "un-lady-like" behavior.
Following mass many of the moms stay in the Narthex to visit and to see their children walk out and give them a hug or a wave. A young girl (7th grade or so) paused after exiting and looked a little confused as to where she should go next as she was heading up the single file line of her fellow classmates out the doors. I could read her face "should I go on ahead? shouldn't I wait for my teacher?" she looked left and right. A harsh and bitterly sarcastic voice rang out from behind the line "Let's go. Oh I should have put someone at the head of the line who knows what the heck they are doing. So-in-so take the lead since you know what you're doing." It was shockingly cruel and demeaning to the innocent little girl who was merely looking for an order or a directive from an adult. THAT is a virtue you don't see in kids today too often. Most brats I know are more than ready to "take the lead" in every and any circumstance and see adults as merely obstacles to their own "right" to independence!! (come to find out this girl is a brand new student and this was her first EVER school mass)
That teacher certainly owes that girl an apology. The other moms and I commented on it and one mom had enough sense to take our principal aside and inform her of the rude careless behavior of one of her STAFF. Sadly, the damage is done. Truly the state of Catholic schools today is reflected in this one instance very well indeed. If one is seeking solace from the unkindness and shelter from the worldliness of public schools they will be hard pressed to find it in Catholic schools. The only comfort I take in shelling out the BIG BUCKS to send our kiddos to Catholic school is that they are FREE to talk about Jesus and their faith in Him and that they are FREE to pray when and where they'd like and they are in an environment that affords me the FREEDOM to demand or should I say request adherence to Catholic doctrine and teaching being it is a "catholic" school you know. This all comes with a caveat though and it is this - although your kids are FREE to be Catholic they won't be sheltered from comments such as "you're way too Catholic" and other such world good - religious weirdos bad, type discriminatory teasing.
Mom being a squeaky wheel and dad being quite the zealous convert that he is doesn't score our kiddos any brownie points either. So do you get what you pay for? Well yes and no. You get a watered down version of what you'd like to have but at least it's not the poison you might be forced to drink elsewhere. No much of a deal eh?
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