Mass at School

The information that I could find about this was that there was daily prayer in the school, but that mass was once a week for the students. I'll do some more sleuthing.

Interesting info about Parochial Education in Across the Years

from: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1817/Catholic-Schools.html

The years from 1950 to 1990 were a generation of crisis in Catholic education. First, there was the crisis of growth in the 1950s when demand for parochial education (due to the increase in the school-age population during the Baby Boom) far outstripped the available space. Then came the crisis of confidence during the social upheaval of the 1960s when Catholic parents asked themselves if parochial schools were necessary. Self-doubt in the 1960s was followed by the crisis of decline in the 1970s when devoted pastors and parents asked themselves if Catholic schools would survive. Although the answer by the end of the decade was an unequivocal yes, it was unclear who would pay the high cost of sustaining these schools. In fact, the economic burden of parochial education would be the predominant issue of parochial schooling in the 1980s.

Read more: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1817/Catholic-Schools.html#ixzz0Uck2fzIu

Nun Info

Here is some interesting info about the trial period of a nun and the difference between a nun and a religious sister.

Nun - Catholic

In Roman Catholicism a nun is the term for a female monastic regular, equivalent to that of a male monk.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, there are a number of different orders of nuns each with its own charism or special devotion. In general, when a person enters a convent she has a trial period (Noviciate) that lasts a number of years. Upon completion of this period she may take her vows. In the various branches of the Benedictine tradition (Benedictines, Cistercian and Trappists) nuns usually take formal vows of stability (that is, to remain a member of a single monastic community), obedience (to an abbess or prioress), and "conversion of life" (which includes the ideas of poverty and chastity) while in other groups like the "Poor Clares" (a Franciscan order) and cloistered Dominicans the three-fold vows of chastity,poverty and obedience are professed.

Nuns observe "papal enclosure" rules and their monasteries typically have walls and grilles separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave, though they may have visitors in specially built parlors that allow them to meet with outsiders. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams or candies or baked goods by mail order, or by making liturgical items (vestments, candles, bread for Holy Communion). They sometimes undertake contemplative ministries – that is, a monastery of nuns is often associated with prayer for some particular good: supporting the missions of another order by prayer (the Maryknoll order has both missionary sisters and cloistered nuns; and the sisters of Daughters of Saint Paul are supported in their media ministry by the nuns of Daughters of Divine Wisdom), prayer for a diocese, etc.

Technically, a convent is the home of a community of sisters – or, indeed, of priests and brothers, though this term is rarely used in the U.S. The term "monastery" is usually used by communities within the Benedictine family, and convent (when referring to a cloister) of certain other orders.

A nun who is elected to head her monastery is termed an abbess if the monastery is an abbey, a prioress if it is a priory, or more generically may be referred to as the Mother Superior. The distinction between abbey and priory has to do with the terms used by a particular order or by the level of independence of the monastery.

Nun - Distinction between nun and religious sister

In the Roman Catholic Church, "nun" and "religious sister" have distinct meanings. Women belonging to orders like the Sisters of Charity, or 3rd order Franciscans or Dominicans are religious sisters, not nuns. Nuns and sisters are distinguished by the type of vows they take (solemn vow vs. simple vow) and the focus of their good works. The type of vows that are taken is dependent on the Consitutions and or rule of each coummunity, which are submitted for approval to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life as required an organ Roman Curia upon the approval of the community as required by Pastor Bonus 108. The religious community of a nun is referred to as a "religious order" while the religious community of a sister is referred to as an "institute" or "congregation". Nun and sister are mutually exclusive religious paths.

To be a nun, one must

• Live in a cloistered community or monastery;
• Have taken the solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience (as opposed to the perpetual simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience taken by sisters); and
• Recite the Liturgy of the Hours or other prayers together with her community.

Nuns are restricted from leaving the cloister, though some may engage in limited teaching or other vocational work depending on the strictness of enforcement. Visitors are not allowed into the monastery to freely associate with nuns. In essence, the work of a nun is within the confines of her monastery, while the work of a sister is in the greater world. Both sisters and nuns are addressed as "Sister".

In common usage however, "nun" can be used to mean both nuns and religious sisters (as defined by the Roman Catholic Church), with "cloistered nun" used to refer to those who live in cloistered communities.

from http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Nun_-_Catholic/id/596735

Some Images of St. Nicholas (The Setting)

Click on the image below to see it larger.

