My Blogger Blog and Me

I was born in February of 1948, and baptized on March 8, 

at St. Joan of Arc Church, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

My baptism day, March 8, 1948. My dad took this. I don't know why there were no photos at the church? Possibly because he could not find a camera, or lost his glasses? Nobody tells me anything. 

My dad was from Philly, but my mom was from Pittsburgh. They met in Philly, after the war, at a St. Valentine's Day dance in 1947. This picture is in front of my grandma's house, on Boudinot Street, in Kensington. I did not live in Philly after 1950 or '51.
                                                  
My mom and dad were both molested by Catholic priests in childhood. The "priest abuse scandals" were not news to me. I'd known about such things all my life.

"Only naughty children would say such things about Father."

And, not just Father, but - teachers, shopkeepers, aunts and uncles, older siblings.

Many people had access to children. There was no way to tell which of them were secretly molesting the kids. All of society was in denial.

Only strangers hanging around on the corner molested kids, so the "official story" went. It was never anyone we knew or trusted.

Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child, by Alice Miller. Freud started the "official story." He called it the infantile theory of sexuality, I believe.

My mom and dad hated the Catholic Church more than anything in the universe --- for good reason, of course.

In that case, then, how did I get baptized at all? I've always wondered about this, and as I say, nobody tells me anything. I think perhaps it was my two grandmas putting pressure, or something. I really always wanted to know this.

I asked my mom and dad, but they never gave me a solid answer. Just vague stuff, like:  "Well, that was the only religion either of us knew."

Okay, so why get me baptized at all, in that case? Which leads back to my two grandmas. My mom was twenty, and my dad was twenty-two.

Probably too young to openly defy their moms.