PUNISHMENT IN OUR SCHOOLS

It is of particular interest to many Catholic parents to find the matter of the physical punishment of young Catholic children being debated openly in your letter columns, and I sincerely trust that many eminent and authoritative Catholic views will be expressed on this very serious matter.
In many Catholic schools in Ireland it is the practice to beat children (girls and boys from six years of age) with canes, pointers, straps, etc., and even with fists, both for matters of discipline and for failure at lessons. This includes failure at Catechism, and many youngsters can recall with misery the memories of cruel beatings received in First Communion and Confirmation classes.
This barbaric practice has shocked many Catholic parents and has created the impression amongst a number of non-Catholics that "beating children is part of our religion". As a Catholic, I have repeatedly refuted such implicacations, but the practice of beating instead of teaching children is so widespread here that it is very difficult to combat such a frightening belief.
I sincerely trust that through the courtesy of your esteemed paper many views on this subject will be put before the public in the hope that it will help to guide those overzealous or sadistic teachers that arc without doubt amongst the flock.
Constance O'Connell.
May I, sorrowfully rather than angrily, correct a small hot vitally important misunderstanding which has just occurred in the pages of the CATHOLIC HERALD. The Latin word VIROLA or VIRIOLA (dim, of VIRIAE). certainly means 'bracelet'-but the English word 'ferrule', which derives from these Latin words means, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary. "metal ring or cap strengthening end of stick or tube; hand strengthened or former joint". The definition of FERULA. which is funnily enough. an ENGLISH word (though admittedly it derives from Latin), is: "(Bot.) giant fennel (-ula); flat ruler with widened pierced end for punishing boys, whence 'ferule'."
In addition. I would like to say a few words on the rest of the correspondence on this matter. With two exceptions, (i.e. a little over 25%) all the letters to date have been very much concerned with the unbelievably inhuman and barbarous cruelties inflicted upon any boy who happens to be in the unfortunate position of attending a Jesuit schnol. The let
VATICAN RADIO
Those who cannot pick up the Vatican broadcasts may, perhaps, be a little consoled by learning that the English-language programmes are not what one would like them to be. When such great and wonderful things are going on in the Church and the world, when the Spirit is blowing so vigorouslyand very much as and where He listeth l-it is disappointing to be put off with banalities phrased and spoken in, to say the least, undistinguished 'English. Rome is such a unique "listening post"! It would be such a help if the information could come out fresh. inspiring. crisp. pulsating with life. and not in the debased eighteenth-century. italianate court style which so indisposes the English listener. Then there is the question of technical efficiency: timing is poor: of the fifteen minutes, not more than 10-11 are used. Might I suggest that Radio Vaticana for its English service needs people with a flair for news, ability to write and a good radio voice and personality ? Why should not these gifts of God be used in the service of the Gospel ? If clerics do not possess them, why not employ lay men and women 7
Dom Gregory Bainbridge, TIungerford, Berkshire.
Since the introduction of VHF by the B.B.C. in 1956 most new radio sets have replaced the traditional short wave band by that of VHF. Although exact figures are not available, the British Radio Equipment Manufacturers' Association consider that the number of sets sold since 1956 with a short wave band is extremely small.
Of course, there are many old Sets still in use, but a rough estimate kindly given me by 'The Short Wave Magazine' puts the number of homes able to receive short wave as 6 per cent.
One of your correspondents has already remarked that the medium wave band on most sets does not include 196 metres.
So, leaving aside the vexed questions of good aerials, living on high ground. etc.. a more fundamental problem seems to be that the five wavelengths used by Vatican Radio to broadcast to this country do not appear on the tuning dials of the huge maiority of the sets used in this country.
D. T. Barton, London, N.10. ters ar C almost anti-Catholic in their condemnation.
would like to say that in my four years' attendance at a Jesuit prep. school I rarely, if ever, passed a term without experiencing this form of punishment-and, looking back. I find that I am very grateful, Please do not imagine that I am an 'old boy' looking back on rosy-hued childhood days -1 am only in the first-year sixth.
But I feel that other people who have been discussing this issue have regarded the ferUla as an instrument of torture rather than an efficient method of enforcing discipline-the lack of which, in our schools. especially the primary and secondary modem, is a direct cause of the rise in juvenile deliquency.
A. Everson, London S.W.20.
As one who received a good many ferules in my time, I feel that "Parent" and "Puzzled" are making very heavy weather of this business.
Personally, I found the ferule very painful and never graduated to the stage of "stoical nonchalance" mentioned by Mr. Crealock. However. all things considered, I am sure it did not cause me any lasting harm and probably did me a certain amount of good.
I never found it to be administered "unjustly or spitefully" as Mr. Holmes suggests, but I found certain administrators who could wield it with a more penitential effect than others. It is not necessary for a Jesuit in authority to explain or justify the case for using this punishment. Most sensible parents realise that corporal punishment is necessary from time to time and that It should act as a deterrent. To prospective clients of the ferule, I suggest they hold their breath as it descends and offer it up for the Holy Souls. Guy J. M. Collis, Leicester.