I don’t remember anything good about 5th grade. Surely something
positive must have happened during an entire school year. I do remember
making one friend, a girl who lived across the street from the church,
by the name of Lorraine Fischle (spelling?). I believe I might have
been her only friend and because she was as desperate for a friend as I
was, we got together. Possibly because she came from a German household
and my father was from a German household, we had some things in
common. However she was an avid NY Yankees fan and I was a diehard fan
of those Brooklyn Bums. Her team beat my team every year and she loved
to laud it over me. Thank God for 1955, that one glorious World Series
when the Dodgers finally won. Even so, this one glorious moment of
victory occurred the following Fall when I was finally finished with Sr.
Christiana. So before I tell you how my year in 5th grade ended, I
want to share one very weird thing that Sr. Christiana taught us to do.
She told us that every night when we got into bed, we should lie
perfectly still with our arms folded across our chests and pretend we
were dead and lying in our coffins. She said this would motivate us to
behave. Honestly, what kind of fruitcake tells 9 year old kids to do
such a thing? I believe I may have tried it once, but once was enough
for me.
This Blog entry might be a bit longer than usual but honestly, I’m
tired of Sr. Christiana and 5th grade so I want to get this part of my
story over with. I’m sure that you, my reader, have had enough of her
too.
I’ve often tried to remember if I told my parents what was
happening to me at school and how I was feeling about. I don’t remember
any specific conversations with them although I knew or at least I
thought I knew that my parents and especially my father thought that the
nuns and priests could do no wrong. The prevailing attitude was, “
whatever sister said, is right “. I can see now why young kids who were
sexually abused by clergy, might not have reported it their parents. I
learned not to respect people simply based on externals such as a Roman
Collar or a uniform or a title or position, but rather on the basis of
their integrity and the contents of their heart. A very good example of
this is Father Godfrey Leuchinger, OFM Cap., who I considered to be one
of the greatest human beings I had the pleasure of knowing. I
respected him because he was a man of integrity and he possessed a kind
and loving heart.
Actually this blog entry is getting a little too long and it is
almost midnight so I’ll have to get out of Sr. Christiana’s Class
tomorrow or the next day.
Good night.
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