Let’s be a Catholic grade school in the 1970s

I'm the wooden paddle and other nondescript corporal punishment accoutrements sitting in the corner, waiting for the next gleeful opportunity to maim, injure, and inculcate with the terror of all things holy.

I’m polyester navy blue plaid jumpers smeared with boogers and paste.

R1😂

I’m the conversion therapy for left-handed kids.

I'm the extra folk mass on Sunday nights that your mom drags you to. She doesn't understand that you have compulsory 3rd grade mass on Tuesdays and all school mass on Fridays. And 2 masses on Sunday because your grandma doesn't like guitar? Or staying out after 7pm? During Holy Week you'll reach critical mass and contemplate the first school shooting. 7 fucking masses!

[quote] 7 fucking masses!

A slight exaggeration.

You all need therapy.

I'm the variety show with renditions from The Sound of Music and Godspell.

I'm the boys sent to the principal's office for laughing during mass.

I'm penmanship lessons that will endure forever.

R6, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday Catholic school kids most definitely attended 6-7 masses

I'm the feeling you get when you move down south in 5th grade and don't have to pay attention in public school again until senior year. Say what you will about the catholics, but they know how to make smart people with critical thinking skills who question everything. Which is why the only Catholics left are the idiots like Kavanagh and Johnson

I'm the mandatory physical exams given to the 7th and 8th grade boys by volunteer doctors and med students. It's where I saw which one of my classmates had pubes and who hadn't. No modesty there.

I’m Stations of the Cross every Friday afternoon during Lent. Early dismissal!

I'm egg salad sandwiches on Fridays.

I'm the Sisters outfitted in modified habits with soft white collars and a short veil perched on the back of my head.

R13 I thought the 8th grade physical exams were conducted by the parish priest.

They weren't??? Then why the hell did he spend so much time on me? I didn't even bring him that much wine!

R16, you beat to it.

Graduated from parochial school in 1977. The nuns in the school either wore modified habits or no habits at all. We stared in amazement as the school principal (who would send boys to the barber shop if their hair touched their shirt colors) got onto the bus in mufti when we went on a class trip to the Bronx Zoo.

There were one or two nuns who wore the older habits, but I understand they were modified habits in thirties and forties.

My grade school teachers were very nice and with a few exceptions smart. Kindergarten, third, and fourth grade teachers were not. Could be downright nasty. They were lay women, one unmarried (kindergarten) the other two widowed.

Who remembers buying pagan babies? We did that in third grade.

Or the mite boxes at Lent?

I'm the Ritz cracker, subbing for the Host, during First Commnion practice.

We practiced with real, though unconsecrated, hosts.

[quote] Or the mite boxes at Lent?

We had Rice Bowls and the money went to Catholic Relief Services.

[quote] Who remembers buying pagan babies? We did that in third grade.

But that was before the 1970s. Pagan babies was a pre-Vatican II thing.

I'm the harmless shenanigans.

There were more lay teachers than nuns in grade school in 70s, thanks to the exodus from the religious life in the late 60s after Vatican II.

Our parish had a Folk Mass. At one they had liturgical dancing.

[quote] Let’s be a Catholic grade school in the 1970s

I'm an altar boy who gets out of class to serve at a funeral.

I'm this.

R20 in my brief time as a Server, we had that room behind the altar with pinewood drawers, and a clear plastic bag of Communion wafers was sitting out, just kind of there. I went home and told my mother, who said did you steal one? She told me if I did, we were going to drive up right away to the parish to tell 'Father'. I didn't, but she didn't believe me so I wasn't allowed to serve again.

R22, we had them in third grade (1971-1972). They gave you a certificate for naming the baby.

The nuns at our school were SSND...School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Yeah,1963, R25

I'm the new priest and teacher in the school.

I also have my special friend Mr. Wiggles, who likes to come out and play with very special students.

R27, yes, founded by Caroline (Karolina) Gerhardinger in Germany.

Their pre-Vatican II habits were lovely.

SSND

I feel like I missed out on something. I went to public school but pretty much everyone except me was Catholic. I don’t think it did me any favors with fitting in.

I’m the public school kid who booby-trapped your desk during Saturday morning CCD class.

I’m the Son of God, hear my holy word… eat my body —drink my blood

R31 / Greg02116

At the link there are three pictures. The first shows too sisters with the modified habits of the 70s. The bottom left shows the old habit you linked above. And the bottom right shows sisters with what was the modified habits from the 30s and 40s.

Gerg—always cutting in…..send him back to the confessional.

I'm in first grade, wondering why the nuns at my school are much meaner than Sister Bertrille.

