Thursday, August 21, 2008

The meaning of words

It is probably this blog that has been criticised by Fr Gerard Dunne in his report to the up-coming chapter. His report criticises the unnamed blog for its 'negativity'.

Below is a direct quote from the website of the Irish Dominicans. It is in italics.

Is it negative to criticise the quoted paragraph by saying that it is not accurate? Not one member of the Dominican community, living at our priory in Newbridge is on the pay roll of the Department of Education. One Dominican acts as chaplain and may do some teaching. But there is not one Dominican teaching an examination subject in the school, who is a recognised secondary school teacher, or doing a full recognised Department of Education week-long teaching schedule.

There is one Dominican in the province of the Irish Dominicans who is on the pay roll of the Department of Education but he teaches in West Kerry.

So can someone please explain what the paragraph below means. It simply does not tally with the reality on the ground.

It is this facility of changing the meaning of words that this blog finds so peculiar. How can the motto of the Irish Dominicans be veritas if this is the material that appears on the official website of the province.

This is just one random example.

This is not at all a criticism of the community at Newbridge. It is a criticism of the website of the province. It is also an open and honest comment about a terrible mentality that exists within the weird world of clericalism.

Below is the paragraph as it appears on the website.

The Dominican community of St Eustace has as its primary ministry the welfare of the students in its secondary school, Newbridge College. This commitment involves the friars acting as teachers, as chaplain, and in various administrative roles for the school.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What's happened to the website? It's way out of date. Did you frighten the webmaster away?

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