[vienna]

The incident with the nun is nothing of which I'm particularly proud; it just happened. If it mitigates the shock, the nun in question was noted for her overzealous use of physical punishment and force. I found out several years later she was removed from the school and convent after trying to take a swing at the Mother Superior in front of the entire school at an assembly in the school auditorium. I was told she was sent to a facility operated by the order for "troubled" nuns, sort of a "convent for' happy' nuns" ("...and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats, and they're coming to take me away, ha! ha!...)

Retelling the story also reminded me of something of a similar vein: there is a ceremony in the Catholic church called Confirmation, sort of the Catholic equivalent of a Jewish Bar Mitzvah where a child pledges allegiance to the faith and is 'confirmed' as a full member of the church. I don't know if the ceremony is the same now as in my youth, but, back then, the ceremony was held in the church, much like a solemn mass, and was officiated by the highest ranking cleric in the diocese, ususally an archbishop. The rite inculde the laying on of hands on the top of the head in blessing and the anointing of the fore head with holy oil. As a final touch, the archbishop gives the anointee a light slap on the cheek, symbolic of the possibilty of having to suffer for your faith. Our parish was a very blue-collar neighborhood, primarily Irish and Italian, so it was a bit rough and tumble. One of my friends, John, was in line before me at the altar for the confirmation. When his turn came, he knelt before the archbishop, was blessed, anointed and then came the time for the slap. John ducked out of the way of the slap, ducked a second time, and, finally, the archbishop, a very tall, strong and now determined Irishman, rose up, grabbed John's face with one big hand, held it still and gave John one very pronounced slap with the other hand. The entire church was collapsed in laughter and I got to watch John leave the altar with a look on his face of "I wish I could hit him back..."

After the ceremony, the archbishop went to John and said "With an ability to duck and weave like that, you'd make one heck of a boxer"...