# Believable scene? Pregnant teen thrown out of parish church in 1950-ish Irish small town?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 11, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903 "2019-07-11T14:15:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/21 "2019-07-11T23:55:53Z")

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> [@Weedy](#):
>
> I think it could happen, but overall it sounds dramatised to me. For the priest to stop in the middle of mass, walk out into the congregation and start a one-on-one with someone, that’s not my experience of how mass works. Denounce ‘sin’ from the pulpit, sure. Abuse in private, sure. Humiliate, ostracize, send her away, absolutely. I think those themes are being wrapped up and presented in a single scene for convenience and impact.

Exactly. This the part I don’t find credible.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/22 "2019-07-12T00:08:10Z")

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> [@Weedy](#):
>
> I think it could happen, but overall it sounds dramatised to me. For the priest to stop in the middle of mass, walk out into the congregation and start a one-on-one with someone, that’s not my experience of how mass works. Denounce ‘sin’ from the pulpit, sure. Abuse in private, sure. Humiliate, ostracize, send her away, absolutely. I think those themes are being wrapped up and presented in a single scene for convenience and impact.

Good grief. Of course, it’s not your experience of “how mass works”! I’m not suggesting that anyone reading this board has ever witnessed such a scene.

> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> I’m not a military brat. But I am a Catholic, and I am old enough (older than the poster in question) to remember when umarried pregnant women were hustled out of the public eye one way or another.
> 
> The shaming certainly could have happened. I would question the likelihood of the priest in the novel violently dragging a woman to the altar. I really would. That seems unlikely.

> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> Exactly. This the part I don’t find credible.

But do you think such a scene is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE (not unlikely, because it certainly is _unlikely_) in a village in Ireland in 1950? That is the question this thread poses. Not unlikely, but _“could never, ever happen.”_

This equine is close to being deceased… Thanks for the discussion.

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**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/23 "2019-07-12T00:19:38Z")

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Of course it could happen. Priests in rural parishes were the ultimate authority in an otherwise destitute existence. Power corrupts, especially in the context of overall scarcity.

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/24 "2019-07-12T00:37:18Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> But do you think such a scene is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE (not unlikely, because it certainly is _unlikely_) in a village in Ireland in 1950? That is the question this thread poses. Not unlikely, but _“could never, ever happen.”_

I suppose we can’t say that \*anything \*“could never, ever happen.”  
But in Catholicism, the Mass, the Eucharistic celebration, proceeds according to \*very \*strict rules. The celebrant does not have the leeway that clergy in other Christian denominations have. He doesn’t have any, in fact. It is unthinkable to me, a lifelong churchgoer, that a priest, even the worst priest imaginable, would interrupt the Mass (the OP says “during Sunday Mass”) to violently drag a woman up to the altar.

I haven’t read the novel (and I suspect that no one in the thread other than the OP has either) – the actual text of the novel might make me feel differently. But, if the “during Sunday Mass” is accurate, I would probably still not find it all that credible.

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**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/25 "2019-07-12T01:07:16Z")

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> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> …
> 
> But in Catholicism, the Mass, the Eucharistic celebration, proceeds according to \*very \*strict rules. The celebrant does not have the leeway that clergy in other Christian denominations have. He doesn’t have any, in fact. It is unthinkable to me, a lifelong churchgoer, that a priest, even the worst priest imaginable, would interrupt the Mass (the OP says “during Sunday Mass”) to violently drag a woman up to the altar.
> 
> …

During the Liturgy itself there is, as you say, virtually no room for departure. During the sermon/homily, however, it is conceivable\* that the priest might get so wound up fulminating about immorality in general and sexual immorality in particular that he would behave in the manner described. Unlikely to be sure, but if there were a place to interrupt the proceedings that would be it.

