Sins etc.

Despite my not being Catholic, our kids go to a small Catholic school here in Denver. They aren’t at the first such school we tried as that was too hard core for us and I say us, not just me because Hubby, despite being raised Catholic is not what I would call a convinced Catholic. In fact, if we were in uK I think he would be fine with them going to the local CofE school – but here, your regular free down the road school is not even allowed to mention God, religion, Easter or Christmas etc and that seemed a bit too non-religious to us.
Anyhow – our kids now go to a Catholic school which is quite liberal. Quite a few kids go who are not Catholic and the majority of teachers are parents themselves, some divorced and whilst Religion is taught it is not rammed down your throat ifyouknowwwhatimean.

However we now have a new Priest who is a little more hardcore. He is trying very hard to ‘connect’ bless him but he is not the laid back charismatic Priest of before and he’s finding it hard to ‘keep’ numbers up. He is also making a few changes…

Previously in 2nd Grade the kids make their ‘first Reconciliation’ ie their first confession. They used to do this during school hours and it was no big deal but now new Priest believes it should be a family event and wants it to be held at night. Tonight. Which would have been fine except Catholic Hubby is in Las Vegas….. so I had to go. Can I just state my case that I had already had to sit through Catholic mass today as Paddy was doing a reading…

I’m not sure any 8 year old should be made to think of their sins. But then, in a non-religious was, I expect him to be punished (naughty step, losing treats etc) when he misbehaves so he knows that his behaviour has consequence…Despite being a skeptic, the Priest tonight was really light hearted about the kids confessing their sins..no mention of hell and damnation at all, just more a wiping the slate clean with god sort of pitch. I actually felt ok with it.

However what was my innocent little Mac going to say?

Well tonight when we got in he put the TV on in the basement even though he hadn’t asked to (I don’t let tv on during the week much) and when Paddy asked him about it, Mac said that I had said it was ok. Blatant lie…. But he THEN said he’d needed a sin to confess you see and THAT is why hed said all that – knowing it was wrong. Because of course, being 8 years and 4 months old he has done nothing wrong otherwise. It was actually too funny to do anything about….

So we set off to school/church tonight and had the following conversation:
Mac: Mom, I only know one bad cuss word…
Me: Really? What’s that then?
Mac: It begins with B…
Me: Go on…
Mac: ‘bitchy!’ (whispered in DVV).
Me: Oh I see (trying not to laugh).
Mac: But I need to catch up with my friends…
Me: How so?
Mac: Well you know Amy?
Me: Yes…
Mac: Well, you know how she is really nice?
Me: Oh yes….
Mac: Well she knows EIGHT bad words and I need to catch up – so will you teach me?
Me: Erm, we’ll see….but maybe not tonight with church and everything …..

(I later told this to Amy’s mum who has a good sense of humour…. and she laughed. She also said it is not 8 year old Amy who knows the bad words but 5 year old Olivia (in the same class as Rory) who has learnt them all from Ava – also 5 – in the class. Apparently ‘f*ck is the favourite).

So we get to church and we’re filing in and the ‘religious director’ is telling us to do this activity sheets yada yada yada and it’s all quite laid back and then Mac whispers to me that Michael’s dad – sat in front of us – well, his dad, according to Michael, poops like a rhino. I don’t know if he meant what it looks like, how he’s doing it and come to think , I am not sure what rhino poop looks like any how…….

When it is time for their confessions their is cool Jamaican Priest who gives fist pumps, or the stricter older one… of course Mac wants fist pump Priest…. and there are boys sprinting in church to get to the confessional box. Unbelievable.

Anyhow, Mac gets there eventually after waiting his turn and he is in there literally 10 minutes. He comes out looking relieved and then says a little prayer and we’re off.
He tells me afterwards that it was fine and the Priest was laughing LAUGHING at some of his ‘sins.’ This would have made Mac think he had a full audience and no wonder he’ll have been in there 10 minutes. Highlights included (apparently) how Mac had once gone down the slide knowing full well that Rory was sat at the bottom and then he bashed into his butt and pretended he didn’t know he was there. Also how he had called Maggie in his class a chicken. I dread to think which others he shared about us. Maybe how he always says I have a plump bottom, or the year he told everyone I was turning 50 instead of 40…..

The blurry face of innocence.

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