Your Daily Dose of Catholicism and Roger Ebert

[nonionay]

Roger Ebert talks about his childhood in a Catholic school.
I didn't go to a Catholic school, and I've never held nuns in awe (growing up around a post-Vatican II nun will do that to you) but his post encapsulates why I still hold Catholicism close to my heart, even though I disagree with some of the Church's morality. Like Ebert says, matters of sex and so on were only obliquely referred to, and at least in our American churches, hellfire and guilt were never really hammered at (I later learned Irish churches were different!) So the mental bonds I had to break were quite light when I hit puberty and started looking at the world with a broader mindset. The values of helping the poor and oppressed, however, were firmly established.

Comments

[paulcarp.livejournal.com]

Two of my aunts were nuns (Sister Mary Dennis, born Margaret Carpentier; Sister Mary Martin, born Theresa Carpentier), and several of my brothers and my father attended Catholic schools. Ebert's nuns are nicer than my family's memories of nuns, insofar as they have stories of yardsticks and fingers...

As a child, I thought being a Catholic involved things like "Operation Rice Bowl" (spend less money on food, and give the difference to the poverty-stricken in foreign lands); but I was surrounded by others (especially Baptists) who seemed to think that being Catholic meant worshiping statues of Mary. In my case, it didn't mean that, but so what if it had.

Then, I really made things interesting for myself by attending a Protestant high school, the only Catholic there. Despite the curriculum, which had a religious right agenda (Bob Jones University Press was one of the publishers that I remember -- for Physical Science no less), I do not regret the schooling. In public school, I was both picked on and bored -- not a good combination. Not being bored (in private school) was probably the best thing that could have happened for my education.

Roger Ebert is one of My Favorite Catholics in Popular Culture

[patlandness.livejournal.com]

Real People:

*Roger Ebert
*Kevin Smith
*Alanis Morissette (I think)

Fictional Characters (in various decrees of seriousness and levity)

*Father John Francis Mulcahy ("M*A*S*H")
*Father Ray Mukada ("Oz")
*Sister Peter Marie ("Oz")
*Father Guido Sarducci (Saturday Night Live)
*that super-cheerful, chubby nun from the "Sister Act" movies (played by Kathy Najimy; the voice of "Peggy Hill")

I haven't read the article yet, but it's on my list and I'll report back on whether I find it the "Dogma" of Catholic articles (or something).

[laurajerry.livejournal.com]

a great read! -- I know my mom had good experience in Catholic school as well, but my Irish co-worker hates Catholicism and will swear up and down about how horrible it was in school when he was a kid.