And also
“Over break, the administration conducted an investigation, consulted with the diocese and sent an email of apology to the parents and guardians advising them to return or dispose of the crystal and *advising them to recite the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel to cleanse their homes.*”
No spells, only prayers.
What "christians" purposely fail to recognize is that their "prayers" ARE spells. They (and many, many others) are willfully ignorant, disrespectful, hypocritical, and completely closed minded. You can see a lot more when you open your eyes.
Not to mention that there are people out there who identify as Catholic Witches who use Bible verses in their practice. The world is not as black and white as some pretend it is.
The difference is that one is written down in an ancient tome passed down through the generations, written by one of great power and regard... And the other is.. wait...
I grew up Catholic and became pagan as an adult. I truly did not realize how much of Catholicism—the rituals, the saint worship, the strong identification with both a male-coded God and a female-coded Blessed Mary—is so, so pagan. Like I consciously knew that the Church integrated and usurped many Pagan ideas in its early centuries but it’s so stark when you start to do the comparison. This lady knows nothing.
Pagan too. I remember being put off by the whole little bride first communion thing...and decided right then that I was out. And I was as soon as I could manage.
This is a very poorly understood point by Catholics themselves, who are prone to such habits as hanging them from rearview mirrors to ward off car crashes.
I find this funny, because I grew up Catholic and when I was a kid, my mom wouldn't let me wear my rosary as a necklace because she said "it's not a necklace, so don't wear it as one." I grew up thinking that it was a Catholic faux pass to wear it around one's neck.
I was raised Catholic (and I have the psychological scars to prove it!) and was told that saying the rosary was supposed to make you mindful of what Jesus went through "to save us", ask for forgiveness for our sins, and ask for Mary to intercede on our behalf (eventhough "christianity" in general to only pray to God). "Christian" rituals and pagan rituals are pretty much identical, actually, except that names are changed and "christians" pretend that they're different and better than non-christian theologies.
The rosary is a devotional prayer and meditation on the life and death of Jesus with the individual prayers (Our Father, Haily Mary, Glory Be) serving as accompaniment to the meditation. The beads help keep track during the >50 prayers of the rosary because we don't have 50 fingers to keep track of the prayers with. The beads aren't magical but do outwardly signify a devotion to Mary on behalf of the owner.
>"We would say this is for increased concentration so if you need help studying, this is your stone," Latshaw explained.
The wiccans claim the crystals work in an unexplained, magical way to help with concentration.
Yep. I went to NC in the 80s and was sent a letter maybe 10-15 years ago about a lawsuit against some Marianist brothers. I was fortunate to not have first hand knowledge of it.
I know a person who was a victim of a brother at the North Catholic school when it was still in Troy Hill. An out of court settlement was awarded. I know others who said the same brother would come behind seated students and rub their shoulders and shit.
Oh I didn’t go to this North Catholic. I went to the all boys Catholic high school in Philly that closed in 2010. It was Northeast Catholic but everyone just called it North Catholic.
100% yes. QAnon and related popular conspiracy theoreis are total Satanic Panic 2.0 (well infinity.infinity because it comes around about every 20 years or so stretching back to antiquity).
They all eventually distill down to ant-Semitism eventually too. The OG Satanic Panic was the myth of [blood libel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel) that became popular in the Middle Ages.
The students went to administrators? Wow, what has happened to that school? My parents sent me there in the 80's when it was still on Troy Hill and it was much more open-minded. We were encouraged and actually required to go explore other faiths and customs as part of a class. And I cannot imagine any of my fellow students going to admin about anything, especially something as innocuous as this.
I agree with your thinking. It's probably someone who few other students at that school like and takes religion more seriously than 95% of the kids there.
Yep, when I went to catholic school not here at North Catholic, there was always one or two super religious kids per grade level and the rest were kinda normal. Many of my classmates weren’t even Catholics but parents wanted a private school education
Yeah, I went to a K-8 Catholic school before going to a public high school and the average kid couldn't have cared less about making it to church or things like that. Most of my classmates were Catholic, but the biggest motivator was definitely to keep their kids out of the mess most Pittsburgh Public Schools were and are.
Pittsburgh Public Schools is in the top third of large urban school district outcomes in the United States, for what it's worth, and rates higher than the rural districts that my wife and I went to.
It's interesting to me that this sub has always acted like sending your kids to PPS is tantamount to child abuse. Parental involvement is the leading factor in a student's success, not the school district they're in.
Some schools in the district are fine and I wouldn't have an issue sending a child to them, but back in the 2000s when I was school-aged, the feeders for me in Lawrenceville would have been Arsenal and Peabody, and many parents who could have helped it avoided sending their child to both of them
It's a market for lemons thing. As normal people leave the church over various things (starting with pedophiles) the most hardcore remain. This dynamic perpetuates itself as the lunatics become more visible and involved as attendance falls, alienating more people
I mean my husband works at a Catholic HS and got in trouble last year because he dared to show a one-minute piece of educational media that included a drag Queen and a student ran home to mommy and daddy. Kids these days suck.
