I was telling Nigel Beale at lunch today that the nuns who taught me as a child - the Religious of the Sacred Heart - tended to explain Catholic moral teaching in terms of good manners. That is probably why it stuck - and without the kind of guilt I hear others complain of. It's one thing to be told that if you do such-and-such you will be committing a sin. It's quite another to be told that if you do that sort of thing you will be a boor.
I love the typo that made it "Scared Heart." Myself, I was afraid of the nuns, Frank, and that phrase really covered my Catholic school experiences!
ReplyDeleteWell, I fixed the typo - though certainly glad to be of service, Susan. You wouldn't have been afraid of these nuns. My sixth-grade teacher, Mother Holmes, was a niece (or grand-niece) of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and was one of the most important people in my life (oddly, my Jesuit mentor, Father Gannon, knew her).
ReplyDeleteSusan's on a typo roll at the moment -- she picked up one of mine, too (thanks, Susan, if you are reading this).
ReplyDeleteI agree- in private people can do what they like but in public, more decorum and more restraint would make the world a nicer place. Are you listening, Cherie Blair?