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The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, died Sunday at the age of 78 after battling skin cancer and a bout of meningitis. McCourt had retired as a schoolteacher and was in his 60s when he wrote his first book, Angela's Ashes, which documented his family's misery in Limerick, Ireland in the 1930s. McCourt was born in Brooklyn, the first of seven children, before his poverty-stricken family returned to a house in Ireland with no running water or electricity. McCourt's poignant account of his childhood won a Pulitzer and sold more than 5 million copies. Below, read McCourt's last piece on The Daily Beast, about the movie Doubt, a power struggle over the first black student in a strict school in the Bronx—and the unique joylessness of the Irish Catholic Church.
"I can fight you," says Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman.)
"You'll lose," says Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep.)
The setting is a Catholic school principal's offce, the Bronx, 1965, and here is a nun talking back to a priest! Is she out of her mind? Doesn't she know the priest is God's direct representative on earth, that he holds authority she'll never experience? Her proper function, like Mary Magdalene's sister, Martha, is to wash feet.
What are these two celibates battling about? There seems to be a problem with Donald Miller, an African-American boy in whom the priest is accused of having an interest beyond the bounds of propriety. Or so says Sister Aloysius.
There was a time when nuns knew their place in the world and, specifically, in the church.
Take a look at Leo Carey's The Bells of St. Mary's. It's 1945. Look at the sublime Ingrid Bergman. In her all-enveloping habit you see only her face. That should be enough but you wonder, and you wonder if Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) wonders, too. In his presence Ingrid knows how to comport herself: you cast your eyes down, don't look Father in the face, you genuflect ever so slightly, you whisper Yes, Father, yes, Father, indeed, Father, and remember Father always has the last word.
In The Bells of St. Mary's there isn't a hint of impropriety. Sex is never mentioned. A priest is a priest and a nun is a nun and there's an end to it.
There was chastity and respect and respect and chastity and then John Patrick Shanley came along with a play called Doubt and a movie based on the play. He directed the movie and he knows whereof he speaks because this is an inside story that (I hesitate to say this) only Catholics will fully understand, particularly Irish and Irish American Catholics.
I am about to make a statement about ethnic Catholicism and if you don't like what I'm saying I'm ready to accept your challenge to step outside.
Here's the statement: Had this film been set in an Italian parish setting in the Bronx, or anywhere else, it would have been a different story. Shanley has written about Italians (Moonstruck) and he knows their priorities: drink your wine, eat your pasta, make love to your wife or anyone's wife and if there is a hell, well, what the hell.
The Irish? That's another story, and Doubt limns the particular joylessness of Irish Catholicism. There are dinner scenes where the nuns, dominated by Sister Aloysius, drink their milk and eat in silence. The priestly dinner scene is brighter: they eat their meat, roar with laughter, drink their beer. For these men wine would have been an affectation.
You don't have to be Catholic to get inside this film but it helps to have grown up in the Shanley milieu, to have heard the swish and swing of nuns' rosary beads and habits, to have sniffed the sourness of celibacy. Catholic boys and girls knew that if you didn't sit up straight, keep your hands on the desk and pay attention to Sister you were a candidate for a powerful whack upside your head.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Isn't the point in Doubt that Father Flynn may be a paedophile, rather than gay? There is a difference, Mr McCourt, and not acknowledging it makes you as culpable as the Church, which has often characterised all sexuality as repellent, unless it is enacted to make souls for the Pope. The Church has scorned sexuality to the extent that it can perceive no difference between joyous sensuality and the obscene and criminal.
The film The Magdalene Sisters shows how the Catholic Church ran Ireland much like the Taliban did Afghanistan.
This to me is why the Catholic Church is full of hypocrisy....how many times have we heard about these priests having sexual relations with young boys and it's generally covered up......WHY!!!!
Religious faith's of all kind I find can be very hypocritical....they preach one thing and do another, I don't feel the need to go to any church and have someone preach to me about right and wrong, when the chances are they are out there committing sins all over the place.
