A Catholic-School Veteran Tells All

NEWSWEEK

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 04/28/2009 6:53:11 AM

    Part 1: For all you right-wing catholics out there, it is obvious that you suffer from Stockholm syndrome and have taken the part of your captors and abusers and are now the bullies and defend the bullying. This has never been about disciplining bullies or "bad" kids -- it is about the sadistic bullying of the vulnerable in a captive setting while holding in loco parentis status. The nuns were, for the most part, sick, sexually perverted individuals who took it all out on the smallest and weakest students. The "nice" nuns did exist, but most didn't last long, either getting transferred from school to school or leaving the orders entirely. And, like all good psychopaths (like the pedopriests), they knew who to be nice to and who they could lash out at so that there would always be plausible deniability because there would be people who would say, "sister never laid a hand on me", all the while there would be a large percentage that they did abuse. What's sad is that those of us abused by nuns can't get any justice because the abuse was nonsexual, mental, emotional, and spiritual, and gee whiz, those just aren't crimes like rape and sodomy.

    I went to Ascension school in Cleveland OH for seven years of hell, taught by Sisters of Mercy (those who ran the Magdalene laundries in Ireland). I was small and weak, quiet and obedient. I got punished over and over because I was left-handed (but by 1964, they stopped forcing lefties to be right handed - that does not mean that they didn't still believe left-handers to be demonic). My first grade nun did not believe in children having any bodily functions except when *she* decided they should. I had three incidents of *needing* (not wanting, not slacking) to go to the bathroom. I did the proper and polite thing and raised my hand and asked politely to go to the lavatory (I even used the right word because you'd get punished if you said bathroom or restroom), she kept refusing me and I couldn't control my overfull bladder any longer and had to pee at my desk. She then used the incident to humiliate me further, forced me to sit in a urine-soaked wool uniform until the end of the day, then made me stay after school to clean up the already drying, very sticky urine with a few paper towels. After the third time, my parents came to the school and were told I was evil because I needed to pee. The solution was that I had to be deprived of nutrition at recess (i.e., a carton of milk) so that I wouldn't need to pee outside narrowly defined parameters set by the school. This situation set me up for endless and repeated abuse and humiliation for the remaining six years at that school.

    • Posted By: juice911 @ 04/30/2009 1:26:33 PM

      yea sure, your parents were told you were evil because you needed to pee. where in Cleveland was acsension school? I went to catholic school in cleveland, I just don,t recall ascension school. I went to St. Paschal Baylon in Highland Hts.. Loved my experiance. I would send my kids to catholic over public all day long. Better education period

      • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 04/30/2009 4:23:35 PM

        Sorry, Juice, but Highland Hts isn't Cleveland. Ascension is (or rather, was - closed last year) IN Cleveland, where us poor schmoes didn't have rich and powerful parents to protect us and threaten litigation like parents in the 'burbs. Ascension hell hole was an ugly, bleak church with ugly, bleak classrooms with nasty and abusive clergy and nasty, abusive, and incompetent, uncertified, uneducated teachers (nuns and lay teachers) who were guilty of malpractice and malfeasance. All the fancy-schmancy burb catholic schools got the best of everything, while we city kids got the worst. Cleveland Public was better than catholic schools back in the day! However, there were inner-ring 'burb schools where abuse took place, like Holy Family in Parma. I suggest you go to bishopaccountability.org and search the list of priests for the Cleveland diocese (and read Abuse Tracker for accurate and current info from mainstream media sources). They list 45 priests, but these are only the ones with media attention and credible allegations, not the ones that slipped under the radar, like Frank Larocca - and all the abusive nuns who totally got away with all of their sadistic torture.

