As a practicing Catholic whose eighth-grade son, Michael, has always attended parochial schools, Susan Bisig says it would be best for him to attend St. Xavier High School.
The 144-year-old Catholic secondary school also happens to be Michael’s first choice.
But Bisig’s ex-husband, David Ryan, an atheist who has joint custody of their 14-year-old son, wants Michael to attend a nonreligious high school.
And he says the Kentucky Constitution is on his side because it says no one shall be “compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed.”
The battle between Ryan and Bisig, both commercial pilots, has landed in Oldham County Family Court….
Well, I know what Dr. Laura would be asking. Didn’t the atheist father know what he was getting when he married a Catholic, and vice versa? Did they have any agreements about how to handle situations like this? Did the father agree to raise the child Catholic? Or not?
I’ve read about this case before. Unfortunately, it seems at heart to be a money issue – the father does not want to have to help pay for the private school, and he may be using the religion issue to get out of it.
So what else is new?
Thanks #2. I’d be curious if you can refer us to anything more detailed along that line. The one thing that makes me skeptical is, if the father is participating in the lawsuit chiefly to save himself tuition fees, surely the lawsuit will cost him just as much as the tuition? On the other hand, if the attorney (legal director for American Atheists) is taking this case pro bono, that would explain why the father might be doing it.
If the father is strapped for money, then he certainly should have the option of not paying additional tuition fees beyond his already existing child support. The relevant Kentucky law SHOULD say something like: “no father shall be compelled to buy his child something, just because the child wants it; including a private school education.”
Personally I don’t doubt that the RC school is good. I am a conservative Christian with a lot of respect for the church of Rome. But private schools cost money and a parent shouldn’t be forced to pay for something he both disagrees with and doesn’t have the money for anyway.
This young man would find many Christian friends and Christian teachers at Oldham County High School, which is a Blue Ribbon School.
It did say that whoever “wins” the case will foot the tuition.
Another family drama being played out in the courts. This is getting repetitious.
A few more years and the lawsuit may be moot since the yound man will be old enough to make his own decision with regard to school and bow out of this issue gracefully (OR NOT!)
Excuse the typo. The “d” in yound should be a “g”
My husband knows the mom from work. Apparently the dad was Catholic and then became atheist prior to the divorce. I don’t think it’s about the money after reading this story and hearing some additional details from my husband.
What would King Solomon rule?
My guess is he would say the boy is thirteen, therefore he shall choose the school. Next case.
Remember, Mary may have been only a young teenager when she bore and began to raise Jesus. Again it is only my wild guess, but the boy may be more adult than at least one of the parents.
Here’s a suggestion: why not send him to an Episcopal School, that way the Mother would think he’s getting a religious education and the Father could be assured that he wouldn’t.
#12…. that was possibly the funniest thing I have heard in a while.
RMB, ROFL!
Frankly, I do know from experience that if a couple marries in the Catholic Church, and one part of the couple is NOT Catholic, they have to sign a contract agreeing to raise any children from the union as Catholic.
I don’t know about a Catholic who leaves the faith, but was Catholic at the time of the wedding, on that I don’t know.
They’re supposed to sign a contract to raise the children RC, but I know in my parent’s case the priest waived the requirement after interviewing my mom to determine that she was a good Christian, if not RC. That may or may not have been “legal” but there you go.
Jon,
Glad to have been of service. Just remember that “no greater truth is spoken than in jest”, as they say.
Libraryjim,
I’m not up on all this blogging-lingo, what does ROFL stand for?
ROFL = Rolling on the Floor, Laughing.
😉
Elves, I tried to submit a trackback, which doesn’t seem to have worked.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, [url=http://thesheepfold.typepad.com/the_sheepcat/2008/04/catholic-educat.html]I searched the school’s site to see just how Catholic an education the boy would be getting[/url]. Alice Linsley’s suggestion of Oldham County High School doesn’t look so bad to me. Good to know what you’re getting into, in any case.
[i]Sheepcat, we’ve got trackbacks disabled. It’s unfortunate, but necessary to minimize spam and hacking.[/i]