The movie is a parable about faith and the ramifications of certainty of one's ideas without the possibility of doubt. Vatican II stretched the certainty of a way of life for all Catholics, but especially clergy and religious (that's nuns for you non Catholics). One priest told me he was ordained on the eve of Vatican II and felt like he was trained to be a plumber and had to go out and work as an electrician. True discipleship requires us to move beyond our comfort zone, whether in clothing, liturgical language and music or helping the less fortunate among us. As for us miserable Irish it has been said "he had a strong sense of melancholy that sustained him through periodic moments of joy"
Pssst. It's a story. It's 'make pretend'. It is also a stunning example of Anti-Catholic bigotry and prejudice, rooted once again in Ignorance. A case of 'Rosieitis', wherein you embrace the very ideas designed to propser and protect and inflict them upon self. It is the rooted state of mind known as Self Loathing. "Pretty".
Not to be too terribly obvious, but yes a Nun would know all about seduction, just as every woman alive has always known about it. It is the 'enmity' between the 'woman' and the 'snake'.
What? No Devil Worshipping in this piece? You missed one.
"a power struggle over the first black student in a strict school "
What a strange way to describe the plot. I realize Mr. McCourt didn't write this intro.
But Mr. McCourt did describe a priest who may have preyed on an underage boy as "gay".No qualification there, McCourt seems to see the priest's hideous abuse of authority (implied in the text) as a "gay" thing. He makes no effort to distinguish between the terrible and immoral actions implied to the priest, and actual gay people- it all seems the same to him.
I used to admire Mr. McCourt, but my Irish family has been proved correct in their suspicions of him. He's a reliable merchant of Irish Catholic gothic misery, projecting his own sad life onto others, a certified expert in Gaelic religio-perversion.
As a gay Irish Catholic in the 21st century, with a loving and supportive family, I find Mr. McCourt's trafficking in maudlin, antiquated bathos and self-pity tiresome. And ascribing the priest in "Doubt"'s crimes to being "gay" is an insult to gay people everywhere who recoil in horror at the violation implied.
A rotten priest who molests a student is not "gay" Mr. McCourt. He's a criminal, and I'm very sad that your stage-Irish song-and-dance routine has brought you to tarring gay people this way. I'm sure you've got a good essay in you about actual gay priests in Ireland, but your insensitive tarring of gay people makes me wonder if you've ever lifted a finger to understand others' struggles instead of profitably wallowing in your own.
Yes, Irish American Catholics--great review, commentary, too.
I saw the show but have not yet seen the movie.
Wouldn't any decent person struggle, as Sister Aloysius did, with a suspicion that a priest might have violated a boy?
I saw her more as an advocate for him, one heavily burdened since all the responsibility for his safety fell to her. For that, I found her brave and strong.
You've nailed it. And for those who find your & Shanley's writings blasphemous & offensive,it's what we do in the free world-question & analyze with vigilance institutions like the church. Blind obedience is the lazy mans religion. Using our minds is what Jesus called on us to do. To free us from mental slavery. That is what the church calls us to do. That is what Shanley's play is about. Doubt.
NO RELIGION IS EVER 'ALL' RIGHT ' NOR 'ALL WRONG'
AND IF 'PERFECTION ' IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR , WELL, YOU AREN'T LOOKING VERY ......!!!
FAITH IN GOD IS A GOOD THING ALONG THE ROAD OF LIFE......!
SOUNDS LIKE MOST OF THE PEOPLE IN THESE COMMENTS ARE LOOKING FOR EXCUSES NOT TO LOOK...........!
