I think Mrs. Miller’s response made her realize how ‘cloistered’ her life had become. Since her voice (very similar to the one she used for Ethel Rosenberg but a tad less Jewish) would indicate she was working class and she been a wife/war widow before becoming a nun she had probably had more knowledge of the very harsh real world situations like this than some of her fellow nuns. The character is a great contrast with Sr. James, who seems more upper-middle class background and said she had always wanted to be a nun.
I can’t decide if more knowledge of 1)the truth 2)the character’s backgrounds would help or hurt the play. Clearly boys being molested by priests is something that Sr. Aloysius has encountered, but it seems just as clear that it was a very personal issue to her as well, possibly involving somebody closer to her than a student, and by her own admission she is not capable of ration on the topic.
So which possibility do you personally see in your interpretation:
1- Sr. Aloysius is an irrational bitch who converts her personal dislike of the innocent Father Flynn into a conviction he’s a child molester
2- Sr. Aloysius is irrational to some extent but because she really does greatly care about the children, but on the case of Fr. Flynn she happens to be wrong.
3- Sr. Aloysius is reactionaryl to some extent but because she really does greatly care about the children, but on the case of Fr. Flynn & Donald she happens to be right.
4- Sr. Aloysius is wrong about Donald but wrong for the right reasons, but Fr. Flynn does have something dark in his past that involves a minor.
5- 4- Sr. Aloysius is right and a voice of reason and Fr. Flynn, who is guilty as charged, is a forerunner to the “just keep them moving” priests whose scandals came to international prominence a generation later.
Personally I lean towards 4. IF Aloysius’s suspicions are correct about Donald then whether tis better to leave him in the situation until that summer or not is a situation that, to quote George Bush, “I don’t know, I just don’t know”. As mentioned in a perfect or even just usually fair world it would be easy enough to say “it’s a sick relationship, get him out of it now”, but in the real world (the one depicted in the movie anyway) his mother could well be right that it would be more destructive to take him out than to leave him in it. (Taking it away from priests and minors, most decent parents would not want their daughter to become a whore- not even a high priced escort- but at the same time, a high priced escort will have a better shot at happiness than any of a million other alternatives.)