\*ISWIDT

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/26 "2019-07-12T01:27:03Z")

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Right, the celebrant in a Catholic mass _does_ have some leeway, in the homily. And, heck, I’ve been at Masses where the priest interacted with specific members of the congregation during the homily (though always in a positive context, not like this). If this happened, that’s when it would happen.

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/27 "2019-07-12T01:35:19Z")

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> [@OttoDaFe](#):
>
> During the Liturgy itself there is, as you say, virtually no room for departure. During the sermon/homily, however, it is conceivable\* that the priest might get so wound up fulminating about immorality in general and sexual immorality in particular that he would behave in the manner described. Unlikely to be sure, but if there were a place to interrupt the proceedings that would be it.
> 
> \*ISWIDT

As I said, I guess we can’t say that anything “could never, ever happen.”

I think it’s entirely possibly that an umarried, pregnant woman would be shamed and humiliated. It’s even probable, in that time and place.

But the whole point of the Magdalene laundries, and the other “baby homes,” was to keep things quiet and out of the public eye.

A priest might rant and rave (during his sermon, as OttoDaFe and Chronos correctly point out) about unwed mothers in general, but to drag a woman up to the altar during Mass, even during his sermon? Never. A woman in that unfortunate position wouldn’t have been allowed through the church doors, let alone onto the altar.

I am in no way trying to exonerate the Church for its treatment of women, then or now.

It’s just that this little vignette doesn’t ring true to me.

But, as I said, I haven’t read this novel. Only a brief description by someone else of one passage from the book. Perhaps if I actually read the book, it would be more convincing to me.

Maybe I’ll do that.

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**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/28 "2019-07-12T01:36:49Z")

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When I went on long road trips I would usually go to Mass on Sunday wherever I happened to be, and sometimes, especially in remote rural parishes, those priests were _weird_. Of course the liturgy was the same, but there is plenty of room in a Mass for a presider with a captive audience to turn the homily into a rambling incomprehensible rant. But in the US, priests do not have the same power that they did in Ireland, where they were unassailable and enormously powerful because the Church sort of ate everything there. I think a lot of crazy nasty things could happen in that situation.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/29 "2019-07-12T02:09:26Z")

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> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> …  
> But, as I said, I haven’t read this novel. Only a brief description by someone else of one passage from the book. Perhaps if I actually read the book, it would be more convincing to me.
> 
> Maybe I’ll do that.

That’s how the book starts. Read some of the Amazon [reviews](https://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Invisible-Furies-Novel/dp/152476079X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KLDFJT0EL8NI&keywords=the+hearts+invisible+furies+paperback&qid=1562896861&s=gateway&sprefix=The+hearts%2Caps%2C286&sr=8-1) and see if you think the book would appeal. Here’s an except from one review:

> [@](#):
>
> I’ve cried occasionally at the end of movies - “The Royal Tennenbaums” is a real tearjerker for me - but I’ve never cried at the end of a book til I finished Irish author John Boyne’s “The Heart’s Invisible Furies”. Sobs galore as I ended a book magnificent in it’s [sic] humanity. Set in Dublin, Amsterdam, and NYC, it’s the life story - told in the first person - of Cyril Avery, born illegitimate to a determined 16 year old girl, and who is adopted by a rather peculiar set of parents. Maude and Charles Avery provide a home for their adopted son, but he seems never in their hearts or minds. But Cyril grows up, finally coming to terms with his homosexuality in an Ireland bound to the Church, where acceptance of sexual and societal non-norms is very slow to come. But society does change in Cyril’s 70 or so years of life.
> 
> This book just teems with sympathetic but real characters. There’s not a caricature in the bunch, nor is there an overwritten sentence. John Boyne’s book is long - almost 600 pages - but I read it in one 24 hour period.  
> …

Another review snip-- I see I made a mistake. She was ejected from the church in 1945, not 1950.

