If the son, Michael, has always attended parochial schools, why is the father kvetching now? Did the father at one time not have a problem with parochial schools but now he does have a problem? Am I missing something? Is there more to this story? This sounds suspiciously more like the father getting back at his ex-wife than about his son attending a religious school?

If I were to formulate an opinion from nothing more than this short article, I would favor the side of the Catholic mother and her son. Not only is the 14-year-old son old enough to have a say in which school he attends, but the father seems to have already set a precedent by previously allowing his son to attend parochial schools.

As a side query, I thought Catholics only married other Catholics, not atheist. Was the father once a Catholic but later apostatized? Can Catholics divorce?

Surely, if a private school is really so much better, why not send him to a private secular school? It’s not as if all private schools are Catholic.

Although many people may be put off religion by going to religious schools, where do you think the next generation of believers come from?

Getting your child to stick a hand in the fire would probably innoculate him/her against doing it again, but why would you choose to put your kid through something deeply unpleasant?

Not wanting his child to attend this private school is selfish and stupid. I understand his aversion to a religious school ,but it will be better for the child’s future to attend the Private School.