[quote] Gerg—always cutting in…..send him back to the confessional.

It’s not cutting in.

R35, you are not entirely right.

In 1963, the School Sisters of Notre Dame changed from the traditional habit to a modified habit.

There was no such thing as a modified habit in the 30s and 40s. Up until 1963, the SSNDs wore the habit I linked to at R31.

Then they wore the modified habit linked to here.

Then I’m 1972, the SSNDs adopted simple, secular dress.

I'm the holy cards. Not as fun as pokemon

I'm getting finger banged in the principals office. I deserve it👉👈

SSND original and modified habit.

[quote]Gerg—always cutting in…..send him back to the confessional.

Children only, please.

The sex abuse jokes aren’t really amusing.

Greg grsaduated from Catholic school to channel Mother Superior eternally.

graduated*

I'm Sister Helen's 19th century yardstick. The sound of smashing the knuckles of misbehaving boys and the anguished screams that follow is...Mother Mary, help me...DELICIOUS!!!

You first, Gregory.

This thread brought back so many memories. Catholic school through 8th grade (SSND), and I remember the habit change in 1963. One explanation given for the habit modification was as nuns were now driving cars, the original habits blocked peripheral vision. But our nuns were old school; they were driven everywhere by parishioners. We lived a block from the church/school complex, and I was an alter boy and also an organist. So I spent more early mornings than I care to remember serving mass or playing organ. And I learned to be an alter boy pre Vatican II; Latin responses. The SSND convent would have a mass in the convent chapel once a week, and I would serve at mass for that often, early in the morning. I was always afraid I would see a nun in a bathrobe or without a veil. One of the nuns was the same age as my grandmother (they went to grade school together). I saw this nun in the 80s when they were wearing secular clothing, and she said she wore a wig because her hair was so thin being under the wimple and veil all those years.

Altar not alter.

Thanks (R51). Damn autocorrect!

The nuns at my school (I did the whole K-8 span) were Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They wore habits, but nothing too extreme.

And oh, I'm "Respect Life Week." I'm used to trick unsuspecting young children into making anti-abortion posters. Make the best poster and win a prize!

I am the constant fire drills that occurred during the 60s in Catholic elementary School. The nuns always reminded us of what happened to those poor children in Chicago at our Lady of Angels. We got smacked if we did not have a straight line as we exited the building. How that impacted an orderly evacuation and our safety I'm not quite sure.

R53/SylviaFowler, you must have grown up in Connecticut.

Or New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, or Florida.

I'm getting out at 2:30 every day instead of 3:00 like the public schools.

It happens…

I'm how shockingly liberal my early 80's Catholic education was. We played the telephone game with Bible verses to show how the translations weren't God's words. The older classes learned how kings and wicked popes changed it to suit their needs. We had a picture of the laughing Christ in each room and it was pointed out to us that Jesus would look like Libyan terrorist and not a blond blue eyed guy. And Mary Magdelen was a land owner, not a hooker.

R57?

R39...I stand corrected.

Two older sisters wore the modified habit by the time I was in 8th grade.

I had a teacher in 2nd and 7th grade who were SSNDs. They wore just the short veil. The 2nd grade teacher was lovely...pretty, chubby, and played the guitar. The 7th grade teacher was also very nice. She left the convent, married, buried that husband, and is married to husband #2. when I joined Facebook during the pandemic, she was one of the first who "friended" me. She and hubby travel all over and have quite the life.

In 8th grade, my math teacher wore the modified habit. Elderly but a lovely woman.

R57 was a disastrous church fire in 1956…if you can’t see the link… that’s all

I’m the nun’s beautiful handwriting. It’s a lost art.

I’m Sister Veronica, the pretty nun with a guitar. I sing “Yaweh is the God of My Salvation” in alto. Eventually, I leave the convent and marry.

Nuns did have the loveliest handwriting.

I’ve wondered how that happened, but it was pretty typical.

Never had a problem with the nuns but the lesbian 6th grade teacher who was meeting up with Miss . Cheney the gym teacher in the local McDonalds parking lot after school was a whole other story. They were one short of a coven and tried to emasculate all the preteen boys at recess with their snide comments.

I am the Holy Days of Obligation....All Saints Day, The Immaculate Conception, Holy Family, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Ascension. We didn't have to go to school on these days, but Mom made us go to Mass. Halloween was always more fun when you were Catholic, you got your sugar high and could at least sleep in the next morning.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary August 15

The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of Hod January 1

Formerly the Feast of the Circumcision and also the Holy Name of Jesus

^ And also the Octave Day of Christmas (January 1)

I'm Sister Mary, the hippie nun or nun wannabe who always had a guitar in the park and sang various tunes, including Day By Day.

