A painful legacy

Rule of St. Benedict

CHAPTER XXX
How Young Boys Are to Be Corrected

Every age and understanding should have its proper discipline. Whenever, therefore, boys or immature youths or such as can not understand how grave a penalty excommunication is, are guilty of a serious fault, let them undergo severe fasting or be disciplined with corporal punishment, that they may be corrected.

I know that the concept of physical punishment is viewed very differently now then it was in the time of Benedict. In fact sensitivities have changed dramatically within the span of my lifetime. Even the idea of “fasting” or, in our modern terms, “being sent to bed without supper” seems unnecessarily harsh. The reality is, however, that our children do need to be disciplined for behavior that left uncorrected could result in much more serious problems as adults. The legacy of abuse that is being laid on many of our religious orders, particularly the Jesuits in Oregon is haunting and humbling. I often listen with deep sadness as people I know recount the stories of what their childhood in orphanages or boarding school involved. I don’t pretend to know the whole truth of any of this and I have to admit that when my children were young I tended to parent the way I was parented rather than way I should have parented. The thoughts that keep running through my head are that justice must be tempered with mercy and that punishment must focus on correction and not retribution.