Dear Mary G,

I'm glad you got to sing some good stuff in Catholic School. I have many more good memories of singing in the Girl Scouts, especially the one time I went to camp.

I did go just briefly to a school with Irish nuns, for part of 1st grade. My main impression was that kids were even more intimidated of them than they were of US nuns. I remember being warned that they would pull your ear for any misbehavior. I also remember that, instead of simply standing when a priest or nun entered the room, and saying "Good morning, father" or "sister", we had to stand, curtsy or bow, and say "G. M., F". I also remember they wouldn't let boys and girls play on the same part of the playground-one day boys could use the swings, girls the monkey bars, the next day we'd switch.

I still feel that lay Catholics weren't trained to communicate in Latin, only to parrot the phrases, hopefully, but not neccessarily, with understanding of their meaning. When I was little, before Vatican II, people didn't even respond at mass at all-the altar boy did that. (BTW-my uncle wanted to be an altar boy during the depression, but they wouldn't let him, because he didn't have BLACK SHOES!)

And people didn't sing in church at all, the choir did that. We were totally passive observers. Many people didn't even follow in a missal, (and there were no booklets provided back then, in case they didn't have one)-they prayed the rosary. And back before they did that "kiss of peace" handshake thing, you basically didn't communicate with other people in church at all.

Again, I mean no disrespect of your beliefs, or Catholic traditions. Traditions of all kinds have worth and value. I have just come to see these things somewhat differently over the years.

Sincerely,

Mary McCaffrey