Oh dear Lord

Three things pray:

1. Gerg goes away

2. L-L disappears

3. Teacakes deletes the account

I'm the only male teacher in the school. I'm forced to leave when Sister Stanislaus discovers I'm living with my boyfriend, committing grave sins against chastity.

Sorry, R72.

What diocese?

R71, Greg is going nowhere.

He will be on DL for a very long time.

I will spit you out of my mouth.

The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, R73. 1970.

[quote]I will spit you out of my mouth.—God

A gentleman swallows, God/Greg/r74.

Deo gratias.

R71 I cackled! WW for you

I was raised Southern Baptist, I had a Catholic friend in high school, the Virgin Mary & Infant of Prague statuettes in her home seemed exotic to me.

I’m boys’ swim class in the hinterlands, and I’m still compulsorily fully nude.

I was the only boy in the history of my grade school to be selected to do the May crowning. They must have known I was gay.

I'm the itchy Scapula thing we wore....and I cannot for the life of me remember why? Was it after Confirmation? t

The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

[quote] I was the only boy in the history of my grade school to be selected to do the May crowning. They must have known I was gay.

Do people snap and say, “Hail, holy queen” when you enter a room?

[quote]Do people snap and say, “Hail, holy queen” when you enter a room?

No, they saved that for the entrance of the priest at Mass.

I'm the fear instilled in the students by Sister Marie Patrice during first communion lessons that chewing the host rather than letting it melt on your tongue would result in something unspeakable happening to your body like internal bleeding or spontaneous human combustion.

I'm the nun who absolutely crushed every student in the classroom when she told them pets don't go to heaven when they die because they don't have souls.

Some children in the pre-Vatican II Church were told that if they chewed the host it would bleed.

I'm the emergency PTA meeting when Sister Diane (previously known as Sister Philip Neri) said in 8th grade religion class (previously called Catechism class) that Mary likely wasn't a virgin all of her life and probably had other children.

^ Quel scandale!

What happened?

Not about Mary, but Sr. Diane?

I'll be the Sacred Heart School for God and Country.

While my grade school remains open, my high school has closed due to lack of interest, elderly nuns dying off and multiple lawsuits against the order.

To raise funds, the expansive campus is for sale but will be a hard sell with the dead nuns buried out behind the softball field.

I'm hoping for something like the pool scene from Poltergeist once the inevitable housing is built.

I'm the Intercom at Catholic school. Sister Rosita would come in, around 11:55am - right before we all were hungry and wanted to get to lunch/recess and we'd have to recite, standing at our desks, the intercession prayer about Mary.

Sorry, Sister Rosita came on the intercom, not in our classrooms. We had to push our chairs into our desks 'quietly, quietly!'

I'm all the raping and repeat sexual assaults which the Catholic church knows full well are happening but just pretends and moves the priests around if any noises are made. The relocated priests immediately begin raping and sexually assaulting many more children in their new locations.

R91, where in the Back Bay do you live?

Where is this Sacred Heart School?

[quote] I'll be the Sacred Heart School for God and Country. While my grade school remains open, my high school has closed due to lack of interest, elderly nuns dying off and multiple lawsuits against the order. To raise funds, the expansive campus is for sale but will be a hard sell with the dead nuns buried out behind the softball field. I'm hoping for something like the pool scene from Poltergeist once the inevitable housing is built.

R91, Is this Sacred Heart in Kingston?

Why are there lawsuits against the Sisters of Divine Providence?

Yes. And Comm Ave, fourth floor front.

I'm also on Comm Ave.

Seems to me if you’re going to have nuns, they should look like nuns.

Very few Sisters wear habits of any kind.

And technically speaking 'nuns' are cloistered monastics, whereas Sisters are in active apostolates

I'm sister Leolus. I'm 82 and nod off a lot behind my desk and shouldn't be teaching anymore, but no one has the heart to tell her it's time to go.

r90 Oddly, the sisters and even the priest kind of shrugged and said 'who knows?' but the parents were horrified and adamant so the topic was never mentioned again.

For those of you that missed it, Greg is once again talking about himself in r74, signing the post "God".

[quote] Greg is going nowhere. He will be on DL for a very long time. I will spit you out of my mouth.—God

No doubt he'll say this is a "joke".

Weird behavior.