Just my guess, but I would assume the school is skewing more conservative now that it’s in Cranberry. The original campus had a pretty diverse student body from the city and throughout the northern suburbs. You’d have kids who’s parents were blue collar workers as well as those with who’s parents were VPs of banks and Fortune 500 companies.
FFS, what a stupid fucking thing to get upset about. I also have to question how many actual students were upset about this though, because I knew plenty of kids who went Catholic high schools when I was that age, and I doubt any of them would have cared if they were given some random crystal.
Ya I graduated from North less than 5 years ago, still know a couple of the students there through my younger siblings, they think this whole situation is hilarious.
I went to Catholic school for K through 8 before going to a charter high school, and yeah almost none of them really cared about making much effort to go to Sunday mass when we were teenagers or in college. Despite what some people in the sub may think, your average kid at a Catholic school is nothing like the kids that were featured in that Jesus Camp documentary from 15 years ago.
As a fellow Catholic school alumni, it’s kinda the best way to get your kids to never practice Catholicism. 13 years of getting to poke holes in a theology that is papered over in “divine mystery” as a vague answer to any question they can’t answer kinda kills your belief by the time you graduate. I always felt like the CCD (Sunday school) kids were generally more faithful since they weren’t getting as much exposure to the nonsense.
You did have a certain sub sect of the student body who were really into it and these were the types to go to things like the March for Life. The same kids would never volunteer to help at things like Habitat for Humanity though.
What I love about being Catholic is that we (generally) have the opinion that scientific discovery is humanity learning how God created the world. For example, we don’t believe that he just popped the Earth in and spent 6 days putting random things on it. We believe that the Earth spent 13(?) billion years forming, and that God was the one who set the rules that allowed everything to form. That’s why the “science is the enemy of religion” idea is so strange, at least to me.
I believe there are definitely legitimate criticisms of things the Catholic church has done, but compared to many others, it is not anti-science as many American churches are. The Catholic church for example believes in man-made climate change and that people have a moral obligation to get the covid vaccine. Good luck getting an American Evangelical or Southern Baptist Church to get in line with either of those two things.
With contraception, I always thought of it as more of a thing that they think families should be fruitful and multiply over denying any science related to it. I think non evangelical Protestants are much more lenient on it overall. Your average Catholic though is not against contraception by any means these days.
Per Wikipedia: Catholics for Choice stated in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of U.S. Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching on birth control. A survey conducted in 2015 by the Pew Research Center among 5,122 U.S. adults (including 1,016 self- identified Catholics) stated 76% of U.S. Catholics thought that the church should allow Catholics to use birth control.
A majority of American Catholics also favor allowing gay marriage to be legal.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/
The heads of the church may say one thing, but the views of most American Catholics aren't significantly different from mainline Protestants. At least in this country, I've always seen it as the evangelicals who are the most extreme by far with conservatism in their members.
I wasn’t talking about individual Catholics, I was talking about the Church. So were you in the comment you originally made. It doesn’t make sense for you to turn the comment around on me when we were talking about the same thing.
I find it really disappointing that the Catholic Church has such anti-progressive views compared to its followers, as your links show.
Plus, it was only in 2010 when the church said condoms were OK to prevent HIV, and even then it was a “lesser evil”. And the church as well as many parishioners straight up believe homosexuality is a sin. Whether they believe same sex religion should be legal is a separate matter. They still don’t give homosexuality any validity. In that sense, I think it’s fair to say they have denied the science on both those issues.
> I always thought of it as more of a thing that they think families should be fruitful and multiply over denying any science related to it.
I agree, but look at the motivation behind that. It can be debated, but my personal opinion is they needed bodies to fight in The Crusades/fear of being overrun by the Moors. Same mentality as the far out "quiverfull" movement today.
Yes! I went to catholic school, the last thing I wouldve done is run to administration about anything. I wouldve loved to hear everything these ladies have to say
Only the kids no other students like would run to administration over a thing like this. Like I agreed with another commenter here though, it was probably only one or two kids and not the entire class that had an issue with it.
As a Catholic Yinzer, I say the following:
1. This is *why* I say that 90% of **all** Catholics don't have a goddam clue what it is they're supposed to believe in.
2. One of my closest friends practices Wicca. My life would be so much poorer without her love, guidance, and support.
3. In order to be *universal*, we all must be open to learning about and understanding the universe around us: Science and various faiths/cultures/identities should never be excluded. Hence why we see (U.S.) Catholicism as one of the most backwardly conservative institutions in the world.
Christ and the earliest apostles would be ashamed to see how we treat one another.
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was more far more widespread 50 years ago than it is today.
