Sharon and I attended back to school night at Jack's school. We listened to the Priest and the Principal talk about the role of the parent in education and his kindergarten teacher outline the structure of the class and the curriculum for the year.
While Sharon and her brothers are products of Catholic grammar and high schools, this is a new experience for me. I was raised a Presbyterian in a small rural farming town in Northern California. While we were fairly active in the Church (church groups were one of the few available youth activities), it bears no comparison to being involved in the local Catholic parish and the parish school. Even in a larger city, the Catholic parish is a much tighter community with more connections into day-to-day life.