> [@](#):
>
> John Boyne is a wonderful storyteller. And here, he has a story to tell. At the onset, the table is set most cleverly – in rural Cork, in 1945, 16 year old Catherine Goggin is slutshamed from the pulpit from the church and thrown out of the parish, her home, the town, and left to make her own way because of the unborn child she has within her. That this is told from the viewpoint of that child as a man many years in the future is the first clue that this will be an unusual treatment of a fairly common topic. But Boyne has other fish to fry, and this is only the beginning. That child is adopted by an unlikely couple, Maude and Charles Avery, given the name Cyril, who learns early on of his attraction to men, and finds himself living in a society that will not tolerate this, and at various times of his life, deals with it without losing his sense of worth. Boyne’s subtle vehicle for explaining the Irish attitudes and misconceptions about being gay are presented throughout the book via conversations with other clueless characters, some of which boggle the mind in their ignorance. …

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/30 "2019-07-12T03:34:48Z")

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It would be an atypical experience, but there’s no shortage of those.

An upthread link mentioned the Magdalene laundries, which were the subject of a [very powerful movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318411/) in 2003. The film took place in the mid-to-late 60s, but the Magdalene Asylums operated from 1767 until 1996.

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/31 "2019-07-12T04:16:15Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> That’s how the book starts. Read some of the Amazon [reviews](https://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Invisible-Furies-Novel/dp/152476079X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KLDFJT0EL8NI&keywords=the+hearts+invisible+furies+paperback&qid=1562896861&s=gateway&sprefix=The+hearts%2Caps%2C286&sr=8-1) and see if you think the book would appeal. Here’s an except from one review:
> 
> Another review snip-- I see I made a mistake. She was ejected from the church in 1945, not 1950.

I clicked on your link, on the chance that the first few pages would be available for our perusal, but no such luck.

Still, you mention that the novel is written in the first person. If Cyril is relating the tale of his mother’s treatment at the hands of Father Hypocriticus, it could only be based on what he was told. If Catherine Goggin learned what was in store for her and her child in the Laundries, and ran away to escape that fate, she could well have spun a tale to whomever provided her refuge; a tale that ultimately found its way into Cyril’s autobiographical narrative.

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**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/32 "2019-07-12T12:44:28Z")

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Okay, I didn’t know there was a “dragging a pregnant woman to the altar scene”. That does sound extremely unlikely, but in an isolated community where the priest is viewed as God’s chosen representative on earth, and is allowed any outrage he wants, maybe. But still, not likely.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/33 "2019-07-12T14:42:32Z")

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> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#):
>
> Okay, I didn’t know there was a “dragging a pregnant woman to the altar scene”. That does sound extremely unlikely, but in an isolated community where the priest is viewed as God’s chosen representative on earth, and is allowed any outrage he wants, maybe. But still, not likely.

In the OP:

> [@](#):
>
> … a pregnant teenage girl is viciously and publicly denounced by the parish priest during Sunday Mass. He drags her to the altar by her hair, …

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/34 "2019-07-12T14:53:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **Saintly Loser** :
> 
> A priest might rant and rave (during his sermon, as OttoDaFe and Chronos correctly point out) about unwed mothers in general, but to drag a woman up to the altar during Mass, even during his sermon? Never. A woman in that unfortunate position wouldn’t have been allowed through the church doors, let alone onto the altar.

What does “not allowed through the church doors” mean? What would have happened if, despite not being allowed, such a young woman had entered the church anyway? I would say that the scene described is exactly what “not allowed into the church” would look like.

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/35 "2019-07-12T18:05:43Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What does “not allowed through the church doors” mean? What would have happened if, despite not being allowed, such a young woman had entered the church anyway? I would say that the scene described is exactly what “not allowed into the church” would look like.

“not allowed through the church doors” was hyperbole on my part. I was trying to convey my belief (and experience) that situations like this were handled in the dark, not by making a public spectacle of the unfortunate young woman, who would have been hustled off to some quite probably horrible place, out of sight of the community.

Let’s keep sight of the fact that we’re discussing a work of fiction, not a historical account of an actual incident.