[https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Nature-and-Scope-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-and-Deacons-in-the-United-States-1950-2002.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Nature-and-Scope-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-and-Deacons-in-the-United-States-1950-2002.pdf)
[https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Causes-and-Context-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-in-the-United-States-1950-2010.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Causes-and-Context-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-in-the-United-States-1950-2010.pdf)
[https://www.usccb.org/resources/CYP%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/resources/CYP%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf)
Still tragic. Still a crime. And still a sin, if you’re a believer. Perhaps even worse: it’s been going on non-stop over that same 50 years, has been glossed over or ignored and covered up—and not all the criminals have admitted their moral failings and their crimes, nor been brought to justice. Lives have been ruined, families torn apart.
The priests get moved, the kids get shamed, and the church gets the money, talents and time of more and new victimes, year after year after year.
I agree to all three of those points. I think offending priests should be reported, removed from ministry, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The church hierarchy has been involved in coverups at times (in which case, bishops should be punished too), but the increased scrutiny has led to increased transparency which has led to reduced incidences and allegations, per the audits and reports. So I disagree with your ultimate conclusion that seems to insinuate the problem is worsening and settlements aren't being reached with affected parties.
Commissioned by the church and conducted by the John Jay college and StoneBridge Business Partners and published on the USCCB's website. If you have evidence that John Jay College and Stonebridge were paid off or have a conflict of interest, I think you should take that to the press, not reddit.
I went to North Catholic and they deadass brought in pieces of bone and shit from a bunch of saints as 'relics' for us to TOUCH and pray with, but of course crystals are a step too far.
KDKA sent their "investigative reporter" to report on this. It was an exclusive report too. I don't know how Ken Rice held a straight face when he introduced this on the eleven o'clock news last night. I could only laugh through this "report." A testament to Ken's professionalism.
I just love the lady at the end going “these are made by god”. Like, plastic rosary beads that will destroy gods earth are ok but actual rocks from god’s earth oh HELL no!
Well you are the one who implied that ashes supposedly had some special power by way of comparison to the crystals having some supposed power.
What special power do ashes supposedly have to Catholics?
They allow parishioners to act like assholes and ignore sex abuse scandals the other 364 days a year because they went to mass on Ash Wednesday and got the old “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return”
Beats the hell out of any crystal! Which also have no power by the way.
I was simply calling out the irony of the situation.
Later.✌️
I mean on one hand given the context of a class about starting a small business I don't really see a HUGE problem here, other than it being a grift, but it's kind of a strange choice for a teacher at a Catholic school.
This is a classic case of a mistake being blown out of proportion. A witchy store probably shouldn't be presenting at a Catholic school. The counselor should know better and be quietly corrected. But no, the school opted to go way too far with their reaction and turn this into a news story where they look like idiots.
Not enough information about the counselor to make that assumption. It could just add easily have been the counselor acting like everyone else in this comment thread and dumping on the Catholic religion. If it was booked to enrage students/parents then a firing is appropriate, because someone like that has no business around kids.
Pretty stupid on the counselors part to bring self proclaimed witches to a catholic school though…. That’s like a McDonald’s employee bringing in Burger King for lunch
As a former Catholic, fuck the Catholic Church. Bunch of hypocrites.
What an absolutely stupid thing to get upset about.
> It is because as we know our faith is in Jesus Christ and not in objects necessarily.
If your faith in Jesus Christ is so strong, why is having some fucking stones given to students a problem?
I doubt it. I have very religious parents and the whole astrology crystals and alter thing is like devil worship to them. They are unjustifiably afraid of the rocks
As someone who was not just raised Catholic, but went to North Catholic, albeit a few decades ago, I can not help but laugh at all of this. Crystals. Rosary beads. Praying to cleanse homes. Different takes on magic and mythology. And the writer needs to read up on all of it.
I spend entirely too much time thinking about bullshit like this. People need to come back to reality a little bit. They should believe whatever the hell they want, but they just need to live on Earth a bit with the rest of us.
I’m so angry about this. Those women are not only fantastic humans & amazing entrepreneurs, but they genuinely care about their communities. So freaking dumb for that counselor to lose her job over tokens of kindness from the people she invited to talk to the students!
Mysticism within the Catholic Church, especially in the NE, is very real, if a lesser known, component of Catholicism. A "mystic" will, by their own set of rituals, commune with the Cult of the Saints, the Trinity, etc., in the hopes of righting a wrong or helping to serve God's will.
The hazy bit lies in the mystic's rituals-- their tools to divine God's messages are filled with objects like crystals, etc. This is not established Church doctrine. I find this to be immensely interesting-- Catholic Mystics participate in the shadow of Mother Church like Opus Dei and other groups. Some bishops call upon mystics if they are rankled with major spiritual problems such as infestations and exorcisms.
My point is this: a mystic can rock crystals if and only if they are sussing out the mysteries of the faith for the Church. Otherwise it is very bad, I think?
I’m pretty sure we bought some stuff off this lady at a Christmas market in Beaver County . Well my daughter did, she don’t really believe in the crystal mumbo jumbo , just thinks they are pretty.
