I have never met what I call a "traumatized Catholic" without getting a "nuns with rulers" story. This seems to be a "meme" that is common to everybody who ever went to a Catholic school and who, subsequently, eschewed the True Church and entered upon the road to perdition -- let's say to Episcopalianism, or Unitarianism, or some other such horror. Now, I will admit that it is very hard to answer their argument because, for all I know, there were a few rogue nuns out there who wielded rulers the way Elsa, the Beast of Birkenau, wielded her whip. And if that is true, it is most unfortunate -- although hardly enough to justify abandoning an entire creed, unless the individual had other reasons for doing so, which I strongly suspect. In any case, one of the best answers to the "traumatized Catholic" I have ever run across is a column by a local writer which appeared in the Tribune-Review last Sunday. I offer the link in hopes that it will provide some balance (and also an ongoing resource for me, the next time I get the "nuns with rulers" story):
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/purcell/s_559667.html
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