Two thoughtful articles

Two interesting article in today's Irish Times. One is by an former resident of Artane and the other is by Joe Humphreys.

Joe Humphreys writes about the good work so many sisters, brothers and priests do and have done and makes reference to a current 'witch hunt'. It's well worth reading.

The article about Artane is about sexual deviance in the culture of the Christian Brothers. It talks about the practice of flagellation within the Christian Brothers and how this could and did lead to sadomasochism. Again, it is an article well worth reading.

Many people make up their mind on the latest material they have read - an easy thing to do. Gay Byrne once famously said that when someone said an article was balanced they meant that they agreed with the opinion expressed.

Joe Humphreys is correct and the article on Artane is intriguing. Of course there are great sisters, priests and brothers, people of extraordinary goodness, charismatic people. But there are also bitter, sad, lazy sisters priests and brothers. In other words, the story of the human race. But is there something 'odd' about celibacy? Is there something about it that can exacerbate oddness and peccadilloes in people?

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Ryan Report and the behaviour of individual members of religious orders and congregations.

What stops a person from becoming lazy, how can someone be protected from becoming bitter and resentful. How could one ever find out the percentage of people in religious life who are lazy, bitter and resentful? What's the percentage? And of course, what is the percentage in society in general?

Can religious orders and congregations become dysfunctional, can society?