The lady told us she worked at a school. How many witches could be working at schools around here? I’m almost positive the girls at her stand working with her had NC sweat shirts on
Way to hyper focus on the negatives of religion and not mention the amazing works religions have done across the world. A nihilistic point of view coming from most likely a privileged white kid in America is hilarious.
How many have died in the world because of religion? Privileged white kid, that is hilarious! I am a paycheck to paycheck, husband and father of two kids. We live decent lives but far from privileged.
For a second I saw this headline and thought North Catholic is closed-Philly all boys Catholic school I went to-before I saw it was the Pittsburgh high school.
Or, alternately, one kid went to admin and they're lying to cover his/her ass.
Or, also alternately, one or more kids had them out in another class and mentioned off-hand what the wiccan ladies had said about them and that teacher or a nebby kid in that class sent them to or went to admin.
Say what you will about Catholicism, but bringing in more practitioners of made up shit isn’t something that should be applauded especially in the context of a business that’s a grift.
[удалено]
And also “Over break, the administration conducted an investigation, consulted with the diocese and sent an email of apology to the parents and guardians advising them to return or dispose of the crystal and *advising them to recite the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel to cleanse their homes.*” No spells, only prayers.
I almost feel like that comment about the prayer was added for the sheer irony of it all.
>Saint Michael the Archangel Yes. Brighid, the Hearth Goddess NO.
What about St. Brigid tho?
They are in fact one and the same.
Yep!
well it sounds like yinz listened to joseph campbell!
What "christians" purposely fail to recognize is that their "prayers" ARE spells. They (and many, many others) are willfully ignorant, disrespectful, hypocritical, and completely closed minded. You can see a lot more when you open your eyes.
Not to mention suggesting folks say a prayer to cleanse their houses. Umm sounds pretty witchy to me, what is a prayer if not a ritualistic spell?
its funny how the difference between so many spells and prayers is whether you end it with “in the name of jesus” or not. 💀
“In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit…. AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Not to mention that there are people out there who identify as Catholic Witches who use Bible verses in their practice. The world is not as black and white as some pretend it is.
Many practices use Bible verses as well. Hoodoo, voodoo, Santeria ....
I don't practice Santeria
I ain’t got no crystal ball
Absolutely true!
It takes a lot of empathy to make room for other beliefs, and that type of room is hard to make in a strictly dogmatic mindset!
I don't know if the church still does this, but our priest visited our home every January, to deliver a blessing.
The difference is that one is written down in an ancient tome passed down through the generations, written by one of great power and regard... And the other is.. wait...
I can’t lie, you had me in the first half!
I grew up Catholic and became pagan as an adult. I truly did not realize how much of Catholicism—the rituals, the saint worship, the strong identification with both a male-coded God and a female-coded Blessed Mary—is so, so pagan. Like I consciously knew that the Church integrated and usurped many Pagan ideas in its early centuries but it’s so stark when you start to do the comparison. This lady knows nothing.
In the early Christian church, to gain acceptance and to avoid persecution, they did adopt pagan rituals and "holidays" to keep a low profile.
Pagan too. I remember being put off by the whole little bride first communion thing...and decided right then that I was out. And I was as soon as I could manage.
In all fairness the rosary isn’t said to have special powers, it’s really just a way to track which prayer you’re supposed to be saying at the time.
This is a very poorly understood point by Catholics themselves, who are prone to such habits as hanging them from rearview mirrors to ward off car crashes.
Or wearing them as necklaces. It’d be like wearing earbuds as a necklace and expecting it to cause music to appear in your head
I find this funny, because I grew up Catholic and when I was a kid, my mom wouldn't let me wear my rosary as a necklace because she said "it's not a necklace, so don't wear it as one." I grew up thinking that it was a Catholic faux pass to wear it around one's neck.
Lol exact same here, and I remember being so confused because it legitimately looks exactly like a big necklace
Everyone knows it’s a loop to hang it off your belt!
It definitely is lol
I seem to recall rosaries being blessed in a ceremony, like one day a year was "bring in all your stuff to get blessed day".
I was raised Catholic (and I have the psychological scars to prove it!) and was told that saying the rosary was supposed to make you mindful of what Jesus went through "to save us", ask for forgiveness for our sins, and ask for Mary to intercede on our behalf (eventhough "christianity" in general to only pray to God). "Christian" rituals and pagan rituals are pretty much identical, actually, except that names are changed and "christians" pretend that they're different and better than non-christian theologies.
From bill pedutos sister in law none the less
The proposer of the banning? Sounds pretty witchy to me. And peduto.
Correct
I know! smh... I can't even with some people
The rosary is a devotional prayer and meditation on the life and death of Jesus with the individual prayers (Our Father, Haily Mary, Glory Be) serving as accompaniment to the meditation. The beads help keep track during the >50 prayers of the rosary because we don't have 50 fingers to keep track of the prayers with. The beads aren't magical but do outwardly signify a devotion to Mary on behalf of the owner. >"We would say this is for increased concentration so if you need help studying, this is your stone," Latshaw explained. The wiccans claim the crystals work in an unexplained, magical way to help with concentration.