I am the glass frame hanging above the blackboard. I maybe an image of the Pope, or the Holy Virgin or even an old image of president Kennedy. Whenever sister writes on the blackboard with her back against the class, she can glance up at me and see the class reflected me and comment 'Gregory Mahoney, come see me at recess! Mona Scaffidi! Sit up straight!'

...and you were all freaked out that sister really DID have eyes in the back of head!

[quote] No doubt he'll say this is a "joke".

Oh, no, R103, no joke.

I think I’m God.

What an idiot you must be. Seriously.

Not to mention really stupid.

If anyone is as witless as R103, I am R74.

I signed as 'God' in response to R71.

I suspect that nearly everyone understood this and read it in the manner in which it was intended.

Except for R103. Because he's a moron.

Hey, you two - SHUUUUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!

Yes, Sister.

I’m the student who is sick and staying in bed on a cycle, coinciding with the Nuns cycle.

okay, ick.

Akroyd is such a handsome man. Need I say more?

If you've not seen "The Little Hours" you might give it a try.

Very amusing.

R112 It was a good premise, but it all fell apart.

R113, I don’t recall really.

I saw it when it was released in 2017 and remember enjoying it.

Picture it it's November 1975, I am a 270 lb 15-year-old in Catholic High School. I feign illness in the afternoon and leave to go downtown to see the movie Mahogany starring Miss Diana Ross. At the theater I see the older ( my age now) monsignor wearing his roman collar who was the assistant principal and taught physics at my high school. He has always come across a little"fey" we make eye contact he nods I nod back. So here we are a priest and an overweight Catholic high school boy wearing his school uniform in a downtown Urban movie theater one of four white people in attendance. For the next 3 years I escaped many disciplinary actions because of his intercession. He was instrumental in me getting into college despite my lackluster academic record. There was no sexual relationship and I never took any of his classes because I didn't have the intellectual capacity to understand physics. Not all priests were molesters, there were some priests and nuns that genuinely wanted to mentor and help students succeed we need to hear more about them.

[quote]Yeah,1963, [R25]

Required learning in my Catholic chorus class.

[quote]Miss Ross was fabulous on the big screen!

Thank goodness it wasn't a couple of years later and "The Wiz."

Ugh. The resident know-it-all sullies everything.

He probably bit the Host because he liked the taste of Jesus' blood that came out.

[quote] Ugh. The resident know-it-all sullies everything.

Poor R118. He is quite vulnerable and has trouble coping with many aspects of daily life.

A real hothouse flower.

[quote] Not all priests were molesters, there were some priests and nuns that genuinely wanted to mentor and help students succeed we need to hear more about them.

Nice to hear from a real man. Thank you, R115 for sharing that.

I agree. There were and are a good many healthy, kind, and generous priests, religious sisters, and religious brothers. We typically only hear about the crazy and abusive ones.

I had religious brothers in high school and for the most part, they were fine men.

Happy All Saints Day!

A holy day of obligation.

[quote]Nice to hear from a real man.

Can you explain what you mean by that?

[quote] Can you explain what you mean by that?

Yes, of course I can.

Simply that R118 is hardly a real man.

Former Catholic school student here. Having Nov. 1, All Saints' Day, off was a real treat. Day after Halloween. Relax, inventory the candy, and watch TV.

I'm not Catholic, but didn't mind mass. We only went 1X per month. Religion class was only 1X per week.

In 9th grade, I switched to public school and it was a cruise, academically, as far as English classes. A nun (6th grade or so) had taught us how to diagram sentences.

Yes, we did have penmanship classes. I didn't realize the public schools in my area didn't have penmanship classes.

In 8th grade (still in Catholic school), we had to write a paper. Every sentence in the paper, pretty much, had to be footnoted (i.e., had to come from a reliable-type source). I never did anything that difficult, thereafter. And I have an advanced degree.

I'm a boy with no gym shoes. Oh, I have plenty at home, but I don't wear them on gym day, so I don't have to play dodge ball. Instead my friend who stole his mom's cigs, and who didn't wear his gym shoes either, get to pick up trash around the schoolyard, completely unsupervised. We finally get busted after pulling this stunt for weeks, and instead of gym we are in the church, having to kneel the full hour gym would have taken.

I'm the first generation lunch ladies. You haven't had better pizza or scalloped potatoes since those basement cafeteria days.

I'm the anti drug urban legend stories the nuns told us in Catholic school during the 70s. The two primary plots are:

1. The girl that was sniffing glue while babysitting children. She fell asleep and dreams she was chewing bubble gum and woke up with a cockroach in her mouth due to the use of the glue.

2. The babysitter that used LSD while babysitting children and an infant. She was given instructions by the children's parents to put a roast in the oven at 4:00 PM. When the parents got home at 4:15PM they saw that the roast was still on the kitchen counter and the babysitter was asleep and having hallucinations on the sofa. They smelled something burning and opened up the oven to find the baby was placed in the oven to roast instead of the pork loin.

R127 - hilarious!

R127 I remember hearing that second story a lot when I was a kid.

[quote]I think I’m God. —Greg02116/r105

Blasphemy, too?

R130, another brain trust.

Ironically, the meanest, cruelest nuns were the Sisters of Mercy. I hated them.

Fuck off Sister Jane and Sister Inez.

Fuck off op you suck shit

I'm the kneeling on uncooked rice kernels as a punishment.

I'm the nihil obstat and imprimatur.

Were parochial school kids told to hate Protestants?

I’m the gym teacher who’s a huge ladies man, and treats his female students accordingly.

[quote]Were parochial school kids told to hate Protestants?

Not hate. Feel sorry for, perhaps, as they were never, ever, going to get to heaven. Only Catholics go to heaven. I had a nun who wanted us to join her in hating Jews, however. On Mischief Night, she told us we should go to the Jewish neighborhood and soap their cars, toilet paper their houses, etc. I resigned mentally from Catholicism at that moment.

[R66] Yes it was great when we had Nov 1 off the day after Halloween and the Publics had to go to school. But then, our school decided to make us go to school on Nov 1 and forced us to attend a school mass! I was pissed!

I’m the orange Unicef Halloween begging boxes

Pennies*

I’m the pussy

Protestants had those as well, R140.

I went to several different Catholic schools (gr. 1 - 12). Was never taught to hate Protestants. More like if we could, get them to convert, if we couldn't, just hope that God gave them credit for believing in him anyway. I had several Protestant friends, and I never tried to convert them, but I did kind of worry about them. One of my Protestant friends worried about me, too, so we were even, LOL.

Also, I was never taught to hate Jews either. Just the opposite, in fact. I was taught the ones calling for Jesus' crucifixion were a necessary part of the story and not to blame them or Jews as a whole. Compared to some, I must have gone to some pretty enlightened schools in some respects. And this was in the '60's.

I'm the lights out during use of the Overhead Projector, and time to catch up on zzzzzzz's. Sister Agnes Marie will come up with her 'pointer' and tap hard on my desk and let everyone know wasting God's time on earth will add to time in Purgatory.

I was taught by the SSND, r31. My second grade teacher taught mt parents.

I'm a group of 8th graders reporting on the Church's stance on Youth in Asia. Only when we finish are we told it was EUTHANASIA, not Korean teens,

True story from St. Leo's School in Irvington, NJ

I'm the book that Sister Eileen used to whack me in the head when I asked if God brought us earthquakes and tornadoes since He is the creator of all things.

I'm the sawdust the poor janitor had to throw on the floor after poor little Mary Ellen hurled up her hot dog lunch.

Father, when you're done fucking me in the ass will you have time to hear my Confession about being fucked in the ass?

I'm the Friday Fish Fry during lent. I just got home from school at 3:30, now I've got to turn around and go back to eat in that dim cafeteria and watch Dad down beers and bitch with the other fathers that if tuition goes up next year, he's pulling his kids out.

I went to those CCD classes on Saturdays. The catholic school had a television fixed to the classroom wall, and I thought it was very space age. We watched Davey and Goliath and discussed the rudimentary "lesson".

Also, isn't that weird - since Davey & Goliath was produced by the Lutherans!

I'm one of the many Pagan Babies we adopted in school during the late 60s and early 70s.

[quote]I'm the Intercom at Catholic school. Sister Rosita would come in, around 11:55am - right before we all were hungry and wanted to get to lunch/recess and we'd have to recite, standing at our desks, the intercession prayer about Mary.

Likely the Angelus prayer which is customarily recited at 6AM, noon and 6PM. Substitute the Regina Caeli in your Eastertide.

Bump

[R152] Yes, those Davey and Goliath cartoons confused me being a good Catholic boy as I had never heard of Lutherans. When I asked Mom, she said go ask my father. Also there was a show called "The Magic Door" which was all about being a Jewish kid. Not sure if it was local to Chicago, but it also confused me. I was easily confused, I guess.

[quote]Yes, those Davey and Goliath cartoons confused me being a good Catholic boy as I had never heard of Lutherans.

In my French Canadian Catholic elementary school, every year there was a module on Martin Luther King. I was confused that he was a 'Reverend' yet married with children AND a doctor... only years later did I clue in that he was also protestant