A Catholic-School Veteran Tells All

JimDadma: The grown men whining...were 7, 8, 9 yo old children who were probably less than 4'0" in height at the time. Sister Hilda who was small and frail and probably 75+ yrs old when I was in her third grade class...still instilled terror in me when she wielded her paddle on my rear end with the vengence and tenacity of a Taliban cleric, and the ruler on my knuckles until she drew blood....she didn't stop until she did! Just because they were victims in their own right (understandably) gave them NO RIGHT to take it out on 7, 8, or 9 year old CHILDREN!!!! Do not apologize for them...they were ADULTS!!!!

A couple things here. First not to condone the corporal punishment, but back in the 50's and 60's the same corporal punishment was allowed in public schools as well. I remember getting smacked and spanked by my teachers in the public school as well. So these nuns were no different than their public school counterparts except one should have expected more from them. I know it is all fun to hop on the catholic bashing wagon all the time, but let's be fair across the board. I have kids in Catholic schools and there are nuns in it, They are well adjusted women who treat the kids with fairness and would no sooner hit them than their public school counterparts. the pity is that we will allow what happened decades ago serve as a reason to shuck our faith in a church but turn a blind eye to the same things that happen in the secular culture.

My kids go to Catholic School today. There is not one, not one nun, who is a teacher at their school. They have all been purged, at least where I live, and professional, conscientious teachers have taken their place.

amen to that!!

My grade school was exactly like the article and so was my high school. I now look back in horror and realize that our Lenten banks ( had to fill a bank with money each day for the 40 days of Lent ) to help the " pagan babies " really was a guise for the nuns and priests to get new cars every other year. Pagan babies !!!!! What god would condemn an innocent infant who died sinless to eternal damnation ? But we in Catholic schools bought that stuff that was rammed down our throats by the Church. That and our priest inviting us altar boys up to the rectory for mai tais. I kid you not !!!!
And I watched on the news last month that my old high school ( Marian Catholic in Chicago Hts, IL ) kicked kids out of the middle of class just because their parent(s) fell behind on their tuition payments.

No wonder the Catholic church is in trouble these days.....................and I didn't even go into the pedophile priests that get tranferred from parish to parish when trouble crops up.

Shame on them.

I also attended Catholic schools in the 60's and 70's, and while there were instances of "corporal punishment" (few and far between), we cannot lose sight of the fact that this was an acceptable means of discipline during that era. Being hit by your parents today will bring calls from DYFS, but that was not the case when nuns were doling out the type of discipline that reinforced the same discipline that many children were accustomed to at home.

My son now attends the same all male Catholic prep school that I attended in the 1970's. A common discipline that we were subjected to then was having to kneel on the linoleum floor during the class period for various missteps as determined by the teacher. While it was uncomfortable to the knees after awhile, it also was viewed as a badge of honor among your peers, and it was effective in that it made you think twice about stepping out of line the next time for fear of those aching knees once again. ( I look back fondly on those days and did not then, nor do I now feel abused) That practice has long been discontinued by the school administration as times have changed. My son still finds it hard to believe that it actually was common, but so also has discipline in the home changed over time.

I spent 11 of 12 years in Catholic School, my husband spent 12 and my businees partner has never been in a classroom without a crucifix (through grad school). Our daughter spent 14 years from pre-k through senior year.
To this day I find that a large percentage of the best employees we've had(I own my own company) are the products of Catholic school - no matter their age. These are responsible adults who take great pride in their work and can write well. Yes, public schools also produce great students but my experience is that the Catholic school system is the best overall. When I encounter others who were educated in the Catholic schools in the 60s and 70s, for the most part, their memories are fond - of nuns who went out of their ways to educate children, lay teachers who spent their own money to provide children with supplies and opportunities to help them shine. My daughter is still amazed as a college sophomore at a top university how much more the Catholic school students know than the public school students. She called home once and thanked me for her education.
I say - grow up and play with the cards you're dealt - both my parents and the teachers I had emphasized that all throughout my education. It amazes me that Noonan is given this forum to gripe.

As for corporal punishment, it wasn't just catholic school and nuns. We regularly received the ruler across the knuckle or the yardstick across the behind and that was in public school. However, I obviously didn't consider it so horrible, and did manage to get a good education out of the process. Everyone in life has choices - you can whine or you can deal. Life is not fair and some of us learned that at an early age. That knowledge, however, is an excellent basis for handling the rest of what gets thrown at you over the years!