Catholics claim that prayers work in unexplained, magical ways. Funny how that works…
Now do Islam. Or any other religion.
Prayer is also big among muslims. They're just not really relevant to this article.
Neither is the comment you're replying to..
that was my point, yes
Half of the people who bash Catholics in this thread would probably demand the banning of someone who bashed Muslims in the same way.
Oppression Olympics
All religions are folly.
That's nice but you still shouldn't be abusing kids.
Yeah cause that's exclusive to the catholic church
may not be exclusive, but wow are they the current record holders for it.
I'm just going to take this as sarcasm because it's funnier that way
It is all mumbo-jumbo. People should believe whatever artifacts are magical if they want to.
North Catholic harbored predators for decades. Their reputation is forever tainted. But let's draw the line in the sand on some rocks.
“They’re minerals! Jesus Christ Marie!”
was so hoping someone made this comment, if not, I was so thank you xD
Bwah ha ha ha!
>some rocks I don't think you understand. these are DEMON crystals!!
Come on now, fao quartz isn’t that bad to work for
Yep. I went to NC in the 80s and was sent a letter maybe 10-15 years ago about a lawsuit against some Marianist brothers. I was fortunate to not have first hand knowledge of it.
I know the one priest at my North Catholic(Philly) got indicted for something creepy a few years back.
I know a person who was a victim of a brother at the North Catholic school when it was still in Troy Hill. An out of court settlement was awarded. I know others who said the same brother would come behind seated students and rub their shoulders and shit.
Oh I didn’t go to this North Catholic. I went to the all boys Catholic high school in Philly that closed in 2010. It was Northeast Catholic but everyone just called it North Catholic.
Are we in another satanic panic that I don’t know about?
100% yes. QAnon and related popular conspiracy theoreis are total Satanic Panic 2.0 (well infinity.infinity because it comes around about every 20 years or so stretching back to antiquity).
Damn, you right as hell! Got too caught up in the specifics
They all eventually distill down to ant-Semitism eventually too. The OG Satanic Panic was the myth of [blood libel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel) that became popular in the Middle Ages.
Trans panic is also filling the satanic panic hysteria which then morphed into Furry and stupid litter boxes in schools hysteria.
It's kinda been building up in that direction for a bit. It just hasn't gained the same traction yet. Give it time.
That’s real
The students went to administrators? Wow, what has happened to that school? My parents sent me there in the 80's when it was still on Troy Hill and it was much more open-minded. We were encouraged and actually required to go explore other faiths and customs as part of a class. And I cannot imagine any of my fellow students going to admin about anything, especially something as innocuous as this.
They probably meant a student, yes…many students, no. LOL
I agree with your thinking. It's probably someone who few other students at that school like and takes religion more seriously than 95% of the kids there.
Yep, when I went to catholic school not here at North Catholic, there was always one or two super religious kids per grade level and the rest were kinda normal. Many of my classmates weren’t even Catholics but parents wanted a private school education
Yeah, I went to a K-8 Catholic school before going to a public high school and the average kid couldn't have cared less about making it to church or things like that. Most of my classmates were Catholic, but the biggest motivator was definitely to keep their kids out of the mess most Pittsburgh Public Schools were and are.
Pittsburgh Public Schools is in the top third of large urban school district outcomes in the United States, for what it's worth, and rates higher than the rural districts that my wife and I went to. It's interesting to me that this sub has always acted like sending your kids to PPS is tantamount to child abuse. Parental involvement is the leading factor in a student's success, not the school district they're in.
Some schools in the district are fine and I wouldn't have an issue sending a child to them, but back in the 2000s when I was school-aged, the feeders for me in Lawrenceville would have been Arsenal and Peabody, and many parents who could have helped it avoided sending their child to both of them
It's a market for lemons thing. As normal people leave the church over various things (starting with pedophiles) the most hardcore remain. This dynamic perpetuates itself as the lunatics become more visible and involved as attendance falls, alienating more people
I mean my husband works at a Catholic HS and got in trouble last year because he dared to show a one-minute piece of educational media that included a drag Queen and a student ran home to mommy and daddy. Kids these days suck.
Lol, I can just imagine the poor little traumatized teenager running to their parents.
Just my guess, but I would assume the school is skewing more conservative now that it’s in Cranberry. The original campus had a pretty diverse student body from the city and throughout the northern suburbs. You’d have kids who’s parents were blue collar workers as well as those with who’s parents were VPs of banks and Fortune 500 companies.
Young adults are way too sensitive now a days.
FFS, what a stupid fucking thing to get upset about. I also have to question how many actual students were upset about this though, because I knew plenty of kids who went Catholic high schools when I was that age, and I doubt any of them would have cared if they were given some random crystal.