        To the person commenting on *Irish* residential schools, we're not talking about England here. The magdalene laundries, industrial schools, and residential schools were throughout Ireland, not England. And then there are the Christian Brothers run religious schools where lots of abuse took place. Read An Irish Tragedy about pervasive clergy abuse in Ireland getting exported here (though abuse here was never limited to priests with Irish surnames, but a preponderance of pedopriests, like Oliver O'Grady (who raped a nine-month-old girl), came from Ireland). RCC Inc ran everything in Ireland that the English didn't have nailed down. If you were pretty in Ireland, you got an extra-judicial life sentence as a slave in the magdalene laundries. Watch Abuse Tracker in the next month or so, as there is a report due on shocking pervasiveness of sexual abuse in the name of "jesus" in Ireland - a bishop reported on this during holy thursday services. He said to expect a big shock. Apparently, the abuse there is even worse than that covered in An Irish Tragedy.

        • Posted By: juice911 @ 04/30/2009 5:57:28 PM

          As you know there are many Catholic schools in Cleveland and Burbs. The bottom line is that public was spankin kids as well. These kids today are the most disrespectfull of any era. They have no regards for adult authority. Just so you know most people would send there kids to a catholic school over public any day, otherwise you would be doing a diservice in denying them the best possible education. You know I have to wonder where are all the other students from Ascension that wittnessed this abuse? Like your siblings for example! As you know there are many catholic schools and millions of past and present students who enjoy there catholic school. Let's try and be carefull not to label all the catholic schools.

          • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 05/01/2009 6:47:23 AM

            Where???!!! :::SCOFF::: I can tell you where. My sister lives in Lakewood, my brother lives in Parma. My baby brother lives in Norfolk, VA - any one of them would LOVE to tell you about the daily torture they experienced. Even baby bro (retired from the Navy) would tell you a thing or three about his experience even though it was the least worst of the lot. Why? Do you think I made them up? BTW, hubby was abused at Our Lady of the Angels in Cleveland, in a more affluent neighborhood. Father George was one for grooming the boys and asking him for "help" in the church basement. Word got around, so hubby stopped serving mass to avoid him. He was also abused for having moved from the East Side - called "n-word lover" because he wasn't white enough for OLA. His siblings were bullied for the same reason. One sister was lefthanded and forced to write righthanded.

            I've heard catholic schools are better and more "normal" today, but the emotional and spiritual abuse does go on (because they know they can't get away with physical violence today). Knowing what I know, I would *still* send a high schooler to John Marshall over St. Ed's or St. Augustine any time.

            If you think all children today are evil sociopaths, then look to their *parents* - greedheads who drive their SuckUVs around on the highways like they think they're god, bulling everyone else not driving a SuckUV, beating up and even murdering other parents and coaches for being competition or making bad calls on their kid during soccer games, murdering girls who are competition for their daughters in cheerleading. Yeah, real great examples from the breeders who *demanded* rights for themselves while in school and now send their kids into Nazi lockdown prison camp schools where the uniforms the babyboomes rejected are required and even school colors are prohibited because they're now "gang colors". But then, if the parents are bullies and learned it from catholic school, of course they'd send their kids there to learn how to be bullies who can be bullies with impunity through the sterliing example of the bully clergy and teachers.

            The only thing catholic schools have going for them now (the ones still open - note that they're closing the inner city schools, so I guess theirs are no better than public schools, or could it be catholic racism that is closing them?) are the Hindu and Muslim families willing to send their kids there. With the spotlight on them now, catholic schools can't force children to lick pee off the floor for not saying prayers, make Muslim kids eat cafeteria pork, or the usual behaviors. All the teachers have to be certified and properly educated now, too. I know the emotional abuse is still there because some friends are taking their grandchild out (kindergarten) and putting him in a Waldorf school because of how he was treated by his catholic school.

            You know nothing about anything outside your cozy suburban cocoon. Noonan is right,

            • Posted By: juice911 @ 05/01/2009 9:19:46 AM

              You have deeper issues. You send your kid to John Marshall and I'll send mine to St. Ed's. Gee I wonder who will get the better education. The Cleveland public schools are the biggest joke in the country, but you would send your kid there instead of St Ed's or St Ignatius? The good news is that you are the minority. You honestly think if a cleveland city parent had the option of sending there child to catholic over public, they would choose public? You do realize how many catholic schools there are , most people have had a great experiance and they realize the education they received was second to none. That is why they send there kids to catholic school. Because I lived in the burbs made my school any different? Poor people can live in the burbs you know. My parents also had a voice. Did yours? Are you trying to tell me because your parents didn't have money is the reason the nuns picked on you. Nobody should believe that BS. You say you heard that catholic schools are more normal today, maybe if you did a little research you would have found that out years ago. Explain the spiritual abuse that still goes on.

          • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 05/01/2009 6:48:19 AM

            Where???!!! :::SCOFF::: I can tell you where. My sister lives in Lakewood, my brother lives in Parma. My baby brother lives in Norfolk, VA - any one of them would LOVE to tell you about the daily torture they experienced. Even baby bro (retired from the Navy) would tell you a thing or three about his experience even though it was the least worst of the lot. Why? Do you think I made them up? BTW, hubby was abused at Our Lady of the Angels in Cleveland, in a more affluent neighborhood. Father George was one for grooming the boys and asking him for "help" in the church basement. Word got around, so hubby stopped serving mass to avoid him. He was also abused for having moved from the East Side - called "n-word lover" because he wasn't white enough for OLA. His siblings were bullied for the same reason. One sister was lefthanded and forced to write righthanded.

            I've heard catholic schools are better and more "normal" today, but the emotional and spiritual abuse does go on (because they know they can't get away with physical violence today). Knowing what I know, I would *still* send a high schooler to John Marshall over St. Ed's or St. Augustine any time.

            If you think all children today are evil sociopaths, then look to their *parents* - greedheads who drive their SuckUVs around on the highways like they think they're god, bulling everyone else not driving a SuckUV, beating up and even murdering other parents and coaches for being competition or making bad calls on their kid during soccer games, murdering girls who are competition for their daughters in cheerleading. Yeah, real great examples from the breeders who *demanded* rights for themselves while in school and now send their kids into Nazi lockdown prison camp schools where the uniforms the babyboomes rejected are required and even school colors are prohibited because they're now "gang colors". But then, if the parents are bullies and learned it from catholic school, of course they'd send their kids there to learn how to be bullies who can be bullies with impunity through the sterliing example of the bully clergy and teachers.

            The only thing catholic schools have going for them now (the ones still open - note that they're closing the inner city schools, so I guess theirs are no better than public schools, or could it be catholic racism that is closing them?) are the Hindu and Muslim families willing to send their kids there. With the spotlight on them now, catholic schools can't force children to lick pee off the floor for not saying prayers, make Muslim kids eat cafeteria pork, or the usual behaviors. All the teachers have to be certified and properly educated now, too. I know the emotional abuse is still there because some friends are taking their grandchild out (kindergarten) and putting him in a Waldorf school because of how he was treated by his catholic school.

            You know nothing about anything outside your cozy suburban cocoon. Noonan is right,

    • Posted By: dina624 @ 04/28/2009 5:29:05 PM

      And as far as the industrial schools in the UK...why was there such a need for them? Why were there so many neglected children? Anthropologically, it doesn't make sense to blame the Catholic church (which in the UK was stripped of all power and oppressed by penal laws http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/irish/unit_1.html , so people who were catholic often were very poor, and could not get good jobs) for these places, since the state run schools were just as bad if not worse.

      I just don't buy your story about evil substandard American catholic schools. Your posts sound to much like Jack Chick tracks. Next thing you'll do is bring up 'Maria Monk'.

      dina



    • Posted By: dina624 @ 04/28/2009 5:15:23 PM

      They did much of the same stuff in public school. I remember my kindergarten teacher forcing kids to stand in front of the big mural in front of the room and not letting them go potty. Several of them had accidents. We all were terrified of her. My sister had a teacher who was very rough, screamed all the time, and broke one child's arm one year. I was in District 23 in NY. Must be the culture, that's all I can say, because my public school experience was hellish and is the reason I homeschool and will never allow a teacher near my children.
      dina

  • Posted By: strafals @ 04/30/2009 4:36:09 PM

    I went to Catechism class in Morristown NJ, run by the Sisters of Charity, and I'm here to tell you that the girls DID get smacked. When I was seven years old and in class, I spilled cocoa all the down the front of my new dress, and began to cry. The nun in charge whirled around and slapped me in the face so hard that I was knocked to the ground. I have never forgotten one moment of that.I am in elementary education now, and could never strike a child. Sara

    • Posted By: Progressive American @ 04/30/2009 4:44:19 PM

      If anyone ever lays a hand on my child, they better not let me ever find them, including a nun.

