Hey Catholic DUers!! I have a question for you

[sasquatch]

Why does your religion give intense names to thier schools? Yesterday I was driving back from the movies and saw a sign about "St.Andrew In Chains Elementary School". I think this is very abusive for a kid to go to a school that's named after bondage. I have no beef with your religion except for this, sex and abortion.

[Catholic Sensation]

1. That's the only time I've ever seen a school/church named that

All the churches/schools I have gone to/lived near/avoided have always been like St. Francis of Assisi, or St. John the Evangelist, or some innocuous stuff like that, never St. Elizabeth Wearing a Strap On...

[BigDaddyLove]

2. I attended................

a school named 'St. Jude Of Inoperable Brain Cancer and Horrible Pain Middle School', and I turned out alright.

Well, sort of alright.

[youngred]

3. There is the occasionaly one

but it dates back to the day when there was more saints with more names. Have to distinguish between the different michaels, marks, andrews and thomases. Usually they did it by town of origin, but sometimes it was what they were known for (their means of death, mircale, way they lived their life, etc). Each school has a patron saint and if you want to be different or emulate the actions of a saint in your school you name it. Sometimes unfortunate results

[Paul Hood]

4. Hey if you're against bondage, sex , and abortion

you have no place in my religion.

[emad]

5. My so-called 'foster parents' dumped me on a

(largely unsuspecting) convent nicknamed 'Our Lady of the Immaculate Deception' because of the huge number of IRA members hiding in the pleasant and leafy Buckinghamshire countryside in the 1960s, who wanted to shield their children from the Social Services Department and needed a respectable looking school to put their kids in.

It wasn't until the twin daughters of a convicted arsonist from County Kerry unexpectedly began to follow the family's pyromanic traditions by setting the chapel alight during evensong that the place got raided and outed as a money-laundering haven.

It kinda affected my intuition about organised crime, I guess...

[Bridget Burke]

9. I envy you

Such a rich & full fantasy life.

[emad]

13. The Bucks Free Press still maintains a comprehensive

archive of all their back numbers going back to the 1960s. Not sure what records are available on-line. They reported on this story and the subsequent high court trial. The court transcripts were also held by the Buckinghamshire diocese until at least 1987, and may have been amalgamated with other archived material.

The Catholic Herald made reference to the trial and their own back-copies department may still hold the relevant issues.

My own attorneys hold the original transcripts. These are not yet available on the internet but may be so, shortly.

Your posting say more about your polemics than anything else.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Thanks!

I always wanted to be a polemicist when I grew up.

[emad]

26. Don't stop trying!

(the growing up part...)

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. The name of my grammer school definitely takes the prize

Most Precious Blood.

The emblems on our uniforms said MPB, and when you got to 8th grade you found out what MPB really meant. (Hint, it had to do with a female's sexual development).

[chefgirl]

7. I spent my entire life in Catholic Schools......

The term 'Most Precious Blood' referred to the blood of the 'lamb'(Christ).
If you were being sarcastic, then, my bad.

-chef-

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Yes, I know what it really means

but if you got stuck for 8 years in a school with a name like that, you'ld be making a few jokes about it yourself.

[chefgirl]

10. Thanks DYEW

I figured you were making a joke, I just didnt want people who truly didnt understand the name to read that and really think the Catholic Church would name something based on something like maybe the 'most precious blood' of the virgin Mary or something. :puke:
Too many people think Catholics are pretty demented already (and not without good reason, frankly) so I just wanted to make sure it was said.

-chef-

*edited for spelling*

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. No problem

It's just that after walking around for 8 years with the letters MPB on your chest, was almost as bad as having to wear a scarlet letter.

[Maeve]

14. Nicknames are fairly common for some of those schools

Around here we have "Our Lady of Perpetual Motion" (Okay, it's "Perpetual Help" but sometimes that last word comes out more like a distress cry, too!)
And the jokes on the name "Mount St Mary's" can be left to the imagination.

[Rich Hunt]

34. what about...

Holy Agony Parish.

Yes, it really exists -

http://www.parishesonline.com/scripts/dbgetParishRecord.asp?ID=2152

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Up here St. Isaac Jogues is a popular name for schools.

I had never hear of it, until we moved into a community with one.

[Bridget Burke]

15. From the other side__

Here are some truly tasteful non-Catholic establishments in the Houston area:

Abundant Life Cathedral
Arcola Foursquare Church
Calvary Church at the Fountains
Clearpoint "A Church For Our Community"
Grace Primitive Baptist Church
Maranatha Full Gospel Church of Houston
Morning Star Full Gospel Baptist Church
New Zion Fellowship Full Gospel Church
The Redeemer Christian Church of God
Spirit Life Church of God
True Light Church of God in Christ

It's one thing to disagree with Catholic doctrine--so do I in many cases. However, I wonder that so many people just find Catholicism odd, frightening, alien, un-American--not quiet, restrained, tasteful, deadly dull & lukewarm.

[SiobhanClancy]

17. They also find it fascinating...

There's rarely a time when there isn't at least one thread about Catholicism on DU at any given time.