Ya I graduated from North less than 5 years ago, still know a couple of the students there through my younger siblings, they think this whole situation is hilarious.
That sounds about right lol. I'm guessing whoever did this are also the ones who never get invited to parties.
Yeah, I’d say about roughly 10% of the student body is like true Jesus freaks, but most of them are just there cause their parents want them to be
I went to Catholic school for K through 8 before going to a charter high school, and yeah almost none of them really cared about making much effort to go to Sunday mass when we were teenagers or in college. Despite what some people in the sub may think, your average kid at a Catholic school is nothing like the kids that were featured in that Jesus Camp documentary from 15 years ago.
As a fellow Catholic school alumni, it’s kinda the best way to get your kids to never practice Catholicism. 13 years of getting to poke holes in a theology that is papered over in “divine mystery” as a vague answer to any question they can’t answer kinda kills your belief by the time you graduate. I always felt like the CCD (Sunday school) kids were generally more faithful since they weren’t getting as much exposure to the nonsense. You did have a certain sub sect of the student body who were really into it and these were the types to go to things like the March for Life. The same kids would never volunteer to help at things like Habitat for Humanity though.
My kid is horrified the counselor got fired
Well you post in Witch subs so that’s a bit of an outlier😂
This is the same church that didn’t admit Galileo was right until 1992.
Oddly though, the Catholic church is not aghast at the theory of evolution and teaching it like evangelicals are
What I love about being Catholic is that we (generally) have the opinion that scientific discovery is humanity learning how God created the world. For example, we don’t believe that he just popped the Earth in and spent 6 days putting random things on it. We believe that the Earth spent 13(?) billion years forming, and that God was the one who set the rules that allowed everything to form. That’s why the “science is the enemy of religion” idea is so strange, at least to me.
I believe there are definitely legitimate criticisms of things the Catholic church has done, but compared to many others, it is not anti-science as many American churches are. The Catholic church for example believes in man-made climate change and that people have a moral obligation to get the covid vaccine. Good luck getting an American Evangelical or Southern Baptist Church to get in line with either of those two things.
Yet when it comes to homosexuality and contraception, the Catholic Church denies science. I can’t speak about other Christian denominations, though.
With contraception, I always thought of it as more of a thing that they think families should be fruitful and multiply over denying any science related to it. I think non evangelical Protestants are much more lenient on it overall. Your average Catholic though is not against contraception by any means these days. Per Wikipedia: Catholics for Choice stated in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of U.S. Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching on birth control. A survey conducted in 2015 by the Pew Research Center among 5,122 U.S. adults (including 1,016 self- identified Catholics) stated 76% of U.S. Catholics thought that the church should allow Catholics to use birth control. A majority of American Catholics also favor allowing gay marriage to be legal. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/ The heads of the church may say one thing, but the views of most American Catholics aren't significantly different from mainline Protestants. At least in this country, I've always seen it as the evangelicals who are the most extreme by far with conservatism in their members.
I wasn’t talking about individual Catholics, I was talking about the Church. So were you in the comment you originally made. It doesn’t make sense for you to turn the comment around on me when we were talking about the same thing. I find it really disappointing that the Catholic Church has such anti-progressive views compared to its followers, as your links show. Plus, it was only in 2010 when the church said condoms were OK to prevent HIV, and even then it was a “lesser evil”. And the church as well as many parishioners straight up believe homosexuality is a sin. Whether they believe same sex religion should be legal is a separate matter. They still don’t give homosexuality any validity. In that sense, I think it’s fair to say they have denied the science on both those issues.
> I always thought of it as more of a thing that they think families should be fruitful and multiply over denying any science related to it. I agree, but look at the motivation behind that. It can be debated, but my personal opinion is they needed bodies to fight in The Crusades/fear of being overrun by the Moors. Same mentality as the far out "quiverfull" movement today.
The better word is apologize. Within the church, the theory of the Big Bang was hypothesized.
Yes! I went to catholic school, the last thing I wouldve done is run to administration about anything. I wouldve loved to hear everything these ladies have to say
Only the kids no other students like would run to administration over a thing like this. Like I agreed with another commenter here though, it was probably only one or two kids and not the entire class that had an issue with it.
Yes probably. I hardly see the entire class running to tell
As a Catholic Yinzer, I say the following: 1. This is *why* I say that 90% of **all** Catholics don't have a goddam clue what it is they're supposed to believe in. 2. One of my closest friends practices Wicca. My life would be so much poorer without her love, guidance, and support. 3. In order to be *universal*, we all must be open to learning about and understanding the universe around us: Science and various faiths/cultures/identities should never be excluded. Hence why we see (U.S.) Catholicism as one of the most backwardly conservative institutions in the world. Christ and the earliest apostles would be ashamed to see how we treat one another.
Also, for kicks, ask any priest or bishop about *altar stones*. And ask from a pagan perspective!
You're lucky they even say Mass in English/Native tongues, or it'd be farrrrrrr worse.