    • Posted By: Progressive American @ 04/30/2009 4:42:42 PM

  • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 04/30/2009 7:04:46 AM

    jgmarr, you're so right about the parents never complaining, though some did try. Our dad was severely abused at his school in the 30s-40s and didn't want us in catholic school, but our mom insisted. Dad believed in the truth of it when he saw me coming home crying nearly every day, miserable every day, appalled that I had to stay up until 1 am to write punishments doled out to our entire class (on a school night) or I'd get punished more if I didn't finish it. Mom considered all the tears and pain to be "delusional" because she didn't get abused at her catholic school. Mom and Dad went to the school a number of times, but nothing was done to stop the situation (except depriving me of nutrition so I wouldn't need to pee) - they were totally cowed by the nuns/principals. All of our parents were just as brainwashed and found it impossible to believe that anyone designated as "holy" could do anything wrong. Our parents were unknowingly pimps of their children to the abuse system. Things got so bad by the time I was in third grade that my parents had a HUGE argument about pulling us out of that catholic hell hole, but again, my mother's insistence that our souls would be in jeopardy if we transferred to catholic school prevailed. It wasn't until four years later, when my brother had a knife pulled on him and the perp got off that it was decided that we'd be pulled out and transferred to public school. My brother and I thrived in public school, able to live in peace and free from abuse. However, my parents continued to send my sister and baby brother to the same catholic school. My sister got horribly abused, but my brother avoided abuse even though attempts were made because he was just aggressive, violent, and assertive enough to pound the crap out of anyone who tried. Good thing, too, as there were *three* priests at Ascension who were molesting kids when my brother was still in school (Bruening, Barthiaume, Banner, and I think there was one other one), two of whom liked to pass victims back and forth to each other. The only one of us that is still in any way catholic, ironically, is my brother who got it the worst, and he's really only into it for the music (his wife is not religious). I learned that a year after I left catholic school that a sizable number of my former classmates back at the catholic school ended up in juvenile detention, while those of us who transferred were doing fine in public school and not in trouble. The memories of abuse survivors are real, not exaggerated, and some memories have even been minimized or blocked, so the historical truth is probably worse than we remember it. There are months of my life from back then that I don't remember except for the pain.

    • Posted By: juice911 @ 04/30/2009 1:14:20 PM

      clevelandgirl58, I live in Cleveland, what schools are you speaking of?

      • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 04/30/2009 4:31:23 PM

        Specifically, Ascension school IN Cleveland, on the West Side. A real hell hole. Fortunately, it is now closed, and with impending parish consolidation, it could be closed completely soon (St. Patrick's, Annunciation, and Ascension will be merging). It appears that St. Patrick's will be the facility that stays open because it is the largest and most comprehensive of the three. My sibs and I can't wait until Ascension is razed so that we can go there and salt the ground it stood on. It was an awful place for adults, too, constantly hammered about donations and getting no spiritual nourishment in return. You'd know Ascension if you saw it - ugly box shape, doesn't even look like a church, let alone a catholic one, stained windows instead of stained glass that were rectangular instead of the usual shape of church windows, ugly cinder block walls painted a dirty yellow, almost totally devoid of decoration. A work colleague had gone there for 1-3 grade a few years after me, and her main memories were of the bleakness and ugliness of the place, both physical and spiritual. It was awful for her, too (and I only met her a couple years ago, yet she tells a similar story, so my sibs and I didn't make it all up).

  • Posted By: ClevelandGirl58 @ 04/28/2009 9:59:06 AM

    Note that those who attack the survivors of abuse in catholic schools here and elsewhere are themselves bullies. In catholic schools, bullies were rewarded. Bullies were allowed to beat on other children without fear of punishment. Bullies were never punished by the abusive nuns and priests. Bullies were the little darlings of the power structure because they would one day become part of it, apologists for it, contributors to it, enablers of it, and perpetuators of a punitive and abusive mentality in religion and society. RCC Inc loves bullies and sadists and does everything it can to turn the remainder of their "flock" into masochists for sadists to have their way with.