This \*fictional \*account does not ring true to me. Were the same story presented in a well-sourced work of history, that would be a different story.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/36 "2019-07-12T18:13:06Z")

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An afterthought:

By the way, if anyone is looking for a novel by an Irish writer that deals with similar themes, I can’t recommend Sebastian Barry’s _The Secret Scripture_ enough. Barry is a fantastic writer. His \*A Long Long Way \*rivals _All Quiet on the Western Front_ as a (maybe _the_) World War I novel.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/37 "2019-07-12T18:46:48Z")

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> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> This \*fictional \*account does not ring true to me.

My counterpoint:

I grew up Catholic (in the US). I attended Catholic grade schools, and a Catholic high school. During a class in high school, I watched our teacher – a priest – storm over to a chronically misbehaving student (who was probably 14 or 15), grab him by his collar, yank him out of his chair and onto his feet, and physically pull him to the office.

As an adult, I learned of at least two priests whom I had as teachers at that high school who sexually assaulted multiple of my classmates.

And, as all of us have noted in this thread, the Catholic Church in Ireland was horribly abusive to young unwed mothers.

Is the scene in that novel fictionalized? Quite possibly so. Is it something that could have _never_ actually happened, as you (and the woman in ThelmaLou’s book club) believe? I disagree; even if it might not have been likely, I don’t see how it could not possibly have happened as depicted.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/38 "2019-07-12T19:13:40Z")

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To be totally pedantic about it, the first part of a Mass, with the readings and sermon/homily, used to be separate from the second part, the “real” Mass, which begins with the offering and includes the Eucharist. In ancient times, only the “faithful” (i.e., Catholics in good standing) were allowed to attend the second part. There’s a vestige of this today, where priests can deny the Eucharist to people who blatantly disregard the rules of the church, such as non-celibate gays or politicians who advocate abortion rights.

So, it’s perfectly _conceivable_ that a cranky old priest could let a pregnant, unmarried woman sit through the readings, and then berate her and physically force her to get up and leave.

Anyone who thanks no one would ever do that in public has never been taught by an old-school Catholic nun.

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/39 "2019-07-12T19:21:09Z")

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> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> …Sin and shame are useful in many ways.

One might argue that sin and shame are the basis for many religions, if not the driving force.

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believable-scene-pregnant-teen-thrown-out-of-parish-church-in-1950-ish-irish-small-town/836903/40 "2019-07-12T19:35:20Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> My counterpoint:
> 
> I grew up Catholic (in the US). I attended Catholic grade schools, and a Catholic high school.

Same. And I’m old enough to remember the Latin Mass.

> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> During a class in high school, I watched our teacher – a priest – storm over to a chronically misbehaving student (who was probably 14 or 15), grab him by his collar, yank him out of his chair and onto his feet, and physically pull him to the office.

I saw nuns do this, in grammar school. I had nuns do it to me, actually. High school, there was less of that, which I attribute to having gone to a Jesuit high school. My brother, who went to a high school run by the Marists, saw plenty of it. And the Christian Brothers were notorious.

But the classroom isn’t the Mass.

> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> As an adult, I learned of at least two priests whom I had as teachers at that high school who sexually assaulted multiple of my classmates.

None of my high school teachers were ever accused of anything like that, nor did I even hear any rumours about any of them. But one priest in the parish in which I grew up was accused, and busted. Yes, it happens.

> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> And, as all of us have noted in this thread, the Catholic Church in Ireland was horribly abusive to young unwed mothers.

All too true.

> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Is the scene in that novel fictionalized? Quite possibly so. Is it something that could have _never_ actually happened, as you (and the woman in ThelmaLou’s book club) believe? I disagree; even if it might not have been likely, I don’t see how it could not possibly have happened as depicted.

Still doesn’t ring true to me. And the scene isn’t “fictionalized,” it’s actually fiction.

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