Irish Short Story Week
March 11 to May 1
April 1 to April 6-Priest Stories
My Prior Posts for ISSW Year Two
"A Priest in the Family" by Colm Toibin- (Wexford Ireland, 1955), from Mothers and Son, 2007, is a story of the human side of the terrible scandal in the Irish Catholic Church involving sexual abuse of young boys, often alter boys. Today's lead article in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald informs us that the Vatican has now mandated that all those in training to be priests in Ireland must undergo extensive training in ways to combat child abuse and deal with the urges they may have. Priests have been directed to report cases of abuse they know of not to their local bishops but directly to the Vatican for fear of more cover ups. I am a Catholic, not the best of ones, as are 80 percent of the people in the Philippines. After the mass all the children go up to the priest to be blessed. You can see the happiness in their faces and it makes the parents feel good also. Sadly people are now reluctant for their sons to be alter boys, where it once was an source of family pride.
I am going to have a week dedicated the stories in this collection soon. I have already posted on a beautiful story from the collection, "The Song" and provided a link in that post where you could hear Toibin read the story. I have also read and posted on his great novel based on the London years of Henry James, The Master. I have a Kindle edition of his novel Brooklyn and hope to read it soon.
This is the last Irish Short Story I will post on for the stories about priests segment. We will next have stories by Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov. In The Lonely Voice it seems Frank O'Connor favors the stories of Turgenev over Chekhov though it is clear he regards them as the best two short story writers that ever lived. I will post latter in the event on stories by James Stephens, George Moore and William Carleton that center on priests.
Julian Barnes in his great book, The Best of Frank O'Connor says the next story in "Stories About Priests" is the most Irish of Chekhov's stories.
Mel u
Please consider joining us for Irish Short Story Week Year Two, now open until at least May 1. All you are asked to do is post on one Irish Short Story or a related matter and let me know about it. There are lots of ideas and links to stories in the resources page. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment. I welcome guest post also, just contact me.
"A Priest in the Family" by Colm Toibin- (Wexford Ireland, 1955), from Mothers and Son, 2007, is a story of the human side of the terrible scandal in the Irish Catholic Church involving sexual abuse of young boys, often alter boys. Today's lead article in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald informs us that the Vatican has now mandated that all those in training to be priests in Ireland must undergo extensive training in ways to combat child abuse and deal with the urges they may have. Priests have been directed to report cases of abuse they know of not to their local bishops but directly to the Vatican for fear of more cover ups. I am a Catholic, not the best of ones, as are 80 percent of the people in the Philippines. After the mass all the children go up to the priest to be blessed. You can see the happiness in their faces and it makes the parents feel good also. Sadly people are now reluctant for their sons to be alter boys, where it once was an source of family pride. "A Priest in the Family" is, as we could expect, a perfect gem of a story. It is about the consequences for the family of a priest, a man well into middle years,wen he is exposed as a child molester. The story is coming out in the paper and it will have to be announced in the Mass why the priest is being removed from his position. The priest has come home to talk to his mother and tell her what is going to happen. The siblings of the priest also are there. They talk about how they will explain this to their children, who were always so proud to have a priest for an uncle. It gave them special status.
The siblings want there mother, now a widow and there are remarks in passing that it is good their father passed away before this happened, to go on a long trip out of the country until the scandal blows over. The mother asks her son what will happen to him. In a very sad moment in a very sad story she asks him if he will be able to say Mass in prison.
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This is the last Irish Short Story I will post on for the stories about priests segment. We will next have stories by Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov. In The Lonely Voice it seems Frank O'Connor favors the stories of Turgenev over Chekhov though it is clear he regards them as the best two short story writers that ever lived. I will post latter in the event on stories by James Stephens, George Moore and William Carleton that center on priests.
Julian Barnes in his great book, The Best of Frank O'Connor says the next story in "Stories About Priests" is the most Irish of Chekhov's stories.
Mel u
2 comments:
With the current situation re priests and child molesters this is a very relevant story to read about. At anytime for anyone a nightmare for the family.
So far, I'm enjoying the stories in Mothers & Sons more than those from The Empty Family.
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