    On the other hand, the weak and vulnerable and quiet and sweet and "different" children were punished for no reason. They couldn't stand up for themselves, they got beat on by nuns, priests, and bully children. They were told at every opportunity that god hated them, that they were losers, that they would never please god no matter how hard they tried.

    One can only conclude from this that RCC Inc loves and rewards bullies and punishes good people. One can only conclude that the god of RCC Inc is full of hate and punishment and abuse instead of love and compassion.

    One can only conclude that hell is a better place than heaven with the god of RCC Inc...

    The true relationship of the shepherd to the sheep is: fleece 'em, screw 'em, kill 'em, eat 'em. I guess that makes catholics no better than livestock.

    • Posted By: juice911 @ 04/30/2009 1:35:18 PM

      speak for yourself I didn,t see any of the nonsense your spewing. Ok you had a bad experiance, sorry, most kids that go to catholic school don,t. As a matter of fact they end up graduating and going to college.

  • Posted By: joevan @ 04/30/2009 1:31:00 PM

    What a blast from the past. I attended two Catholic schools in Paterson, N.J between 1954-61. One had Sisters of Charity (St. Joseph's)and the other had Domonicans (St. Therese). In each, slapping was the punnishment of the day. But only boys. We bonded and a badge of honor was awarded if you did not cry. For more serious matters such as laughing in class, talking in church or generally being a young boy a pointer was used on the backside. To this day I am firmly against such punnishment in school. I can also say that this type of abuse and the almost daily snide comments by the nuns helped turn me away from the Church.

  • Posted By: HonorMary @ 04/28/2009 11:26:09 AM

    I would rather try and dodge an eraser that sister threw than a bullet that goes by in a public school. Another lame attempt to try and attack the Catholic Church. 13 yrs of Catholic School here. Did I get hit? yup? did I deserve it? yup. scars or therapy needed because of it? The garbage being put out in newsweek and other media will soon cause Catholic's and Christians to be attacked around the world in ways that have not been seen since the early times of Christianity. Unfortunately it won't be the Lion's in Detroit we will be facing but a hate filled group of people that are being led astray by satan.....

    • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 04/28/2009 2:44:14 PM

      are kids unable to sneek a weapon into a catholic school? possibly in retaliation for getting whacked with rulers and the like?

      do you think that public schools in general are cess pools of drug dealers, murderers, gangs and violence?

      do you firmly think and beleive that a teacher striking a student in any way at any age anywhere is a warranted and valid way to discipline a child?


      personally, if a teacher, or anyone, hit me in any way, they would be hoping for merely an eraser hitting them in the head. i had teacher tell me he wanted me to rot and die (i never caused class disruptions, granted my grades werent the best in his class, but really? you want me to rot and die?) and he made a few other sneer remarks being anything but a mature adult about it.... so what did i do? i put him in his place by throwing, and breaking, a desk on the chalk board at the front of the room. he was so suprised i stood up to him he had nothing to say or do but sink back into his seat while i voluntarily and quietly walked out of class straight to the principles office (my only visit there in all of junior high). i was 14. and im almost positive that some one here will jump on my back telling me that i was wrong in what i did. you know what? i stood up for myself, i didnt let some grown adult that i had in no way disrespected or taunted offend me like that. he deserved to be put in his place, and yes, i would have resorted to fists if necessary. i would do the same to anyone. if i dont disrespect you, how DARE you disrespect me so blatantly in front of my classmates for no good reason, much less telling me you wish i would rot and die.

      no one harms me, or my child, or my friends, and gets away with it PERIOD.


      and im all for discipline, punish me if i do wrong, i always admit when ive screwed up or done something i shouldnt have. but what some of these teachers have done, and what is still being done in 21 other states, is ludacris.

      granted i used violent act to show him i ment business, but i didnt hurt him in anyway, maybe just his ego (which needed to be put in check anyway). and for the record, i never had suspensions, never once got into a fist fight at school, never once had a bad mark on my record for such acts. most of my teachers loved me, including the principles and staff at the school....

