Author Topic: Nun-bashing (Read 2170 times)

Cera · « **on:** June 07, 2014, 03:39:57 PM »

To avoid highjacking another thread, I'd like to open the topic of Nub-bashing. As someone who grew up in Catholic schools in the early 50s, my experiences were good. I pray for them, and I thank God for them. Without them, I would not be Catholic today.

I am astounded by the bitterness of several posters here toward the nuns who were our teachers. Their experiences are theirs; however, I noticed more than one poster saying "everyone I know" who went to Catholic school experienced the same thing.

That sort of absolute statement typically has no basis in reality. Some of these posters sound more like bitter Protestant ex-Catholics.

Lighthouse · « **Reply #1 on:** June 07, 2014, 09:21:43 PM »

Cera:

Quote

That sort of absolute statement typically has no basis in reality. Some of these posters sound more like bitter Protestant ex-Catholics.

Yes, they seem to be parroting routines from blasphemous stand-up comedians. As I said in the other thread, I had no problems, and I am eternally grateful for the Faith I received.

2Vermont · « **Reply #2 on:** June 08, 2014, 08:18:55 AM »

Bashing anything pre-V2 is the thing to do.

wallflower · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:25:20 AM »

Quote from: Cera

however, I noticed more than one poster saying "everyone I know" who went to Catholic school experienced the same thing.

It may be that everyone they know went to the same school? I know some exaggerate but for those who post here maybe that's a factor?

I am not pre-VII but was educated by nuns. Some were amazing and made lasting positive impressions. Others were, to put it nicely, really struggling. Whether it was with their Faith or practicing the Faith or with general psychological/emotional/physical issues, it always reflected badly in the classroom and affected the students. Some were understandable, others were not and only God knows why they were there.

When you add personality differences to the mix everyone had different favorites but the truly bad ones were almost unanimously known as such. That includes being generous about their individual strengths and weaknesses. If someone had an obvious weakness but was good in all or most other respects, you eventually learned to overlook the weaknesses and appreciate the person as a whole. If you wanted to be happy, that is.

It isn't just nuns who can be miserable. Students can be too and they're usually the ones who can list every single wrong that was ever wrought. This making everyone else miserable thing can go both ways, it is not always the nuns!

MyrnaM · « **Reply #4 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:32:49 AM »

Quote from: Cera

To avoid highjacking another thread, I'd like to open the topic of Nub-bashing. As someone who grew up in Catholic schools in the early 50s, my experiences were good. I pray for them, and I thank God for them. Without them, I would not be Catholic today.

I am astounded by the bitterness of several posters here toward the nuns who were our teachers. Their experiences are theirs; however, I noticed more than one poster saying "everyone I know" who went to Catholic school experienced the same thing.

That sort of absolute statement typically has no basis in reality. Some of these posters sound more like bitter Protestant ex-Catholics.

I began my Catholic school education in the year 1945, and I remember the good nuns, of which I too, owe my Catholic Faith.

Know that on these Internet forums everything you read is not from another Catholic person. We are in a spiritual battle and the enemy is right here, pretending to be Catholic but all they want is a billboard like this, a avenue to discourage lurkers and weak Catholics from believing and doubting the truth. They know nothing and lie about everything.

These nuns dedicated their entire life to serving God, teaching children and sometime it was not easy for them, after all they are human just like we all are. I myself only remember the good in them. The fact that my parents sent me to a Catholic School with nuns was the best gift they ever gave me.

God bless the nuns prior to Vatican II, and God bless the nuns post Vatican II who persevered and stayed firm to their rule.

wallflower · « **Reply #5 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:34:31 AM »

Quote from: wallflower

It isn't just nuns who can be miserable. Students can be too and they're usually the ones who can list every single wrong that was ever wrought. This making everyone else miserable thing can go both ways, it is not always the nuns!

Just to clarify, everyone has bad memories, it's part of life. I have many about the school, some serious. But I mean when people go overboard with bitterness. Some have legitimately bad experiences while others simply choose to dwell on the negatives. Those are the ones I'm referring to.

songbird · « **Reply #6 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:39:22 AM »

I was in Indiana, with the SSND and they were just fine and that was in the 60's.
I do recall that some religious(clergy and maybe nuns) entered with out vocations because they were brought up in the 20-30's with the crash and they thought they would be taken care of. And men became priest so not to be drafted for war.

IMO there will be those who may not have the vocation. But for my neck of the woods, we were fine with our nuns.

stbrighidswell · « **Reply #7 on:** June 08, 2014, 02:58:16 PM »

I have noticed a trend from 20 to 30 somethings lately. I have heard from friends whose siblings complain about their childhood and how the parents never gave them enough. I personally know two from two different families who are on a bitter trip about their childhood and my friends are at a complete loss as to why. Things like 'we were always the poor family' or 'I was never given attention as you were always the favourite' etc. They continually find stuff to give out about and no amount of 'reality talk' gets them to see that they had the same normal happy go lucky childhood as anyone else. I know one of my siblings once completely made up a story about how our parents never fed us, I was gobsmacked coz if you knew our family you would judge by the size of us that its cutting back on food we should have done. It just wasn't true. But one persons perspective in a family is different to anothers yet they got the same treatment.

