The Good Catholic

This was not easy to write.

Adele and the nun

We were in sixth grade when Adele's mother died unexpectedly and she was crying in in the classroom, her heart broken with her loss. The nun walked over to her and told her to stop, after all, her mother was in Heaven with Jesus. Adele couldn't quit crying and the nun slapped her and put her into the hallway away from the rest of us. So began the first chink in the armor that the Church had grown around all of us. How she could treat the poor girl was lost on me.

Father Carl and the altar boys

It was expected that I become an altar boy by my parents, never mind if I wanted to or not and living so close to the church, only a block away, I was assigned all the early morning Masses, 6:30 am during the week, regardless of the weather, and then was expected to sit through the 8 am school Mass after. Father Carl was in charge of the altar boys and we eventually found out he was the first priest in Los Angeles to be charged with molestation. Another break occurred. The archdiocese was eventually sued and lost six hundred million.

Nancy

Nancy was my girlfriend for the longest time, from seventh grade to sophomore year in college until one day she told me she was going to be a nun, convinced that was the best thing for her. I should have known better; her mother played the organ in church, her brother was a priest, her aunts were nuns, I was doomed from the start and just didn't know it. It broke my heart and fifty years later I still think of her and what I had lost, realizing now that I never had her to begin with.

Lector, Deacon, counting the collection

Following high school, I became the Lector at the 7:45 am Sunday Mass. The Lector was the one who read the Old Testament readings before the Gospel as well as other prayers. The pastor wanted me to become a Deacon, neglecting to tell me that if I did, I was unable to get married and if I were married before I became a Deacon and my wife died, I couldn't get married again, even if I had children who needed a mother in their lives. Once again, I broke away and turned the offer down. My dad, brother and I counted the Sunday collection once a month, a position of great trust but the priests acted as if they were doing us a favor rather than the other way around. I eventually quit because my university studies took up too much of my time.

Patricia

Ten years after I was married, I became principal at my alma mater, J.S. High School. I received the highest evaluations possible but for some reason, the nun who was vice-principal became very insubordinate and was making my life hell. She worked against everything I was doing, even changing transcripts to make athletes ineligible before playoff games. I got the people downtown to remove her from her position and finally she and three of her fellow nuns left... but I know now that my career was broken by what happened and I ended up leaving when I was told I was going to be transferred to another school in another position. My wife told me to just quit which I did and the fellow that replaced me only lasted a few months. Serves them right, I thought.

Father Richard

I became the science department chairman for the next ten years at St. John High School, bringing that area of the school up to speed but I never felt as if I belonged, the cliques there too strong for an outsider such as myself to feel welcome. After I left, the school was sued for sixty million for his molestation of young boys.

Saying goodbye to California

We left the golden state and moved to Indiana but the cloud followed me there, the local Indianapolis Jesuit high school's president was arrested for molestation. I finally got a job at the local public school where we were living and I set up a tutoring program for students that needed extra time and help for their studies. We've been living here for almost twenty years and aside from the weather and the Bible belt people, it's not too bad.

We don't go to church anymore.