      • Posted By: juice911 @ 04/30/2009 1:28:32 PM

        Just wondering if you feel the same about children inside the womb as well?

    • Posted By: WBFO @ 04/28/2009 2:26:12 PM

      If you dodged the eraser you would have been beat harder. If you moved to protect yourself, you were beat longer. look up your history...the crusades were about exterminating the muslims...who happen to be christians.

  • Posted By: basebc @ 04/30/2009 12:57:05 PM

    Thank you for this essay, this was totally my experience in grades 3-8 under Sisters of Charity at Holy Redeemer School in Kensington, MD. It was even worse under the Christian Brothers at St. John's College High School in Washington, DC grades 9-12. Many of the nuns and brothers were excellent teachers but by their silence they gave permission and approval to the violent ones. This essay brought back memories of scenes and events that seem unbelievable now but back then, being in it every day, it seemed normal. Not until I moved to North Carolina to attend Duke did I realize that the catholic education I received 1954-1964 was anything but normal. There has been much attention paid to catholic sexual abuse of children. Maybe now we can begin to talk about the systemic problem of catholic adults in positions of power daily mentally and physically assaulting children. What kind of twisted institution validates this criminal conduct? Sister John Christopher, Brothers Gordian and James, and their colleagues, you need to beg forgiveness from and sincerely apologize to a generation for what you did. Catholic parents need to apologize to their children for allowing this to happen. And we former victims need to apologize to each other for not resisting, not rising up and making these monsters stop.

  • Posted By: basebc @ 04/30/2009 12:56:38 PM

    Thank you for this essay, this was totally my experience in grades 3-8 under Sisters of Charity at Holy Redeemer School in Kensington, MD. It was even worse under the Christian Brothers at St. John's College High School in Washington, DC grades 9-12. Many of the nuns and brothers were excellent teachers but by their silence they gave permission and approval to the violent ones. This essay brought back memories of scenes and events that seem unbelievable now but back then, being in it every day, it seemed normal. Not until I moved to North Carolina to attend Duke did I realize that the catholic education I received 1954-1964 was anything but normal. There has been much attention paid to catholic sexual abuse of children. Maybe now we can begin to talk about the systemic problem of catholic adults in positions of power daily mentally and physically assaulting children. What kind of twisted institution validates this criminal conduct? Sister John Christopher, Brothers Gordian and James, and their colleagues, you need to beg forgiveness from and sincerely apologize to a generation for what you did. Catholic parents need to apologize to their children for allowing this to happen. And we former victims need to apologize to each other for not resisting, not rising up and making these monsters stop.

  • Posted By: chubsoda @ 04/30/2009 9:36:46 AM

    Religion is man's attempt at reaching God. Christ is God's attempt at reaching man. You can only choose one way and I choose the path of Christ, not man.

  • Posted By: jgmarr @ 04/29/2009 5:00:16 PM

    Head slaps, ring wraps, thrown chalk, thrown erasers, getting knuckles smacked with metal rulers, having your head bounced off the slate blackboard. All of these started for me in the 1st grade with Sister Maria Rita. The biggest problem was class size; most nuns in my grammar school had to handle 50-60 kids. Intimidation, humiliation and physical punishment were the primary methods for maintaining order and attention. A kid in my brother Tom???s sixth grade class committed suicide. A boy in my forth grade class, the son of a psychiatrist, locked himself in the family bathroom and wouldn???t come out. Both of these incidences were a product of the fear produced among my classmates. But the biggest most amazing fact is that parents NEVER complained! The nuns and priests were ALWAYS right.

  • Posted By: jgmarr @ 04/29/2009 4:59:51 PM

    Head slaps, ring wraps, thrown chalk, thrown erasers, getting knuckles smacked with metal rulers, having your head bounced off the slate blackboard. All of these started for me in the 1st grade with Sister Maria Rita. The biggest problem was class size; most nuns in my grammar school had to handle 50-60 kids. Intimidation, humiliation and physical punishment were the primary methods for maintaining order and attention. A kid in my brother Tom???s sixth grade class committed suicide. A boy in my forth grade class, the son of a psychiatrist, locked himself in the family bathroom and wouldn???t come out. Both of these incidences were a product of the fear produced among my classmates. But the biggest most amazing fact is that parents NEVER complained! The nuns and priests were ALWAYS right.

