A Catholic-School Veteran Tells All

My recollection of Catholic schools in the 60s, was physical abuse was for the boys and emotional abuse was for the girls. From telling a girl with a crooked finger that it made her a thief, to hiding a girl with a disfigured arm at the back of the room so the local bishop wouldn't be offended by her "deformity", the nuns were masters of emotional abuse. Their behavior led me to question everything they said and to drive me as far away from the Catholic church as possible.

Thanks for letting us know what Catholic Schools were like 40 years ago. As a parent putting 4 children through Catholic Schools, I can assure you that they aren't like that anymore. There is discipline, uniforms, high standards for behavior and for academic excellence, provided in a caring environment. I'll take that over my local public school.

I attended Catholic school during the '60s and 70's. In fact, I attended two different Catholic schools and they were worlds apart. Like David Noonan, my first experience was in a school run by the Sisters of Charity, some of whom were decidedly uncharitable while others were kind and caring. Though I, received an excellent education and can diiagram sentences with the best of them, it was, at times, genuinely frightening to attend that school. For the most part,I towed the line, thereby completely avoiding the corporal punishment that I witnessed on a daily basis, I do recall , however, having been punished for breaking the absolute rule of speaking in the cafeteria. From the time we arrived until the time we went home at the end of the day, children were only to speak when addressed by an adult. My punishment for being caught speaking to another child in the cafeteria was to have my lunch taken away and to stand in the middle of the cafeteria for the duration of the lunch period, to make it known that I had violated the rule. On the other hand, the Dominican nuns who ran my second Catholic school found a way to far more consistenly balance discipline and kindness. I don't recall ever having seen any of them strike a child. So, it's not necessarily Catholic school that left the scars but which one you attended.

To condemn Catholic educators is another article targeting anything Catholic. Our Catholic nuns at St. Casimir's School in S. Bend did their best to give us a superior spilritual and thorough orientation to what is really important in life. There labor of love never ceases to amaze me to this day. Their commendable service to God, parish,community, and students was incomparable and still is today. Our first week in public school proved that we were better educated then our schoolmates form public schools. Many of us deserved the corporal punishment we received and besides it was less severe than what we received when we returend home. One nun,sister Lauda sticks in my find for her devotion to getting the church open by 5 AM daily, getting everything ready for Mass, and making sure we alter boys were prepared for this event. There were no disruptions in class or bullying allowed. So we civilized children trained to respect a higher authority and our parents would have never embarassed our neighborhood because of what we had learned at the hands of the nuns. In nine years at my Catholic school I was lightly hit for lying to my nun once. To stereotype nuns as beaters is a disservice to most who served with little compensation not only iln Catholic schools but
also in hospitals, nursing homes, wars, and more places then can be reported here. Your next cover story should be on
how nuns advanced civilization against all odds.

Ernie

So you were abused in the 50's & 60's. Build a bridge, and get over it. The "innocent" garbage that you pulled in school you would have never tried at home. Your poor parents were also duped...must be great to be as enlightend as you are now.
I don't think I would expect anything less from a Newsweek reporter. Shame on you!!

I am a Catholic school veteran. I have nothing but fond memories. My nuns, too, were Sisters of Charity and I have never met a more loving group of women. They loved and guided and inspired us in our faith and in the joy of learning for the sake of learning. They shared our laughter and dried many tears . I am almost 60 years old and still feel blessed for having known Sister Mary Jonathon, Sister Mary Joyce (with her cassock tucked into her belt teaching us how to double dutch), Sister Mary Raymond and Sister Mary Vicenza (who for 4 years had my name wrong but always said it with a smile and I neverhad the heart to correct her.) and the many others who dedciated themselves to us as Christ guided them to.

I attended Catholic School in the late 80's. These preactices were still going on, I'm positive they weren't tolerated any longer at public school because when we moved we no longer went to Catholic School. The school had both nuns and lay persons as teachers. For some reason only the nuns thought is was necessary to slap around the students. It may also be worth mentioning that this was elementary school. The 4th grade teacher was the worst. She would single out a few students that she didn't like and focus her efforts on them all year. My older sister had a ruler broken on her head once for answering a question incorrectly. My mother had several meetings with the school administration after which things would get better for a month or so.

I don't think this is tolerated anywhere today, but I thought it was worth mentioning that this was not only an issue in the '50s and '60s

I went to a Catholic school and was taught by Sisters of Charity in the 60's as well. I'm quite sure that I was never hit, though I couldn't say for sure whether or not any episodes of corporal punishment occurred at the school. What I do recall is a top notch education, as well as learning to act with discipline and responsibility, to take pride in doing my best, and to treat others with respect, things that have served me well throughout my life. I'm very thankful for my parochial school education. All of us have had good and bad experiences in all walks of life, and I continue to be troubled by the fact anything negative that people want to say regarding any aspect of Catholicism, or traditional religion more generally, can be given this type of public forum. What in this article merits publication in Newsweek, other than some editor being over-eager because of its negative slant on Catholic education? Are there balance, context, research, statistics, rejoinder? - no, these seem not to be necessary these days when it comes to anti-Catholic rants such as this.