Just a footnote , my aunt says and I think she could be right, that one sex either female or male should not be in charge of schools. e.g. a female principal is more inclined to discourage rough play and rough sports in a school and might have an over emphasis on safety to the point of being very anal about it. A male principal might be too much ' you need to toughen up attitude' when a boy may be a little more sensitive than others. My aunt thinks that in these orphanages or homes there should have been a mix of sexes to keep in check the gender balance. Had this been the case maybe then some nuns could have kept an eye on the aggressive brother or visa versa. When you think of it a family is a unit with one man one woman at wheel so maybe it should have been the same in these situations.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #8 on:** June 08, 2014, 03:11:16 PM »

My mom was raised in a convent. I never heard one word from her against nuns. This would have been in the 1930's.

ClarkSmith · « **Reply #9 on:** June 08, 2014, 05:10:34 PM »

Corporal punishment was used in many schools back then. The public school here still displays the wooden paddle it once used on its students.

Lighthouse · « **Reply #10 on:** June 08, 2014, 06:04:57 PM »

Quote from: ClarkSmith

Corporal punishment was used in many schools back then. The public school here still displays the wooden paddle it once used on its students.

You are going to have to push forward some actual evidence to support this claim. I went though 12 years of Catholic school and did not see even one act of corporal punishment. The first time I even knew such a thing was even possible was when I was in my early twenties, and taught in a public school in my first assignment. The system was in a rural area, and I think they were way off the normal for even a public school. I was asked to witness a paddling by the school assistant principal whom I despised, in any case. They had an actual "professional" paddle with air holes to allow them to whip it in as hard as possible. The student actually would come up off the ground with each slap. The assistant principal was in his element and seemed to be actually enjoying it. I was almost sick to my stomach.

That was the first and last time I ever saw such a thing. That would have been in the early 70s. Never saw it before or after. Once was enough. I'm not totally against some mild physical correction, but I think it should be administer by parents--not some pervert.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #11 on:** June 09, 2014, 08:59:13 AM »

This is off topic, but I'm thinking I'd rather have my kid get a non-sadistic paddling by a school staff than endure the life-wrecking results of the Zero Tolerance Policy.

All the time we hear of a kid who had one beer, or a few crumbs of weed, meds in his locker or an airsoft gun in his backpack being expelled from schools, not graduating, committing ѕυιcιdє, being denied entrance to college, having a criminal record for their first stupid mistake.

So, while I ABHOR the type of situation Lighthouse witnessed, if it was simply left at that--punishment administered and that's the end of it, go back and finish school--I'd choose this over having a kid's whole future ruined for what would be a venial sin.

Hope that makes sense.

Immaculata001 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 09, 2014, 09:08:11 AM »

I think part of the antipathy for the nuns is a type of latent prejudice against them because they are/were unmarried women. There's this perception that they might be abnormal or defective. The traditional habit is also intimidating and sets them apart, which some perceive as menacing (I've never seen it as such -- I just feel gratitude and love when I see traditional nuns)...

People also forget what a hard job teaching is, even in the best of circuмstances (the nuns did have the best circuмstances PreV2, imo). It tries every bit of your patience and will expose any character defect to deal with dozens of children a day and be charged with their moral correction and intellectual development. On top of that, the nuns didn't have a typical family to go back to, where they might receive comfort from their own husbands or children -- they also had to deal with the spiritual demands of traditional religious life. IMO, it creates extreme pressure that isn't readily understood by outsiders.

I think this is why we have the nuns who bashed the kids heads against boards, etc. I don't think we can conceptualize what it had to have been like for them.

soulguard · « **Reply #13 on:** June 11, 2014, 04:09:10 PM »

If you saw the kinds of things that Irish state tv shows in comedy sketches about nuns it would make you want to fly here just so you can shoot everyone involved in their production.

I HATE this country.

Cera · « **Reply #14 on:** June 11, 2014, 04:14:10 PM »

Quote from: MyrnaM

Quote from: Cera
To avoid highjacking another thread, I'd like to open the topic of Nub-bashing. As someone who grew up in Catholic schools in the early 50s, my experiences were good. I pray for them, and I thank God for them. Without them, I would not be Catholic today.

I am astounded by the bitterness of several posters here toward the nuns who were our teachers. Their experiences are theirs; however, I noticed more than one poster saying "everyone I know" who went to Catholic school experienced the same thing.

That sort of absolute statement typically has no basis in reality. Some of these posters sound more like bitter Protestant ex-Catholics.

I began my Catholic school education in the year 1945, and I remember the good nuns, of which I too, owe my Catholic Faith.

Know that on these Internet forums everything you read is not from another Catholic person. We are in a spiritual battle and the enemy is right here, pretending to be Catholic but all they want is a billboard like this, a avenue to discourage lurkers and weak Catholics from believing and doubting the truth. They know nothing and lie about everything.

These nuns dedicated their entire life to serving God, teaching children and sometime it was not easy for them, after all they are human just like we all are. I myself only remember the good in them. The fact that my parents sent me to a Catholic School with nuns was the best gift they ever gave me.

God bless the nuns prior to Vatican II, and God bless the nuns post Vatican II who persevered and stayed firm to their rule.

Yes, Myrna. I agree. Especially about the part in bold.