Sir, - Patrick Touher's article (October 7th) was a refreshing change from the ritual rubbish which has been written and spoken about the Christian Brothers recently. While Edmund Rice may have been a nice man with good intentions, the organisation which he founded was anything but that for tens of thousands of people who had to suffer their attentions.
To many, their contribution to education was a deep institutionalising of physical and psychological abuse. This sort of free education for the poor and working class of Ireland is something which I, personally, would deeply have wished to avoid.
To read the uncritical claptrap written about the Christian Brothers, and to listen to sanctimonious rubbish being broadcast on them and by them. has been very difficult to take. The only positive news I have heard is that only one trainee seminary remains. Perhaps soon this order can be banished into the distant memories of those of us who suffered under them in our formative years. Yours, etc.,
Dublin 7.