Dirty Forehead Day

Wonder if Enda Kenny will have got his ashes when he goes to cellect his seal in The Aras? I think yes.

Another evening of de-programming the sprogs awaits.

wyndham wrote: »

Wonder if Enda Kenny will have got his ashes when he goes to cellect his seal in The Aras? I think yes.

Mos Def!

fryup wrote: »

Today is ash wednesday or as i call it ..dirty forehead day or spot the practicing catholic day.

Is it necessary to continue with this practice? and especially frog marching young school kids down to the local chapel to get it done whether they like it or not.

Will ireland ever be truly secular?

It's not brainwashing, it's education!:)

And as for being secular. Iwouldn't hold my breath if i was you, but at least we're heading in the righ direction.

sbsquarepants wrote: »

What percentage of schools do they fund?

Don't know, state funds them but nearly all of them are under the auspices of one order or another. It goes back to the foundation of the state; government broke, paying England for our own war of independence, civil war split the country, Church was running most of the schools and hospitals by then anyway. The Church doesn't necessarily cover the costs of teachers etc... but it does in a lot of cases own the land on which the school is built and where the religious order has given up on the day-to-day functions of the school most PPs will be on the board of management. It's not an ideal system but I can't see it changing for pragmatic reasons (i.e. government is completely fucked financially).

It's funny, op starts a thread on "Dirty Forehead Day", I wonder how quick a thread would last on "Daytime Muslim Starvation Day"...

Lumen wrote: »

Sending kids to school isn't like shopping on the internet; you can't always find the exact combination of product features you want. There are practical constraints like distance, class sizes, scumbag population etc.

I sent my kids to an RC primary school because it's a decent school that's close enough that they can walk to school and back. We also visited the next nearest, a non-denominational school, but it's under some sort of special measures programme and I was a bit put off by the rat poison canister under the principal's desk.

The brainwashing is fairly lightweight and easily rinsed out and provides some good conversation starters.

Probably about a third of the class is non-Catholic. I've no idea what they do with those kids - I guess I'll find out tonight.

Good story and all, but again it doesn't change the fact that you might have to live by the particular rules of the school you have chosen. Similarly if you choose a particular school, you don't usually have a choice on the type or colour of the uniform etc...

You weigh up your options and the pros and cons of each and make a decision but if you send a child to a RC school, whether the child is raised as a practicing catholic or not, the child may have to receive ashes and or partake in other catholic practices like prayers etc... Them's the choices. No point in complaining about it - btw I am not saying you specifically are complaining about it.

[edit] Incidentally, to the best of my memory, when in primary school, the whole class generally went to receive ashes as a matter of course but in secondary school the facility was made available and up to the students to decide whether they wanted to receive the ashes or not - I think it was encouraged (as would be expected) but never enforced. Both schools were RC.