Un-Catholic School

Irony, while often amusing, may sometimes lend itself to tense or disquieting situations. For a handful of my fellow teachers and I, this school year offers us all three elements. Despite being a public-charter school, we find ourselves occupying a portion of a defunct Catholic school in an active, Catholic church.

In theory, this situation should not be overly uncomfortable. Catholics in the urban, Midwestern United States tend to be a bit more progressive. Most posses a strong concern for social justice and community improvement. And, given the dwindling numbers of parishoners, they are eager to formulate non-traditional partnerships.

Such would appear to be the case with my school and our new, Catholic landlords. They signed a lease with our organization with the full understanding that we would, in theory and practice, operate as a public school. Any leftover religious icons, artifacts, statements, et cetera would need to be removed from our operational areas, and the church itself could not run any form of "mission" within our school.

Yet, right now, our portion of the building remains uninhabitable due to code issues. This led to our use of "donated" space in other areas. While few parishoners have been outright rude (some have), the tension has been obvious on both sides.




Oh, right, what's the irony?

I'm a Humanist and openly partnered and gay. Of those I'm sure of, the staff consists of another agnostic/atheist, Buddhist, Protestants, et cetera. And, every morning in our current space, I am subjected to hearing the intonations of mass through the walls, numerous pictures of saints outside every door, and a crucifix - very similar to the one below - spotlighted in my main work area.

School-appropriate... Right?

Even among those of a Christian faith, I've heard reservations about operating a school in such a religiously-monopolized place. Hell, it's an active Catholic church.

I'll spare the details of the situational ungraciousness of our hosts, despite their "donation" of space to a paying tenant, who will be providing tens-of-thousands of dollars in upgrades to the facility. Let's just say, many are not thrilled to host us, and those that accept it, do so with caveats. 

But, I digress for the sake of my main point.

Operating a public school inside an active Catholic church, whose members will utilize our spaces, when we are not operating, is an exercise in legal and ethical roulette. 

Loaded? Separation of church and state, undue duress, infringement on civil rights...

At the end of the day, all my concerns may just be so much sound and noise. I was raised in church. I once claimed to be a Christian. I am comfortable around religious people, studying religion, having conversations about religion, and maybe for a wedding or funeral even going to church. But, I personally feel put-off by being unwillingly exposed to such religious overtures regardless of their subtlety or innocence.

Though I have to wonder what will happen, when our students finally start inside this space, and an LGBT club forms; I display pictures of my partner and me; my walls bear inspirational quotes from famous non-theists; or any number of practices our landlords might well deem "offensive."

Time will tell, but if ancient and very recent history are to be trusted, I question how much of an un-Catholic school mine can be.