I too am a Catholic School veteran (12 years). My parents and the nuns honestly believed that if you did not beat a child regularly, sometimes just on "general principles", that they would grow up to be criminals or something worse. Needless to say, I left the Church 20 years ago and haven't spoken to my parents for 10 years. I will say the abuse made me a better parent. My 9 year old child does not attend Catholic School, has never been struck by me or any adult, and seems to be developing quite well. Catholic Schools taught me how not to raise children.

I would love it if this author--or anyone else--could explain how "corporal punishment" is a euphemism, shameless or not. What does either word have to do with inequality? And anyway, doesn't the ability to punish (to say nothing of the obligation or the responsibility) imply a necessary inequality?

I would love it if this author--or anybody else--could explain how the phrase "corporal punishment" is a euphemism, shameless or not. What does either word have to do with inequality? And, anyway, doesn't the ability to punish (to say nothing of the obligation or the responsibilty) imply a necessary inequality?

I have indellible memories of a 4th grade classmate with a crew cut being lifted up by his ear for writing ion his music book -- becuase he did not have enough hair to be lifted up by the hair. I know of no-one in public school with similar memories. I think it is because Catholic School parents accepted this as part of the drill. punishment started at getting smacked on the hand for missing math questions too many times in 1st and 2nd grade and escalating from there to take into account that lesser means of corporal punishment held no terror. There was an "object lesson mentality". It also might have something to do with the frustrations involved in being an aging nun in the 60s.

I attended catholic school in the 60's and 70's, some of what the reporter talked about took place. I wouldn't change a thing. It taught me discipline, something our children of today don't understand.

I went to Catholic school for two and a half miserable years. I never saw the nuns hit anybody, but the lay teachers more than made up for it. St. Mary's School in Middletown, NJ. Mrs. Addie Calendriello used to hit me and the other boys, not because we misbehaved, but because she didn't like boys. My crimes included folding my paper incorrectly, and bearing a resemblance to another boy she did not like. Ms. Lani made a girl who threw part of her sandwich away retrieve it from the garbage can, covered in pencil shavings and other trash, and it eat it while the whole class was forced to watch the humiliation. I remember it vividly. Why was this allowed to happen? Because the principal, Sister Nancy, allowed and encouraged it. Why did none of the the other teachers or nuns do anything about it? Because they were frightened of Sister Nancy. Screw you all, Mrs. Calendriello, Ms. Lani and Sister Nancy. I hope you all rot in hell.

For every one thousand of these sham reporters, there is a Tim Russert.

I remember Catholic school well and when I meet up with other Catholic school veterans we all have similar stories. I was the quiet good student always at the top of my class. Yet I was degraded and humiliated and lived in fear. I was told when I was 8 years old that I should walk to church when my parents didn't take me. Lets see, that's 3.5 miles one way! Can you imagine a small child living in constant fear because they couldn't get to church and just knew that if they got hit by a car before confession that they were going to hell? Ahh, confession was another story. We were terrified of the priest and they would intimidate and yell in the confessional. They would even ask your name even though it was supposed to be confidential. I was so terrified I would get physically sick. One time the priest came to hand out report cards. Mine was one of the best. Yet he degraded me in front of the other students and said the only good member of my family was my sister and the rest were no good and that I had better pattern myself after my sister. When my parents wouldn't show up for conferences, the nuns would take it out on me the next day. The abuse was reinforced at home. The thinking of the time was to break the child's spirit through physical abuse and fear and intimidation and then you could control them. It took me many many years as an adult to reconcile all of this. I had no idea that the public school kids did not have to live with this abuse. I left the church in my 30's and never looked back. In fact out of my school class of probably 25 students, only I stayed with the church. However in meeting others, the talk is always about the abuse.

I know you realize that not all of us had such bad experiences in catholic schools. I attended for twelve years and never observed, heard of or received any abuse. Perhaps, I was taught by a kinder-gentler order than some? Notre Dame Class of 1964.

I didn't have the privilege of attending a private Cathoilic school - I guess that's why I'm just a housewife instead of a reporter, writing for "Newsweek". However, corporal punishment certainly wasn't a Catholic school exclusive. I was once paddled in the 4th grade for daring to get up and dance during music class. Apparently, expressing my joy of music was tantamount to setting the school on fire. In the 6th grade, the teacher's wooden paddle came out on a near-daily basis for infractions such as whipering , chewing gum, passing notes and talking back to the teacher. Yes, corporal punishment was rampant in public schools too - we public school slumdogs simply choose not to whine about it.