Some background on the church and school: (from this website)

"St. Nicholas of Tolentine was established as a territorial parish in 1906, and its first Masses were said in a garage. Church records report that 127 people attended the first Mass. The parish is situated in University Heights, as the neighborhood is called due to the presence in the area at that time of New York University. This developed into an attractive, middle-class neighborhood, predominantly of Irish parishioners at the second stage of their mobility upward from poorer sections of Manhattan and the South Bronx. It was a thriving parish, in the style of the best Irish parishes of New York City, and was staffed from the beginning by the Augustinian fathers. An elementary school was started in 1907 and continues to flourish. A high school was established in 1927 but was closed in 1991 because of financial difficulties.

Construction on the present church began during the 1920s. The Lower Church, which served as the main church for many years, was dedicated in 1928. The Upper Church was completed in the 1950s and seats 1,400 people. St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church was consecrated in 1957."

Sista' Sista'

Okay. The Life of a Nun. Go.

Here's a rather cute website known as "All experts". I wouldn't normally trust it, but someone who seems to be pretty sure about the life of a nun who calls herself a sister has offered us some nuggets of truth, and so for now I will go with it. I re-copied her bit below.

"Dear Bev,

Ordinarily a girl must be at least 18 to enter the convent. Most Orders and Congregations today, especially active orders, require the girl have at least some college and life experience before entering. She will enter first as a postulant and remain one for approximately nine months (although she can be asked to leave at any time should it be deemed that she does not have a vocation or is unsuitable to this community). After this, the community determines whether she should be allowed to enter the novitiate as a member of the community. If she is received as a Novice, she will ordinarily spend two years preparing for first vows, learning about the comunity's history and charism, being formed spiritually, and perhaps preparing for some form of ministry. (One year of the novitiate is called a canonical year, since it is required by canon law. This tends to be a stricter year of spiritual formation and ordinarily there is no ministry during this time.)Thereafter, she is admitted to first vows. She may renew these yearly or every three years up to about nine years. At this point she must make final vows or leave. (Ordinarily people make final vows sooner than nine years along, but this is not necessary).

Today many religious continue to use their first or given names as their names in religion. They may also have a patron Saint and take that name in addition or in place of their given name. Yes, a young woman could keep Ayisha as her name in religion, though she would also take a patron Saint ordinarily. However, in some communities, custom would NOT allow a young woman to keep a non-Saint name, and in others, custom would not allow the young woman to keep her given name. It very much depends upon the community involved as to what happens.

Sisters today live in convents, apartments, in small groups or alone. Ordinarily she lives near her work and drives to and from. If she lives at a convent, she may work at the church there, or drive to another location for work. In general communities today have far fewer convents because there are far fewer Sisters, and because congregations cannot afford to keep them. Sisters do NOT live in rectories (despite TV shows to the contrary). Those are priests' homes, and they are not shared (except sometimes with housekeepers who live downstairs, etc). Nuns, (which are not the same as Sisters since they are cloistered) live together in convents or monasteries. They live and work there (and most often their main work is prayer). Some monasteries however, are those of active religious (Sisters), and they offer a number of ministries. Their Sisters live at the monastery, but work outside it.

Hope this helps some. If it raises more questions, feel free to get back to me.

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel "

Of course, some of this applies to nuns today, but a lot of the information (including the selection of names) is pertinent to the show.

Now for our character names.

Taylor: Here is a link to a website detailing the life of St. Aloysius.

And Caitlin: Here is a link to a website dealing with the life of St. James.

Let me know if there is more that I can do!

Sexual Abuse in the Church

Check out this newspaper article from the Boston Globe, which details the scandal involving a Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham in Boston, 1964. I've copied the first two paragraphs below.

"The departure was sudden, but if parishioners asked what had become of their parish priest, church officials had a tidy explanation ready: The Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham had been "working too hard" and "needed a rest," according to a three-page, handwritten Nov. 4, 1964, memo by a high-ranking Chancery official.

In fact, Birmingham had been hastily transferred from Our Lady of Fatima Church in Sudbury to St. James Church in Salem after two fathers and their sons reported the young priest had repeatedly fondled the boys."

Although it is in question, this priest's situation is similar to Flynn's- switching churches to cover something up, perhaps.

The Life of a Priest

The link to an interesting blog is here. It is the personal blog of a pastor of the Sacred Heart church in Virden, Illinois. His is of course one story of what one day in the life of a priest might be like, but I think he offers a fairly honest account. It seems like that when he isn't sermonizing/working with the church, he is taking his own personal time just as anyone else might. (Although I doubt Father Flynn would have access to a Nintendo DS).

Unfortunately the best things that I could find regarding the process of becoming a Catholic Priest are in the form of online articles (this one is from ehow.com). Things I think are interesting?

• You can either go to college or not go to college. If you go, seminary will be four years, if not, usually around eight. Did Father Flynn go to college?
• This article suggests that Priests will undergo background checks for sexual/criminal misconduct before they are ordained. I'm going to try and figure out if this is a new practice, or if it has always been this way (like in 1964).

I hope this helps!