Best Catholic schools in Pittsburgh (Oakland, Penn: condo, homes, college)

[Charles45]

What are the best Catholic secondary schools in Pittsburgh? By "best" I mean strongly orthodox in terms of the Faith, high academic standards, uniforms, conservative code of conduct, low incidence of violence/bullying.

Are there any sex segregated Catholic high schools?

Are there many Catholic homeschoolers in Pittsburgh?

[BrianTH]

Central Catholic (boys) and Oakland Catholic (girls) are well-regarded in the City and in fact draw from the suburbs as well, although I don't know how they would specifically score on your various criteria.

[jay5835]

Central Catholic's football team was once notorious for a form of bullying known as teabagging: Diocese ends Central Catholic's football season

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Central Catholic's football team was once notorious for a form of bullying known as teabagging: Diocese ends Central Catholic's football season

It doesn't say much for the intellect of our fair city when the vast majority of parents were outraged over the cancellation of the football season instead of a boy having been sexually assaulted by other boys. Coupled with what we just saw with Penn State where more people were outraged over Joe Paterno's firing (to the point of rioiting) than were upset by potentially dozens of young boys being raped have we become a society that condones sexual misconduct towards male youths?

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It doesn't say much for the intellect of our fair city when the vast majority of parents were outraged over the cancellation of the football season instead of a boy having been sexually assaulted by other boys. Coupled with what we just saw with Penn State where more people were outraged over Joe Paterno's firing (to the point of rioiting) than were upset by potentially dozens of young boys being raped have we become a society that condones sexual misconduct towards male youths?

Exactly. What spooked me about it most is that if I'd grown up here, I'd've been a student there.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Exactly. What spooked me about it most is that if I'd grown up here, I'd've been a student there.

Granted this happened in 2002, but if the mentality of the majority of Central Catholic parents has not changed much over the past decade then I can safely say the OP should steer clear. I would never pay to send my child to a school where criminal misconduct committed by students (yes, restraining a child and rubbing your genitals over his face IS sexual assault---not "boys being boys") is tolerated, yet the cancellation of the football season is not. Talk about self-centered. Perhaps if "Little Johnny" REPORTED what he saw instead of (presumably) laughing as these other boys did this he'd have been able to play football that season? It sounds like a lot of these parents were more concerned about what impact their child not being able to play football would have upon their college recruitment. How about trying to gain admittance to the institution of higher learning of your choice based upon ACADEMIC MERIT instead of ATHLETIC PROWESS?

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Granted this happened in 2002, but if the mentality of the majority of Central Catholic parents has not changed much over the past decade then I can safely say the OP should steer clear. I would never pay to send my child to a school where criminal misconduct committed by students (yes, restraining a child and rubbing your genitals over his face IS sexual assault) is tolerated, yet the cancellation of the football season is not. Talk about self-centered. Perhaps if "Little Johnny" REPORTED what he saw instead of (presumably) laughing as these other boys did this he'd have been able to play football that season? It sounds like a lot of these parents were more concerned about what impact their child not being able to play football would have upon their college recruitment. How about trying to gain admittance to the institution of higher learning of your choice based upon ACADEMIC MERIT instead of ATHLETIC PROWESS?

In addition to academic merit, you also have to consider the Catholic parents who sent their kids to Catholic schools in an act of blind faith (read: fear) because the church convinced them that to do otherwise meant their souls would burn in hell for eternity if they sent their offspring to public school. Admittedly, this was more an issue for my generation than yours, but it was an issue and it was HUGE.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by jay5835

In addition to academic merit, you also have to consider the Catholic parents who sent their kids to Catholic schools in an act of blind faith (read: fear) because the church convinced them that to do otherwise meant their souls would burn in hell for eternity if they sent their offspring to public school. Admittedly, this was more an issue for my generation than yours, but it was an issue and it was HUGE.

The OP obviously views strict adherence to Cathrolic Doctrine as being one of their top criterion in school consideration, and, as such, we should also take that into consideration in providing our advice.

The link you provided and our side-commentary is very relevant in this decision, though, because I wouldn't want to associate with (nor would I want my children associating with) "parents" (if you can call them that) who would prioritize athletics over the well-being and safety of other children who attend the school. Believe it or not with how socially liberal I am I still have SOME stringent moral and ethical standards that are unshakeable. One can argue that "football parents" at Central Catholic may be an inferior breed to the majority of other parents at this school and may not be representative of the school body as a whole entity, but this is something the OP would have to find out for herself/himself by potentially being extraverted and attempting to meet other Central Catholic parents first before making an enrollment decision.

People know where I stand on the issue of prioritizing athlethics over the well-being of children. I've been "defriended" by some Joe Paterno zealots on Facebook, but so be it.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

have we become a society that condones sexual misconduct towards male youths?

Unfortunately, that happened long ago (see, e.g., our tolerance of sexual abuse in prisons).

[BrianTH]

By the way, "The decision angered several parents" is not the same as "The decision angered the vast majority of parents".