Forty five years ago I spent the summer working
in London. It was my first time hearing Alice Cooper and ‘School’s Out’ was big
that year.
Today in Hastings school’s out again and I
was up in Sacred Heart to celebrate the Leavers Mass – the senior boys and
girls who are mostly moving on to St. Richards, a Catholic School in Bexhill. I
still don’t know if they call it Secondary School here.
I love children. And the whole school of them
was there, plus the parents of the leavers. Yet still I have to brace myself
when going into a school. Brace myself, dig deep and stretch myself beyond what I think I’m
capable of. It must be something unresolved from my own childhood, though I won’t
be going into that too much.
Asking the children what they remember from
their first day at school, one lad said that he felt scared. And I said that’s
what I felt on my first day. And they all laughed when I told them that I spent
the whole day screaming. Which is true! I never liked school from the first
moment to the last.
So memories flow once I start thinking! On my
fourth birthday Mam asked me if I would like to go to school. You could do that
in those days – just send your child to start school any day at any time of the
year. My response was an absolute yes. Not because I really wanted to be at
school, but I wanted to be with my older sister Maura. There was nobody else I
wanted to be with back then. Back then and for the rest of the time that she
was on this earth I had a magnetic pull in her direction.
When I got to Scoil Iosagain I was absolutely
shocked that I would not in fact be spending my time with her so I screamed for
the whole day. Screamed and kicked! I don’t know if anyone understands how
traumatized a child can be in such a moment. So I never recovered from that as
far as school was concerned.
In Shankill in the early days I shared some
of this with Miss Slavin, the Principal. My fear of schools! She listened and, like
a therapist she enabled me to relax and grow to love Scoil Mhuire. I’m coming
to love Sacred Heart too but there’s a time for adjusting.
At the start of Mass I asked the children, “are
you all happy?” and they responded with a resounding “yes”. “And why are you
happy?” I asked and one boy put up his hand and said, “because you’re here!”
What more could you ask for!
It’s a Catholic school but most of their
faces and those of their parents are unfamiliar, though it's important to acknowledge those who are familiar. And I wonder why it is that
people are so eager to have a Catholic education but don’t participate in thoe
Eucharist. I ask the question, not as a criticism but, my love for Jesus in the
Eucharist, my experience of Jesus in Holy Communion makes me want everyone to
experience it.
A woman in the parish goes to visit the local
hospice which was once Catholic but no longer is. When she knows that a
Catholic patient is near death she calls a priest to anoint, absolve and give
them Holy Communion. Each of these sacraments is very important and very
helpful as death approaches. On one occasion she could find no priest so she
herself brought Communion to the patient. Sadly, there was nothing she could do
about the anointing or absolution. When she mentioned it to the Bishop he told
her not to be concerned because “all of redemption is in Holy Communion!” That’s
a reality I like and I would love everyone to be in touch with all of the redemption
that is available to them at Mass. Not just redemption for the next life but
for now in this present reality.
I’m wondering how to get this message across
and I look down and see some of the children with hands joined, eyes shut and
focused. You know that something profoundly spiritual is going on inside them,
that they somehow “get it” and, maybe that’s it – that some people get it and
others don’t and it can’t be forced. Maybe we who get it are meant to live it
on behalf of those who don’t, as a kind of leaven in the world.
When the prizegiving is taking place after
Mass I’m gobsmacked at the number of activities children are involved in. One
of the teachers in his address said that sport brings balance to life and so it
does but spiritual exercise is also at least as necessary for balance. We allow
ourselves to become spiritually unfit while we pay great attention to being physically fit.

So school’s
out for Summer! One last thing! I went to get my hair cut for Brian and Jenny’s
wedding next week. The pricelist on the window said £9 and that seemed not too
bad for the little bit I have left. He’s a Turkish barber and an artist who
would leave Edward Scissorhands in the shade! He flew around my
head with such speed, yet not in a hurry. He took quite a while getting me in
shape. And the “piece de resistance” was something I never saw or felt before.
He had what looked like cotton wool on top of a longish stick, dipped in
something, set it alight and came at my ears with the flaming thing. He said it
was to get rid of the fuzz on my ears. And I’m all for getting rid of fuzz on
every level of life!
I could smell my singed ears and it still only cost £9.
Speaking of Edward Scissorhands – a couple of months ago I was looking after Katie and Laura. Katie said, “I know a secret about Dad!” “What’s the secret?” I asked. “I know his real name! It’s Henry!” “And do you know my real name?” I asked. “Is it Edward?” she asked. And with that Laura piped up, “Edweirdo!” “Yes!” I said “I’m Edweirdo Scissorhands!” “What’s scissorhands?” they asked. So I introduced them to a character they had never heard of before.
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