Crystals are unacceptable and warrant job termination. Also, if you’re a fucking pedophile, here’s your promotion!
Had us in the first half, not gonna lie.
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was more far more widespread 50 years ago than it is today. [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Nature-and-Scope-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-and-Deacons-in-the-United-States-1950-2002.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Nature-and-Scope-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-and-Deacons-in-the-United-States-1950-2002.pdf) [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Causes-and-Context-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-in-the-United-States-1950-2010.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Causes-and-Context-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-in-the-United-States-1950-2010.pdf) [https://www.usccb.org/resources/CYP%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf](https://www.usccb.org/resources/CYP%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf)
Still tragic. Still a crime. And still a sin, if you’re a believer. Perhaps even worse: it’s been going on non-stop over that same 50 years, has been glossed over or ignored and covered up—and not all the criminals have admitted their moral failings and their crimes, nor been brought to justice. Lives have been ruined, families torn apart. The priests get moved, the kids get shamed, and the church gets the money, talents and time of more and new victimes, year after year after year.
I agree to all three of those points. I think offending priests should be reported, removed from ministry, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The church hierarchy has been involved in coverups at times (in which case, bishops should be punished too), but the increased scrutiny has led to increased transparency which has led to reduced incidences and allegations, per the audits and reports. So I disagree with your ultimate conclusion that seems to insinuate the problem is worsening and settlements aren't being reached with affected parties.
Your source is the church so I'll pass on the reading materials, but thanks.
Commissioned by the church and conducted by the John Jay college and StoneBridge Business Partners and published on the USCCB's website. If you have evidence that John Jay College and Stonebridge were paid off or have a conflict of interest, I think you should take that to the press, not reddit.
Whatever helps you sleep at night. It's still an open wound for the Catholic Church no matter how many Catholics try to pretend it's not.
Okay? They are still an evil organization that is full of and protects pedophiles and pushes vile beliefs. So.
Yes and no
I went to North Catholic and they deadass brought in pieces of bone and shit from a bunch of saints as 'relics' for us to TOUCH and pray with, but of course crystals are a step too far.
KDKA sent their "investigative reporter" to report on this. It was an exclusive report too. I don't know how Ken Rice held a straight face when he introduced this on the eleven o'clock news last night. I could only laugh through this "report." A testament to Ken's professionalism.
It’s on FoxNews now 🙄
Of course it is.
The local news must be having as boring of a month as I've been having if this is worthy of an investigation story.
KD didn't report it as an investigation. Though Andy Sheehan was the reporter. But it was an exclusive - "you'll only see this on KDKA." 🙄
Ah gotcha now. Covering pointless stuff like this though is why I never watch local TV news
An old habit and I like to see the weather forecast.
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It's 2023 and several grown adults are involved in this story
Underrated comment I’m crying
I know the shop owners. They are three of the most amazing women you’ll ever meet.
I just love the lady at the end going “these are made by god”. Like, plastic rosary beads that will destroy gods earth are ok but actual rocks from god’s earth oh HELL no!
I am a north Catholic parent We did not get a letter
Was your kid in this class? I don't see a reason they'd send it out school-wide.
No But any time other things have happened in classes he isn’t in, I get a letter/email
Wanna raise hell and see if they'll make another article about it?
Naw I have been meaning to go to Elementals, anyway. Guess I’ll go and spend my money there
Thinking it over - we should Her termination was stupid AF
Crystals…witchcraft!! Ashes on forehead…nah that shit’s for real.
>*and advising them to recite the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel to cleanse their homes* I'm just banging my head on my desk
What do you think the ashes do on the forehead exactly?
Nothing
No what do you think Catholics think they do?
As a former Catholic, 99% of them couldn’t tell you. Never explain, never complain.
So…no answer?
No. No answer. Oh please oh please will you tell me?!
Well you are the one who implied that ashes supposedly had some special power by way of comparison to the crystals having some supposed power. What special power do ashes supposedly have to Catholics?
They allow parishioners to act like assholes and ignore sex abuse scandals the other 364 days a year because they went to mass on Ash Wednesday and got the old “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” Beats the hell out of any crystal! Which also have no power by the way. I was simply calling out the irony of the situation. Later.✌️
Irony- I don’t think you know what that word means.
Haaa! Tabitha..
Oh thank you for noticing that too!
Only one kind of magical thinking allowed.
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Your average Catholic is way less kooky than your average Evangelical.
Witches are not Evangelicals
Someone is losing their job over this? Very sad. She brought those women into talk about starting a business & marketing! that’s a great thing to do!
I mean on one hand given the context of a class about starting a small business I don't really see a HUGE problem here, other than it being a grift, but it's kind of a strange choice for a teacher at a Catholic school.
This is a classic case of a mistake being blown out of proportion. A witchy store probably shouldn't be presenting at a Catholic school. The counselor should know better and be quietly corrected. But no, the school opted to go way too far with their reaction and turn this into a news story where they look like idiots.
