A Tale Of Two Catholics
Just something to think about
Two entertainment-world celebrities. Both from Ireland, both schooled by the Christain Brothers. Looks can be deceiving.
Pierce Brosnan of James Bond fame 
"I grew up being taught by the Christian Brothers, who were dreadful, dreadful human beings. Just the whole hypocrisy. And the cruelness of their ways toward children. They were very sexually repressed. Bitter. Cowards, really. I have nothing good to say about them and will have nothing good to say about them. It was ugly. Very ugly. Dreadful. I learnt nothing from the Christian Brothers--except shame.
Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzie
On the other hand is the tale of a fallen away Catholic who was dying of years of herion abuse. The night he died, he actually cried out to God; mercy, mercy! He also called for a priest to give him Last Rites.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Elizabeth's Church in Richmond, and on January 11th he was buried from the Howth Parish Church in Ireland. The Gaelic inscription on his stone reads, "Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas da anam" - "May God give peace to his soul".
Just something to think about
Two entertainment-world celebrities. Both from Ireland, both schooled by the Christain Brothers. Looks can be deceiving.
"I grew up being taught by the Christian Brothers, who were dreadful, dreadful human beings. Just the whole hypocrisy. And the cruelness of their ways toward children. They were very sexually repressed. Bitter. Cowards, really. I have nothing good to say about them and will have nothing good to say about them. It was ugly. Very ugly. Dreadful. I learnt nothing from the Christian Brothers--except shame.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Elizabeth's Church in Richmond, and on January 11th he was buried from the Howth Parish Church in Ireland. The Gaelic inscription on his stone reads, "Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas da anam" - "May God give peace to his soul".
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
8:01 AM
6 Comments:
Q: What were your own experiences like attending Catholic school?
PB: I had nuns who would beat the snot out of you. And then you've got the Christian brothers. You'd stand there saying the "Our Father," and some little boy would come in late, and just because he was late, you would just, you could see the veins pop out of [the brother's] skull and you'd see the kid's head crack against the door. You'd see him being kicked. You'd see a little boy up at the blackboard trying to get the sums right and he couldn't, and he would be intimidated. And he would be whacked, "Get the sum right!" — Whack! "Get the sum right!" Whack! Until the s**t ran down his legs. So, as far as I … I wanted it … Luckily, I had Bruce Beresford, a man of restraint. And it wasn't necessary.
You know, yes, the Church, they were at fault in many cases, but there's also, there's the great side of the Church, which is supportive of humankind.
I'm sure that not all Christian Brothers are the same, but my eldest brother attended a Catholic High School run by them in a small town in Illinois.
He's Jewish today. He credits this to the Christian Brothers who taught him "think for himself".
I never heard that about Phil Lynott and being a Thin Lizzy fan that is pretty cool.
I believe that one must be careful to distinguish here between the Irish Congregation of Christian Brothers, to whom Mr. Brosnan refers, and about whom more can be read at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03710b.htm and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_Christian_Brothers, and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St. Jean_Baptiste de la Salle, of whom we usually think when we use the term "Christian Brothers" in the United States, and about whom more can be read at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08056a.htm and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasallian_Brothers.
Interesting take from the former "007." If I remember, his first wife died some time ago. When he remarried (a few years ago), he went out of his way to have a full blown Catholic Mass at some church or castle on an island off the English shore.
Now, of course, I'm sure the Mass was of the "Paul VI-Roman/Protestant" type, and not the "Mass of the Ages." But interesting non the less.
I too was went to Christian Brothers High School. I found the brothers to be kind, holy and caring to the man. They could not have been better examples to the boys as Christians.
Andrew in Calif.
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