And still they haven't got it!

glitabo - you sound like the kind of mother I had.

Eeuw! There's no way I would have licked any blokes horrible, hairy knees! Initiation ceremony be blowed. That's a pervy priest with too much power.

With you all the way glitabo [respect] emoticon.

glitabo much respect - you were absolutely right to stand up for your children

Those photos of a priest grooming children are sickening. That's no initiation game - it's a surefire way to introduce children to more intrusive touching, so they will think it is normal. To do it within a group setting tells me he's very sure of the children not complaining - they see one do it and think it's normal. What an utter bastard!

glitabo - good for you! You were so brave (and right) to stand up for your sons. I hope you don't still feel so angry that it affects your life, but I think you're in a strong position to help people to resist this kind of abuse of power, having been so close to it.

glitabo - you have every right to feel angry. Now it appears that the same kind of cover up took place in Australia for many years. No doubt there is still more to come to light. I wonder if the teachers in this priest's school in Poland had any qualms, but were too afraid to speak up.

I will try to do this politely.
If any of my children had been subjected to this I would have been incensed.
This is power gone mad. This is dominant, sexualised, deviant behaviour.
My boys went to an RC primary school in England and I chose that school for them because I knew it and it was preferable to the local primary school. However they also went to RC schools in Ireland and there, the priests were bullies. I had ongoing battles with one in particular who said that my younger son needed to have his spirit broken. I pointed out that he was a child and not a horse. My husband at the time was very worried that I tackled the priests and he was afraid nervous of any backlash. It was not done to argue with a priest but as a mad English woman I was not so intimidated.
What I am leading up to is this, the parents may be unhappy about this bizarre behaviour but because this took place in Poland, they may not feel that they can complain, as RC is very powerful in Poland, just as it was in Ireland 30 years ago.
It is many years since I left Ireland and my 2 boys are now men but I am still hearing about things that happened in those schools. Only very recently, one of the priests, that was there at the same time as my boys, has been found guilty of sexually molesting boys.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Unfortunately, there have been several cases of sports coaches abusing children and young people - it is a pity that this has resulted in such draconian measures. A little common sense would go a long way.

nana it's a world gone crazy. We were lucky, when we were little, raised by a single parent (mother) in the 1950s, we were very well informed about weirdos (my mom believed in open communication) and the only time someone tried it on with my brother who was about 5 at the time, he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him to tell on. And my mother caused such a rumpus, I still remember her putting her best 'picture hat' on to go to the man's house. My mum told his wife, the minister, his employer, the local magistrate (who happened to be her boss at the time), my grandparents, the school principal and anyone else she thought needed to know (there was no doubt about what he did being wrong). My brother was unaffected and years later that man committed suicide.

I have just looked at those photos and I will have to compose myself before I can comment.
I will come back to it later.

Naive - or perverted?

Surely, you would have to be almost incredibly naive to think this was a good idea in this day and age?

I used to coach gymnastics. Can you imagine the following scenario....
..... an 11 year old boy, doing a complicated vault, mistimes it. I, as coach, am trained and standing by ready to steady or catch or break his fall in a split second.

At what point should I ask permission to grab hold of him? Before or after he hits the floor?

Thank goodness I am well out of it now.

Aside from anything else, what a bizarre 'initiation ceremony', I cannot imagine either of my kids going along with something like this. On another note, my DS has just completed a sports coaching course to coach little ones, and in telling me about it he commented drily 'It's just such a pity that the creep factor crops up in everything' - referring to the fact that he has to ask permission of each and every child before he so much as touches them - not always easy to avoid when refereeing a lively bunch of 5 year olds running around in a game of 'touch rugby'. It's a strange old world.

I'm sure the do 'get it' Greatnan