This is a crock! I went to a Franciscan high school, was disciplined more than once, but never abused. In fact, the environment created a kind of 'boot camp' atmosphere and a camaraderie not only among the male students but among students, faculty and staff. Those are some of our fondest memories and today's ills could be largely corrected if the schools were still permitted to use physical discipline.
Parents should be supportive of the teachers who are trying to teach and train their kids in a difficult situation.

I, too, am a 1950"s - 1960's Catholic school veteran from Northern New Jersey. However, I had Dominican \nuns as teachers. The school had a sign over the entrance that stated "Suffer the Children to Come Unto Me" and at my young age I thought that the word "suffer" was correct, but not in the context as it was meant.

One particular nun should have tried out as a MLB pitcher as she could pick off a "misbehaving" boy's head at the back of the room with a well aimed eraser. Another could brandish a yardstick like a samurai.

During a late-night bull session in my college dorm room there was a good collection of guys who also attended Catholic school in the New York City area and all of them had quite similar stories. Nevetheless, many agreed that the discipline was harsh and in some cases excessively so. Nevertheless, we also felt that we were better for it and the lack practically any discipline in schools today is a cause of many problems facing society today.

The Catholic school system was, and is, an institutionalized organization for adolescent abuse. The psychological abuse is far worse than the physical. In Catholic 'law' and teaching masturbation is a mortal sin - punished, without sincere and full repentance, by eternal damnation in the fires of hell. No wonder this church attracts perverted minds and sexual abusers. This is no joke. I recently heard a co worker discussing, and laughing about, her sons questions on this issue. Such garbage as this mocks the real Jesus of Nazareth that the twisted Catholic church once in a while bothers to mention.

I also attended Catholic School in Bakersfield, CA, @ Our Lady of Guadalupe. The viciousness of the nuns during the 60's and 70 's was beyond reproach. If the nuns didn't get your attention then the priest was called in and you were guaranteed your head getting slammed against the chalkboard. What could possibly be learned from this? hatred that will last a lifetime. I left the church for many years because attending mass brought back bad memories and I was a quiet kid who always scored in the 90s. I was deathly afraid of the nuns and hated them with a passion because they had no compassion. As I write this, my own aunt has been a nun with the Sisters of Mercy for 30 years. She knows how I feel and doesn't fault me. She even admits that some of the "older" nuns were way out of line. When I became a California State Trooper I could not wait to stop a nun for speeding or priest for driving under th influence of alcohol/wine. If a teacher of any kind touched my sons there would be one more inmate in prison and one less nun or priest in the church, and yes I still attend Mass for the message, not the past sins of humans called nuns and priests. I still love my church it was some of the individuals that caused many nightmares.

jcanizz: what is your friggin' problem? A Newsweek reporter?...is that pejorative description?...David Noonan was one of the millions of Catholic school kids literally abused by the nuns AND priests at Catholic schools all across the country. I am a 54 yo, 27+ yrs active duty veteran of the US Coast Guard...and I experienced the exact same thing from the Sisters of Mercy in Holy Cross School in Rochester NY from 1960-1969...and even worse (such as rubber hose whippings on bare behinds by the Basilian Brothers at Aquinas Instutute...high school in 1968-69). It was relatively innocent stuff we engaged in...spit balls versus the death dealing that Klebold did at Columbine 10 years ago.

Shame on him???? Shame on you for continuing to attempt to sweep this under the rug, to ignore and to belittle the seriousness of the abuse that those in "loco parentis" exercised over us as 8, 9 10 year old kids...and that our parents were intimidated from objecting to. But my father, a public school educator realized I was telling him the truth and he thankfully pulled me out of Aquinas Institute and away from the abuse of those Basilian Brothers and put my=e in public high school. Those Basilian Brothers were eventually prosecuted years later in court for the CRIMINAL activity they engaged in.

I went to 12 years of Catholic School as well - Sisters of Notre Dame - and they also slapped .. usually the boys on the back. But they did keep us in line. With all the whining I've done about that time, I did send my 2 boys to 8 yrs of Catholic School. the one in College now has very fond memories of his time and says those were the best years. My other, who is a Junior in HS now, was not that thrilled. He was ( and has always been) a tougher young man to wrangle, very high spirited, but alway a good boy. He did get his fair share of detention notices and demerits - same as me. One of the best books to read about Catholic School in the 60's is Growing up Catholic .. you can only relate to it if you went to school for quite some time .. received the sacraments , etc.. its so funny.

I can't imagine anything less likely to make me susceptible to education than "a bit of" violence. I would have spent the remainder of the day nursing my hurt pride, planning my passive resistant revenge, grinding my teeth--anything but learning. There is a place that a child can go where NO ONE can reach him--his own mind.