  • Posted By: cupertino @ 04/29/2009 3:47:23 PM

    I found interesting the point you made about authority and Catholics - most Catholics I know (including myself and my children) have a good healthy suspicion for authority. They aren't disrespectful to authority figures, but Catholics have a "Just who the hell makes you my boss and what makes you think you are right" attitude that, until now, I thought was genetic. I want my kids to question authority even as adults. Catholics have always struck me as real independent thinkers who make excellent scientists, philosophers and poets - factory workers, not so much.

  • Posted By: inkedAG @ 04/29/2009 3:03:35 PM

    You know what's interesting? Most of the people who were the worst of juvenile delinquents when I was growing up were the ones who went to Catholic school.

  • Posted By: martymoyer @ 04/29/2009 2:20:55 PM

    I went to Catholic school in the 60's and saw a friend of mine get beat up so bad by a nun that his face was full of welts and his parents were forced to remove him....the nun took him out in the hallway and hit him so bad that if that happened today she would have been sued along with the catholic school for millions of dollars...I had my facial cheeks sweezed so hard that they were red for hours...so i do believe that this story does have some relevance..

  • Posted By: martymoyer @ 04/29/2009 2:13:16 PM

    I went to Catholic school in the 60's and saw a friend of mine get so beat up by a nun that his face was completely black and blue...his parents came to the school in delaware county, pa and removed him (and this was after a few beatings before this particular one). I personally was attacked by a nun who sweezed my face cheeks so hard they were red for hours...so yes there is some relevance to this story..it is unfortunate true.. whether we were at the wrong place and the wrong time is debateable...i learned alot going to catholic school so in the long run, i can't complain...

  • Posted By: Tomcatx6 @ 04/29/2009 12:34:47 PM

    Sorry David, but I completely fail to see any relevance at all to anything in this story other than trying to gain sympathy for something that happend well 40 years ago a few times by very few nuns to kids who were acting badly.

  • Posted By: marymc01 @ 04/29/2009 10:55:43 AM

    I went to Catholic School 13 years 1962-1975 and don't recall getting slapped or hit. I do remember the 5th grade boys who had to wear girl uniforms all day for chasing them home from school. I did stand in the corner my fair share of the time. St. Ann's school Nyack NY was a basic no frills education in the pre state aid era. I don't know if the teaching skills of the IHM nuns were any worse than the public school teachers of that era. The biggest injustice was that the boys got to leave class to be Alter Boys and the girls did not. St Ann's was a wildly liberal parish at the time so that might have had something to do with it.
    HS taught by a mixture of Dominican nuns and lay teachers was a very good college prep education but offered little in the way of diversity. I certainly would not pay the price of tuition, around 9,000/yr to send my child there.

    The irony and one of the things that makes me believe in god is that after swearing I would never send my children to catholic school I now pay hefty to send my one daughter to Fordham (Jesuits) University.

  • Posted By: sebastiaan69 @ 04/29/2009 10:01:58 AM

    I attended Catholic elementary, high school and college and I never had a problem with the priests and the nuns. Both of my children attended catolic elementary school and they never had a problem. The nuns that instructed me and my children were good teachers and they actually knew the materials they taught very well. They were supportive and understanding. If David got whacked he porbably deserved it.

  • Posted By: markina1 @ 04/29/2009 8:32:28 AM

    Poor David, What a sissy! I take it this all came out in pscho-therapy which determined why you are such a wimp!

  • Posted By: trogers @ 04/28/2009 11:54:00 PM

    I was a Catholic schoolboy in the fifties and sixties, and despite a little corporal punishment from the elderly nuns; nobody in my circle of friends was really that intimidated or scared by them. It was the creepy, God damn priests that we were afraid of!

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse