I meant to say that the scary nuns are all gone - but I guess that "good" works pretty well, too.

You know, Peter, I don't really believe your teenage son and his hyperboles. He's tied to stereotypes, and so are you. I've worked with nuns all my life, and I'm an associate member of the Sisters of Mercy (my wife makes comments about being married to a nun...). They're just people, and they don't fit any stereotype. Some are a pain in the ass, but most are quite remarkable women. And yes, I suppose some are capable of committing crimes (or at least they might have when they were younger). But they're just people, living life the way they see best, as we all do.

Now, my boss is a Loretto sister, a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She's a terrible flirt, which I kind of enjoy. She's worked with poor and homeless people for 25 years - she took two years off to work with refugees in Rwanda. And she's remarkable, no doubt about it. And she doesn't fit your stereotype.

My friend Sister Libby went through three years of the U.S. Air Force Academy when they first accepted women, but she dropped out because of constant sexual harassment. She finished her obligation to the Air Force as an enlisted member, and then became a Sister of Mercy. She is executive director of the Loaves and Fishes Dining Room in Sacramento, providing for the needs of hundreds of people. And she's funny, and fun to be with, and a very normal-seeming person.

For the most part, nuns are remarkable people. I admit, though, that there are some bad eggs among them. After all - they're people.

Your story of Christine Buckley is most likely at least partly true. There were horrific institutions run by Catholic nuns in Ireland, and they died out far later than they did in the rest of the world. But by about 1990, they had pretty much died out in Ireland, too.

But no, I don't buy your implication that the nuns still with the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland are of that sort. I talked with them at length, and they certainly don't appear to have deep dark secrets of evildoing to hide. But then I don't see people that way; and I find that most people who see people as evil, have a mindset that tends to find evil. I'm sorry, but I just can't see most people as evil.

-Joe-