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Archbishop Aymond bans corporal punishment from New Orleans Catholic school
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New Orleans, La., Mar 9, 2011 / 03:29 am (CNA).- Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans said that a local Catholic school must permanently ban corporal punishment for student misbehavior, even though many parents and alumni support the practice.
“I do not believe the teachings of the Catholic Church, as we interpret them today in 2011, can possibly condone corporal punishment,” he explained to a Feb. 24 a town hall meeting at the Josephite-run St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. While parents have the authority to administer such punishment, he could not “possibly condone” the school doing so, the archdiocesan newspaper the Clarion Herald reports.
Since 1951 teachers and administrators at the historically black all-boys school have used an 18-inch-long wooden paddle, known as “the board of education,” to administer punishment to students for tardiness, sloppy dress or other minor infractions.
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The archbishop explained that he believes that “hitting a young man does not build character.”
“My image of Jesus is that he said, ‘Let the children come to me.’ I cannot imagine Jesus paddling anyone.”
Corporal punishment can cause unintended physical injury and studies indicate it can cause physical, emotional and psychological damage, including loss of self-esteem and increased hostility toward authority, the archbishop said.
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According to the archbishop, she indicated that the school’s corporal punishment was both excessive and unreasonable and the school did not have effective safeguards to prevent future abuse.
She also said that at least three students were taken to the hospital after being paddled. There were also instances of students being paddled day after day and more than five or six times a day.
Applewhite said that St. Augustine is the last Catholic school in the country to use the wooden paddle.
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I remember the ever loving <synonym for excrement> being beaten out of me. In grammar school and high school.
Good thing that weapons were not permitted in my house, I might have taken one to school for self-protection. Now, I definitely would.
Might doesn’t make right.
Maybe that’s why I’m a little L libertarian and dedicated to the ZAP (Zero Aggression Principle). No one EVER has the right to initiate violence on another human being. No matter how obnoxious they are.
And, in school, I know I was obnoxious. And, I knew it then. And, I know I still can be. One of my many failings.
Donna Nobis Pacem.
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