NO, I'M NOT CATHOLIC --
I was a little girl in Catholic school at the time of the Vatican II changes. During my first two years in school there was Latin Mass, chapel caps for girls, and Benedictine nuns in their vast sweeping regalia. By the time third grade had rolled around there was a Folk Mass (complete with guitars), along with nuns in knee-length black skirts (which led to the rather jarring realization that the nuns actually had knees, shins and feet--they didn't really levitate after all). I have to say that I'm glad I experienced both incarnations. Because I was so young, I was most tuned in to the obvious cosmetic changes which came out of Vatican II. But I have often since wondered what it must've been like for the clergy at that time of great change. The pre-Vatican II church seemed more conducive to repression, to the keeping of secrets, to denial, to hushed protection. Did those with something to hide swallow hard when the "peripatetic" wind around their parish achieved gale force?
I have since stepped away from the church, but I look upon it with an ambivalent and bittersweet fondness--much as one might have for a brilliant, but difficult and complex, lover. And I will always owe a debt to the fierce intellectual example set by those priests and nuns who taught me.
At times when I'm tempted to go back to church, all I need do is to turn on the television to ETWN (Eternal Word Television Network) to get a flavor of what the more repressive and strictly orthodox elements of the church require. Sadly, these seem to be the folks with whom our current pope is more aligned. I appears I'll have to be content with my recollections of a more Golden Age in the church--which was in my distant past.
I'm looking. Check this out:
"a nun talking back to a priest! Is she out of her mind? Doesn't she know the priest is God's direct representative on earth, that he holds authority she'll never experience? Her proper function, like Mary Magdalene's sister, Martha, is to wash feet."
Did Frank McCourt not get his copy of the Bible in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
Fast Forward, The Last Supper. Jesus is washing the feet of his Disciples. His Disciples rebell saying, "master, it should be us who are washing your feet". And what did Jesus say? Huh? Well? Did no one notice?
And Jesus said, "He who is greatest amongst you is the one who renders the most service."
This apparently includes menial tasks, like the washing of feet. And, to instill the exactitude of his claim, Jesus dried his Apostle's feet WITH HIS HAIR, apparently not sporting a buzz cut at the time.
OH for goodness sake, ......the use of Mary Magdalene and Martha and the 'washing of feet" is to convey a sense that the sisters were expected to humble themselves in the presence of the priest (Jesus), just as Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha did.....and he is right. It was not their place to question, either the priest, God and his church. Just wasn't done back then and quite frankly, the average Catholic did not question either..
Vatican II changed everything.
Just to get the facts straight: Yes, Jesus did wash the apostle's feet but did not dry them with his hair, he used a towel. (John 13:5). You are confusing him with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who greased Jesus feet and dried them with her hair. (John 12:3)
Hi Spinozareader:
Luckily for us, John Belluschi got rid of the guitars once and for all in 'Animal House'. LOL.
I was a little girl in Catholic school at the time of the Vatican II changes. During my first two years in school there was Latin Mass, chapel caps for females, and Benedictine nuns in their vast sweeping regalia. By the time that third grade rolled around there was Folk Mass (complete with guitars), along with nuns in knee-length black skirts (which led to the jarring realization that nuns actually had knees, shins and feet--they didn't really levitate after all!). I'm glad I experienced both incarnations of the Church. Because I was so very young, I was most attuned to the obvious cosmetic changes that came out of Vatican II. But I have since wondered what it must have been like for the interior world of the clergy at that time of great change. The pre-Vatican II church seemed more conducive to repression, to the keeping of secrets, to denial, to hushed protection. Did those clergy with something to hide swallow hard when the "peripatetic" wind around their parishes achieved gale force? Or, more fundamentally, did some of them not even realize that they had something to hide? In other words, was their degree of denial strong enough to shield them from realization of their guilt if they'd abused those in there care?
At those times that I'm tempted to return to the church, all I need do is tune in to ETWN (Eternal Word Television Network) to get a flavor of what the more dogmatic and orthodox elements of the church require of the true believer.
I'll just have to be content with my recollections of a more Golden Age in church history--which resides in my distant past.
I'm one of those ethnic Catholic Irish-Americans.
I'm a non-practicising Catholic today. I miss many things about the Church and the laity.
