We, the undersigned parents and guardians of students at Saint John the Beloved School, are writing to formally express our deep concern regarding the newly announced policy that ties weekly Mass attendance to students’ tuition rates, eligibility for extracurricular activities, and academic assessments.
While we respect the importance of nurturing our children’s spiritual lives and supporting their participation in the Church, we believe that enforcing church attendance through punitive academic or financial consequences is not aligned with the values of inclusion, compassion, and pastoral care that the Catholic Church is called to embody.
Our concerns include:
- Inequity and Unfairness: Many families in our school community are navigating complex life circumstances, including divorce, co-parenting, shift work, and varying levels of faith participation among parents. Children should not be penalized—financially, academically, or socially—for situations beyond their control.
- Damage to Evangelization Efforts: Linking participation in faith life to penalties risks creating resentment and alienation rather than fostering authentic engagement. We believe the Church should welcome families into deeper relationship with God through invitation, not coercion.
- Undermining Parent Contributions: Parents and guardians already make countless sacrifices to support Saint John the Beloved through volunteering, ministry, fundraising, and daily involvement. This policy diminishes those efforts by suggesting that attendance alone defines commitment to the school’s mission.
- Financial Pressure and Disparity: Tuition costs have already risen substantially. Introducing additional financial burdens based on attendance introduces inequity and places undue stress on families doing their best to support Catholic education.
- Potential for Community Harm: We fear this policy may have unintended consequences, including lower enrollment and diminished trust in school leadership. Several other schools in the Diocese of Wilmington do not have such requirements, and families may begin to seek out those alternatives.
We urge the parish and school leadership to reconsider this policy and instead find ways to inspire greater faith engagement that reflect the Church’s mission of mercy, hospitality, and accompaniment.
We remain committed to our children’s Catholic formation and education, and we are ready to work in partnership with you to foster a spiritually vibrant and welcoming school community. However, many of us will not finalize our tuition contracts until this matter is revisited.
Respectfully,
The Undersigned Parents and Guardians of Saint John the Beloved Students
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
April 29, 2025
Reached 100 supporters
April 28, 2025
51 Comments
If the goal was to unite the SJB community...mission accomplished! The group signing this petition has donated thousands of hours of time and helped to raise millions of dollars to support SJB. We can only hope that our many contributions might earn a seat at the table for the decisions that impact the community we have collectively built.
Since we work weekends and childcare is already an issue, I don’t see how we could keep the kids in school
And, the athletic association letter is even worse. Holding coaches accountable for attending mass too, and having to catechize our athletes in practices, team meetings and at games if they don’t?
We have an adult daughter with developmental and intellectual disabilities who will disrupt every service and I have no one else to care for her
I totally agree with exactly what was laid out in this letter from Mr. Boulden. Religion and attending services has to come from the heart not by a mandate. And also as he laid out many families have so many other things that keep them from being able to do services. Another plan needs to be devised.
People shouldn’t be forced to go to mass on their own personal time.
Forcing parishioners to attend mass is a crime called blackmail. This is similar to the govt. forcing the Covid shot. Get the shot or your fired, get the shot or you can not attend the college that accepted you this school year, and because of their tireless work the nurses were praised for their tireless work but then get the shot or your fired. Blackmail is a crime and you are doing it SJB.
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We, the undersigned parents and guardians of students at Saint John the Beloved School, are writing to formally express our deep concern regarding the newly announced policy that ties weekly Mass attendance to students’ tuition rates, eligibility for extracurricular activities, and academic assessments.
While we respect the importance of nurturing our children’s spiritual lives and supporting their participation in the Church, we believe that enforcing church attendance through punitive academic or financial consequences is not aligned with the values of inclusion, compassion, and pastoral care that the Catholic Church is called to embody.
Our concerns include:
- Inequity and Unfairness: Many families in our school community are navigating complex life circumstances, including divorce, co-parenting, shift work, and varying levels of faith participation among parents. Children should not be penalized—financially, academically, or socially—for situations beyond their control.
- Damage to Evangelization Efforts: Linking participation in faith life to penalties risks creating resentment and alienation rather than fostering authentic engagement. We believe the Church should welcome families into deeper relationship with God through invitation, not coercion.
- Undermining Parent Contributions: Parents and guardians already make countless sacrifices to support Saint John the Beloved through volunteering, ministry, fundraising, and daily involvement. This policy diminishes those efforts by suggesting that attendance alone defines commitment to the school’s mission.
- Financial Pressure and Disparity: Tuition costs have already risen substantially. Introducing additional financial burdens based on attendance introduces inequity and places undue stress on families doing their best to support Catholic education.
- Potential for Community Harm: We fear this policy may have unintended consequences, including lower enrollment and diminished trust in school leadership. Several other schools in the Diocese of Wilmington do not have such requirements, and families may begin to seek out those alternatives.
We urge the parish and school leadership to reconsider this policy and instead find ways to inspire greater faith engagement that reflect the Church’s mission of mercy, hospitality, and accompaniment.
We remain committed to our children’s Catholic formation and education, and we are ready to work in partnership with you to foster a spiritually vibrant and welcoming school community. However, many of us will not finalize our tuition contracts until this matter is revisited.
Respectfully,
The Undersigned Parents and Guardians of Saint John the Beloved Students
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
April 29, 2025
Reached 100 supporters
April 28, 2025
51 Comments
In order to afford to send our children to SJB, both of us as parents need to work, as we are not granted any financial assistance but we volunteer our time as much as we can when able to. I now feel like we are being penalized by not being able to commit to church services every week. Highly disappointed and am considering other options for school if this isn’t changed.
If the goal was to unite the SJB community...mission accomplished! The group signing this petition has donated thousands of hours of time and helped to raise millions of dollars to support SJB. We can only hope that our many contributions might earn a seat at the table for the decisions that impact the community we have collectively built.
Since we work weekends and childcare is already an issue, I don’t see how we could keep the kids in school
And, the athletic association letter is even worse. Holding coaches accountable for attending mass too, and having to catechize our athletes in practices, team meetings and at games if they don’t?
We have an adult daughter with developmental and intellectual disabilities who will disrupt every service and I have no one else to care for her
I totally agree with exactly what was laid out in this letter from Mr. Boulden. Religion and attending services has to come from the heart not by a mandate. And also as he laid out many families have so many other things that keep them from being able to do services. Another plan needs to be devised.
People shouldn’t be forced to go to mass on their own personal time.
Forcing parishioners to attend mass is a crime called blackmail. This is similar to the govt. forcing the Covid shot. Get the shot or your fired, get the shot or you can not attend the college that accepted you this school year, and because of their tireless work the nurses were praised for their tireless work but then get the shot or your fired. Blackmail is a crime and you are doing it SJB.
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In order to afford to send our children to SJB, both of us as parents need to work, as we are not granted any financial assistance but we volunteer our time as much as we can when able to. I now feel like we are being penalized by not being able to commit to church services every week. Highly disappointed and am considering other options for school if this isn’t changed.