When cornered, Matthews will always pull out the “My aunt’s a nun” line and launch into how poorly nuns were treated over the years, etc. etc. etc. My guess is his aunt is a 100 year old Sister of Mercy in a housecoat and slippers who hasn’t been forced to cut altar breads or starch purificators since Novitiate . . . and who lives in an apartment and celebrates the connectedness among women who are working toward reconciliation and the abolition of unjust societal structures in solidarity with women around the planet . . . you get the idea.
Hannity always pulls out the line: “I was in the Seminary and studied both theology and Latin.” Then you Google the background and you find that he was in the high school seminary of the Diocese of Rockville Center, where the theology texts were probably from the “Let’s-Make-a-Jesus-Collage” Series from Sadlier, circa 1976, and the Latin was the chorus to Immaculate Mary sung twice a year. Please, Sean. Very impressive background.
O’R I haven’t heard say that much about Catholicism, though he occasionally makes reference to having taught in a Catholic high school run by Brothers in the Boston area: something that would put almost anyone in alcohol rehab after just a few weeks . . . especially if you had dinner at the Brothers’ residence. Will have to listen more closely to him: I do like his relentless hassling of the bulls****er of the day almost every night.
I enjoyed reading your post but why do we always blame Catholics students if they were taught badly in school? I went to Catholic School in the ‘50s & ‘60s and according to many members of the faith, I don’t have my facts right about a lot of it. But I only mouth what I was taught by bad-tempered nuns circa 1962! Let’s face it, it’s not an easy religion to understand!
Hannity always pulls out the line: “I was in the Seminary and studied both theology and Latin.” Then you Google the background and you find that he was in the high school seminary of the Diocese of Rockville Center, where the theology texts were probably from the “Let’s-Make-a-Jesus-Collage” Series from Sadlier, circa 1976, and the Latin was the chorus to Immaculate Mary sung twice a year. Please, Sean. Very impressive background.
You should write for a Catholic magazine. Great stuff!
BTW, I was a victim of the "let's make a collage about littering" school of catechesis, circa 1972. But I had one year with a real nun, which was a year unlike the others. The good part of being a survivor is that I will have great stories to tell my grandchildren. The experience also provided me with the resolve to catechize my own children. The bad part is that I lived, unnecessarily, in utter confusion and mental anguish for about 15 years.
My kids have gone through the Baltimore Catechism several times. They can answer Catechism questions better than I can. But out of respect for our priest and DRE, I put them into the pre-Reconciliation and pre-Eucharist classes. Sadly, little seems to have changed, at least in our parish. A typical comment from my kids: "It's soooo STUPID!" "Draw a picture of things you like to do. DUH!"