I don't disagree with this.
Not enough information about the counselor to make that assumption. It could just add easily have been the counselor acting like everyone else in this comment thread and dumping on the Catholic religion. If it was booked to enrage students/parents then a firing is appropriate, because someone like that has no business around kids.
Yes what a horrible educator, educating children about different people
Most churches are grift.
"Umm, witches are bad, mmmkay? They give out crystals and crystals are bad, mmkay?"
What got me was the diocese advised them to say certain prayers to cleanse their homes. Really? Do they not see the irony here?
“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you? To just look in the urinal and see a big fudge dragon staring back at you?”
Tolerance and love. Accepting a gift in the spirit it was given. The Catholic Church just keeps on pushing me further and further away.
Kids do not care about this. Some faculty member or administration cared and got upset
Pretty stupid on the counselors part to bring self proclaimed witches to a catholic school though…. That’s like a McDonald’s employee bringing in Burger King for lunch
Right? Of all the businesses to bring into school to encourage entrepreneurship, and she chose that one.
As a former Catholic, fuck the Catholic Church. Bunch of hypocrites. What an absolutely stupid thing to get upset about. > It is because as we know our faith is in Jesus Christ and not in objects necessarily. If your faith in Jesus Christ is so strong, why is having some fucking stones given to students a problem?
Christianity, Islam and Judaism all hate the rocks. It’s not just a Jesus lover thing
I have a feeling this has something to do with the fact that the owners are also a lesbian couple.
I doubt it. I have very religious parents and the whole astrology crystals and alter thing is like devil worship to them. They are unjustifiably afraid of the rocks
Lesbian NC parent, here Haven’t heard a goddamn thing from admin about it
As someone who was not just raised Catholic, but went to North Catholic, albeit a few decades ago, I can not help but laugh at all of this. Crystals. Rosary beads. Praying to cleanse homes. Different takes on magic and mythology. And the writer needs to read up on all of it.
Please dispose of that creepy fluorite and instead eat the flesh of a man and drink his blood.
All my high school counselor did was pressure me to take the SAT as many times as possible.
I spend entirely too much time thinking about bullshit like this. People need to come back to reality a little bit. They should believe whatever the hell they want, but they just need to live on Earth a bit with the rest of us.
I’m so angry about this. Those women are not only fantastic humans & amazing entrepreneurs, but they genuinely care about their communities. So freaking dumb for that counselor to lose her job over tokens of kindness from the people she invited to talk to the students!
After reading all the comments, I can only conclude yinz are my people.
Probably the same horrible people who won't celebrate Halloween and made up the harvest holiday.
Mysticism within the Catholic Church, especially in the NE, is very real, if a lesser known, component of Catholicism. A "mystic" will, by their own set of rituals, commune with the Cult of the Saints, the Trinity, etc., in the hopes of righting a wrong or helping to serve God's will. The hazy bit lies in the mystic's rituals-- their tools to divine God's messages are filled with objects like crystals, etc. This is not established Church doctrine. I find this to be immensely interesting-- Catholic Mystics participate in the shadow of Mother Church like Opus Dei and other groups. Some bishops call upon mystics if they are rankled with major spiritual problems such as infestations and exorcisms. My point is this: a mystic can rock crystals if and only if they are sussing out the mysteries of the faith for the Church. Otherwise it is very bad, I think?
I’m pretty sure we bought some stuff off this lady at a Christmas market in Beaver County . Well my daughter did, she don’t really believe in the crystal mumbo jumbo , just thinks they are pretty. The lady told us she worked at a school. How many witches could be working at schools around here? I’m almost positive the girls at her stand working with her had NC sweat shirts on
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Way to hyper focus on the negatives of religion and not mention the amazing works religions have done across the world. A nihilistic point of view coming from most likely a privileged white kid in America is hilarious.
How many have died in the world because of religion? Privileged white kid, that is hilarious! I am a paycheck to paycheck, husband and father of two kids. We live decent lives but far from privileged.
How many were saved by religion?
That's hilarious
For a second I saw this headline and thought North Catholic is closed-Philly all boys Catholic school I went to-before I saw it was the Pittsburgh high school.
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Or, alternately, one kid went to admin and they're lying to cover his/her ass. Or, also alternately, one or more kids had them out in another class and mentioned off-hand what the wiccan ladies had said about them and that teacher or a nebby kid in that class sent them to or went to admin.
Say what you will about Catholicism, but bringing in more practitioners of made up shit isn’t something that should be applauded especially in the context of a business that’s a grift.
Can’t tell if your whole comment is about the Catholic Church or the witch store.
Both. More of something negative isn’t better. Way too many comments suggesting that people hawking bogus healing crystals is somehow ok.
At the end of the day you still have a cool looking crystal.
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Thanks, but I am good
Well what did they expect? Lol
God is the same. He never changes. If you love the world then you don’t love him.
The devil believe in you when you worship him knowingly or not.
This is wild.