Memory

I recently read here, here, here and here that a Marist Brother whom I knew 1956-60 has been accused of sexual abuse in the 1960s.

I was taught first by Catholic lay teachers, then by Marist Brothers, then by Jesuit priests, and now receive spiritual guidance from Zen monks. I accept responsibility for my past actions by meditating, not by confessing to a priest.

I utterly reject the Jesuit boast that, given the child from an early age, they can answer for the beliefs of the man. To foist particular, highly questionable, almost arbitrary beliefs on defenseless minds is like mental violence. I also abhor the former physical brutality of some Marists and Jesuits and commend those who did not practice corporal punishment while others did. The religious orders have changed with the times. They have not given a moral lead to society despite their claim to do precisely that. I was bullied by school staff and disbelieved by my parents. A young child had no defense unless adults considered the matter serious.

I remember Germanus (see the above links) telling me that I knew that marriage was a sacrament. I did not. I had been told that marriage was a sacrament because I was being educated in a Catholic school. In a different kind of school, I would have been told something different. That was indoctrination, not knowledge. When I became engaged, my mother commented, "I had hoped she would be a Catholic girl." No way. My daughter would only have been harmed by Catholic indoctrination and did not receive it. I gave her a Bible and a life of the Buddha.

In Largs, 1956-60, I had no knowledge of sex, let alone of homosexuality, and did not realize until many years later that I was once in a situation that might have led to sexual abuse although fortunately it did not.