I was also on the board of a Unitarian church and discovered even this proudly intellectual, non-religious religion suffered from the same worship of image and authority figures. There was a disturbed minister whom one of the members of the congregation, a psychologist, believed had a borderline personality disorder. As this minister wrecked havoc, the consensus of those in authority locally and nationally was to hide the damage best as possible, not remove the minister from their position, and allow this person to move to another congregation.
Sound familiar?
I also heard anti-Catholicism superiority from some of these same individuals.
I learned it wasn't the so much the Catholic Church as it is human nature to want to belong to a group that is 'better than the others' with a willingness to allow damage to innocents in the name of protecting that image.
@ Veronicaxy
That's a terrible thing to learn. I hope you'll reconsider. Life's better than that, hopefully for you too.
What 'innocents' are you referring to? Exactly ...
I'd just like to point out what a delicious writer McCourt is. Regardless on your take of his views, or this subject matter, this article sings along beautifully.
I think some are missing the point on the gay/paedophile debate. In 1965--especially in the world depicted in Doubt--there was not much of a difference in one being gay and one being a child molester. These two things were (and in the more ignorant minds still are) one and the same. So for the character to be understood as maybe or maybe not being gay would in fact be just as much a problem for the Sister as if he were perhaps a paedophile. Ignorance is a dangerous state of mind and it's one that many continue to live in. I have not seen the movie but I think Mr. McCourt is not confusing gay and paedophile as much as he is just stating that in the movie if the Priest were to be found out as gay, it would be sure fire proof that he did the crime.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
I'm an Irish-Catholic, raised just at the beginning of Vatican II. I'm also from Philadelphia, which was a Catholic Jurassic Park (while every other diocese implemented changes, we were years behind).
My experience of the church was never joyless. But then again, joy is only one of a number of emotions that the church intends to provoke. Part of its responsibility is to find God alongside all emotions - joy and sorrow, pride and shame, etc., the whole spectrum of human experience. What makes the church different from every other institution is that the church is willing to experience shame, and humiliation, and even fear - trusting in the God who leads us through them.
Of course, the Irish specialize in the shame. Somebody's got to take the lead.
To correct a common misconception: Mary of Magdala was a different Mary than Martha's sister. Sadly, even these women who are actually named in Scripture, end up rolled into one Mary. Biblical scholars have made this clear to each other, but not to the rest of the faithful. And, by the way, Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute either!
Dear Mr. McCourt, I grew up surrounded by strict French nuns i full habit all my life. So no, you don't have to be Irish to understand the "unique joylessness" of Catholicism.
As a catholic I am totally upset the way the church is going. Not all priests are gay. Say that I wish they would stick to the things they used to do like help the working poor, fighting or justice for the poor. Now they have become more like the evangelica churchs. This isn't the church I grew up in. This new Pope is terrible. He wants to set the church back instead move it forward. The church won't allow priests to marry because they don't want to lose their wealth.
I love Frank McCourt..not a very intelligent comment but I do! And I really enjoyed this piece. Alot of people here take this a little to seriously. CALM DOWN people. This is about a make believe movie..I think America needs to puff puff pass as ONE people and enjoy the Holidays.
Merry Christams everyone
I had twelve years of Catholic Education. All with Nuns the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Daughters of Charity. Some of them were tough all of them devoted to the children they taught.
Vatican II brought many changes. Many of them I regret. As many my age I miss the Tridenten Mass. There was a reverence when in Church that is sorely missing today.
As for celibacy, no Priest or Religeous enters service to God and the Church blindly. It is a promise to put self last and God and the People of God first. In todays world this is frowned upon and thought to be foolish. There are some Catholics and non-Catholics today who live selfless lives but not so publicaly as to set such an example as our good Sisters and Priests of the past.
frank, your comments are much appreciated !!!!!!!!! i read the irish countrymen in an anthropology class when i was in college so i understand your people's thinking ,somewhat !!!!!!!! it is a shame myth and ritual for irish catholics will never be the same !!!!!!!!!! it made others curious to learn about the irish's unwavering belief system !!!!!!!!! it was amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you.
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