"Reverend Mother, I have sinned"-Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp
At the end of a conference with a parent of an unruly student, I not-so-casually mentioned to her that her child used Church as an excuse for not doing his homework.
Well, she wasn't pleased about him using Jesus as an excuse to not do his work, so I used her displeasure as fuel to make her child feel guilty. Yes, I used religion to make someone feel guilty. So what! The Vatican does it.
After the conference, when I picked her son up to go to class with me, I explained what we talked about with his mom and how she was displeased and at her wit's end. After volleying back and forth what I thought he should do and what he thought he actually did, I decided to change direction. So I quickly brought up Church and how he was using Jesus as an excuse to not do his homework. He then responded that Jesus was not the Church, so I shot back that he prays to Jesus in Church. Therefore, the Church is Jesus.
He teared up, and that's when I knew I'd gotten to him.
Do I feel guilty? No.
Was I desperate and grabbing at straws? Yes.
You do what you have to do.
4 comments:
I've tried:
"Everytime you open your mouth while I'm talking you make the baby Jesus cry, you know."
Never quite works, however.
:)
Guess who had his homework today? My church going student! It's only the first day. We'll see how it goes from here.
ah...the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Amen.
You didn't do anything wrong. You were just being Catholic.
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