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Nun Fights Cussing with… Cussing…
Middle school kids like to experiment, and occasionally they try out new words. Those words, the ones you can’t put in a newspaper, that sometimes crop up on playgrounds. Which is what happened at St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Park. When the school’s new principal Sister Kathy Avery heard that there was some swearing on the playground, she decided to draw from her experience elsewhere to take a direct approach to stopping it. After mass late last month, she had the fifth- through eighth-graders stay in church a little longer. Then she informed them she had a zero-tolerance policy for swearing. And to make sure the kids knew exactly what she was talking about, Avery read a list of words and phrases that she was banning, including a few that would make many grown-ups blush...
“It got a little quiet in church,” Avery said.
“Sometimes I think children don’t know what words to use, they use them because they’ve heard them from other people,” Avery said. “I think they knew that I drew the line.”
The students told their parents about the lecture. And in the St. Clare community, known for being a bit conservative, some parents were shocked, but others applauded.
“In a way you would think a nun would shy away from something like that, but she’s very open with the children, very clear in her messages,” said Margaret Roache, chairperson of the school commission, whose sixth-grade son was there when Avery read the list of banned words.
“When I asked him to give me a sample of it, he said, ‘Oh, no, I can’t say it!’ ” Roache said. “I thought it was great.”
Avery isn’t surprised that the students listened. She’d done the same thing in two previous schools, in Sioux City, Iowa, and Pikesville, Ky.
“I’m not saying that it’s an easy thing to do, it’s just something that I thought was absolutely necessary,” said Avery, who also has banned the words stupid and boring. “I’m not saying we had a terrible language problem. It’s just that you start hearing words — and they’re offensive.”
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This post has been viewed 446 times and was added on December 17, 2007 by Todd Rhoades. Filed under: Miscellaneous For What It's Worth Share this post with a friend right now! View reactions to this post at other blogs... You can really help us out by subscribing to our free RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, or here at Bloglines. Also, you can add us to your favorites at Technorati.
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I'm Todd Rhoades... the MMI guy. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the founder and developer of a website named ChurchStaffing.com.
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Posted by Leonard
Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:01 AM
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Posted by Peter Hamm
Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:59 AM
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Posted by Camey
Monday, December 17, 2007 at 12:11 PM
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Posted by
Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 4:42 PM
Post Your Comments:Actually I applaud this nun for actually teaching people. Sometimes people get a bit embarrassed at how they talk when they hear someone who is a pastor or nun use those words back to them.
GREAT idea!
I applaude her too! There is far more to teaching than just saying, “Don’t say that because I said so.” And far more to really loving others as well.
Actually, I remember what it was like to be a kid, and then I only knew enough bad words to count on one hand. I don’t know if I could’ve handled it if I asked around and was told the meaning of all the rest of them!
However, kids today in early elementary school today are doing things that I only heard about in my late teens. Generally, I see a lack of modesty anymore and much more uncouthness. Everything under the sun is being exposed and we’re becoming so desensitized. More and more, all is acceptable and considered just part of life’s experiences.
If a nun said it, even as instruction not to, then how offensive to God can it be, a child may rationalize. Later on, he may deem such language only inappropriate as an adolescent, but okay when reaching adulthood.
Does it say in the Bible not to even whisper what the wicked do - or say?
I believe we can still get the message across in a big way and yet do it more discreetly, especially when we stress God’s supreme holiness.
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