[Maeve]

18. Some secular names seem absurd as well

My favorite was always "Crooked Oak Elementary". Never saw that but thought "As the twig is bent..."

[Bridget Burke]

19. The most frightening of all:

Barbara Bush Elementary.

There's one here in Houston & I suspect there are others elsewhere.

[GOPisEvil]

20. Ronald Reagan High School - San Antonio

Oh, San Antonio also has a Bar Bush Elementary.

To be fair, SA also has schools named for Henry B. Gonzalez and Maury Maverick, too...

[Maeve]

27. I honestly don't think I could send my kids to those schools

I write checks for the kids' lunches and I could NOT face making out a check every week to Ronald Reagan or Bar Bush...shoot, any begging letters that come in her name get trashed, no matter what the cause (and I'm usually a pretty soft-touch)

[GOPisEvil]

28. I'd have trouble with that too...

...but, if you happen to live in the area, and you don't want to leave, sometimes you have to bite the bullet.

I made Will Pitt fly into George Bush Intercontinental Airport on his way to Austin. :evilgrin: The things we do for low fares!

[Blue_Chill]

16. I've never seen school names like that

That is odd.

[bearfan454]

21. I went to CCD and CYO at St. Mary of the Lake

in Gary Indiana, Miller section when I was a kid. I went back about 25 years ago to get my baptism records and the priest came to a locked door to give them to me. It is crack Central now a days there.

[SOteric]

22. Perhaps you mean "St. Peter in Chains" as there is no

"St. Andrew in Chains" as defined by the Catholic body of saints.

St. Peter in Chains refers to the miracle of St. Peter's release from chains and certain death by an angel of God.

[Philostopher]

23. It could very well be "St. Peter In Chains"

As another poster mentioned. There's a 'St. Peter In Chains Cathedral' down in Cincinnati. All of the SW Ohio Catholic schools and churches fall under the Cincinnati Archdiocese, including the ones all the way up north of Dayton and east at least to Brown County. The school was probably named by the Archdiocese, in honor of the cathedral.

Not that it wouldn't possibly create some strange conversations if you were a kid going to that school -- I see your point.

Imagine going to a school named after Archbishop Alter (I live about three blocks from it). They have a pretty good football team -- I'd imagine all the 'so, like, are you an alter or what?' jokes give those guys a great motivation to beat the snot out of the other players.

Selah,

Just another agnostic hangin' in the 700 Club.

[sasquatch]

24. Yeah that's it

I forgot what his name was.

[XNASA]

29. St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr

I was raised Catholic. Seems like there was always a lot of imagery around that was, in a word, creepy.

Blood, misery, damnation, etc. All meant to put the fear of God into ya I guess.

[bif]

30. "Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt"

is one of my favorites

[demgurl]

31. I have never seen a church called that.

I went to two Catholic all girls schools and the names were:

St.Pius X Girl's School
Holy Heart Of Mary Girl's School

Our community was made up, mostly, of Catholics and Protestants and I have never seen anything with the words 'chains' in the title. Not even at the convent where I took piano lessons.

Christina

[bif]

32. There's a famous church in Rome called that.

San Pietro en Vincola or something like that.

[Rich Hunt]

33. saint's names

My favorites are all of the churches and schools named after saints that no one knows anything about, like Saints Ignominius and Flatulata K-8.

Also, when I went to London with a group of students, a lot of them went around asking for directions to St. Pancreas.

[Maeve]

37. That's as bad as the two lesser-known Irish saints

You know, the ones from Rome who were such inept klutzes they couldn't cross a stream without half-drowning? Sure, you've heard of them...accidently fell off a cliff while gathering mushrooms that turned out to be poisonous anyway? They took over as patron saints of everything that goes wrong...

To this day, you can still hear the Irish calling out in times of distress, "Saint Protectus and Preservus!"

Boom ching!

[Rich Hunt]

39. ever hear of "Saint Expeditus"?

Expeditus (RM)

Date unknown. There is a saint Expeditus recorded in the Roman Martyrology for today included with Hermogenes and Companions; however, the cultus of Saint Expeditus didn't develop until very late and was probably based on a play of words: expedito means "expeditiously" so this saint is invoked in moments of urgency. Sheppard (1969) claims that the name arose due to a copyist's error when, in the 19th century, a box of relics was sent to nuns in Paris marked `spedito' (sent off) and taken as a name.

[Maeve]

40. Yeah, that one's in my dictionary of saints!

You can find some great names browsing thru there...Cletus, Dodo, Mel, Odo, Poppo, Wigbert...and for Lord of the Ring fans, there are Sts Merriadoc and Peregrine!

[ironflange]

35. At least it isn't "Jesus H. Christ on a Bicycle"

Something my old man said a lot.

[XNASA]

36. St. Peter in Chains Link

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=778

Also - St. John the Dwarf

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=695

[sangh0]

38. Not a Catholic, but IMO

it's because Catholicism, and religion in general, tends to promote the idea that it's noble to make sacrifices in order to help other people. I don't know much about the various saints, but I bet this guy in chains did it in order to help people (or defend the faith - that's another biggie)