Are Montessori Schools Religious? How to Check a School's Approach to Faith

The Montessori method isn’t tied to any religion, and most Montessori schools in the US are secular. In the federal 2023-24 survey of US private schools, about 90% of Montessori schools reported no religious orientation, and the rest were Catholic or linked to another faith (our calculation from NCES survey data). Each school’s website, handbook and admissions office will tell you where it stands.

Was Maria Montessori Religious?

Yes. She was Catholic and wrote about religious education for young children. AMI’s timeline of her life lists a model school with a children’s chapel in Barcelona in 1916 and, in 1922, “Maria Montessori’s first book on the Catholic liturgy from the child’s point of view.” Her work also traveled well beyond Catholic settings. In 1939 she went to India at the invitation of the Theosophical Society, and when she died in 1952 she was buried in a Catholic cemetery in the Netherlands (AMI).

Her classroom method stands on its own. The five core components AMS checks before it verifies a school are trained teachers, mixed-age classes, Montessori materials, child-directed work and uninterrupted work periods (AMS). None of them involves faith, and AMI’s classroom standards contain no religious requirement either (AMI/USA). That’s how the same materials and the same long morning work period turn up in a public charter school, a secular private school and a parish school.

What Is the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd?

It is a separate, openly religious program. Sofia Cavalletti and Gianna Gobbi began working with children in Rome in 1954, basing their approach on Montessori’s principles of education, in a prepared religious space called an atrium. The program reached the United States in 1975 and now runs in churches, schools and homes across several Christian denominations (CGSUSA).

Some Montessori schools offer an atrium next to their regular classrooms, and churches run atriums on their own too.

What Does the Federal Survey Show?

The US Department of Education’s Private School Universe Survey asks every private school, “Does this school have a religious orientation or purpose?” and, if the answer is yes, which faith (NCES questionnaire). NCES estimates there were 2,378 private Montessori schools in the 2023-24 school year (NCES, 2026). Using the survey’s own weights, we calculate that about 90% of them reported no religious orientation, about 2% were Catholic and about 8% had another religious orientation (NCES public-use file). Among the religious schools, the most common answer was Christian with no specific denomination, followed by Catholic, with smaller numbers of Jewish, Episcopal and Islamic schools.

The survey covers private schools only. Public Montessori schools, charters included, aren’t part of it, and they follow the same rules on religion as any other public school in their state. The count also includes only schools that picked “Montessori school” as their main description, so a Catholic school with a Montessori preschool room may appear under another heading.

Does a Faith-Based School Teach Montessori Differently?

The academic classroom can be identical. Judge a faith-based school by the same signs you’d look for anywhere, such as mixed ages, a long morning work period and teachers trained for that age level. Our guide on how to choose a Montessori school walks through them.

The difference sits around the classroom. Prayer, chapel, religion lessons and service hours can take up part of the week, and it’s fair to ask how much. An AMS or AMI review won’t settle the question either way, since the AMS core components and AMI’s classroom standards say nothing about faith. Our page on checking accreditation explains what those reviews do cover.

How Can I Tell Where a School Stands on Faith?

Start with the name and the website. A saint’s name or a word like Christian or Islamic is a clear signal, though some faith-based schools have neutral names, so read the mission statement and the About page as well.

Then read the papers you would sign. If religion classes, chapel or service hours are required, the handbook or enrollment contract should say so, along with any enrollment priority for members of a congregation.

In our directory, the Categories line on a school page sometimes includes a label such as Catholic school or Religious school, taken from the school’s Google listing. Treat it as a hint and confirm on the school’s own site. You can browse schools city by city from our locations page.

What to Ask the School

• Does the school have a religious affiliation or a sponsoring parish, congregation or order?
• Is there prayer, chapel or religion class during the school day, and can my child opt out?
• Which holidays do you mark in the classroom, and how?
• Do families need to share the faith to enroll, and do members get priority or a tuition discount?
• Are teachers expected to share the faith or lead prayer with the class?
• At a secular school, how do teachers respond when children bring their family’s beliefs to class?

Take these on the visit along with our tour checklist. If you’re weighing a faith-based private school against a free public option, our guide to public and private Montessori schools explains how the public route works.