Our Catholic Schools

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Mass last Sunday due to infirmity. It would, however, be interesting to note whether the Bishop of Motherwell has directed his priests to preach sermons on how the Catholic Church's good name is dragged into the mud when pupils at Catholic secondary schools are involved in 'flashpoints' which result in Strathclyde Police having to deploy mounted police in their vicinity at breaktimes.

And if our Church has any suspicion at all that this type of policing is an over-reaction to mere youthful high spirits, then why isn't Peter Kearney, its press officer, out front and centre leading the chorus of condemnation, like Matthew Hopkins with a migraine? Could it be the case that our hierarcy and their staffs might just not want to dirty their minds with the idea that pupils in our Catholic schools have the potential to be as thuggish as pupils in other schools?

The Rutherglen situation is a scandal, and for what my opinion's worth the Bishop should be down at Trinity High bawling out the school assembly. If this kind of idiocy is to be stopped, it should be stopped by telling them to behave like Catholics, turning the other cheek and practicing the virtue of humility, and by loving others as they themselves would wish to be loved. But no, everything must always be sunshine and roses, even when it's really just showers and...well, you know...