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I actually went to a mix of schools; four different high
schools, a dozen or so grade and junior high schools...some were
public, some were parochial (catholic) schools. The last time I
stepped into a catholic school was in my first year of high school at
St. Benedict's High School in Matawan, New Jersey. After, oh, about
six months they asked me to leave, on the theory that I was
troublesome, asked impertinent questions, and had a tendency to poke
holes in whichever theological discussion was underway at the moment.
So I got blipped over to Matawan Regional High School, and stayed
public thereafter...though still getting into trouble from time to time
for asking too many questions and refusing to take "because I said so"
as ANY kind of legitimate response.

So yes, while I do have some experience with catholicism, I
wasn't in any way raised, trained or educated by those intellectual pit
bulls of religion, the Jesuits. The last time I had anything to do
with it at all was about the same time as the above incident, wherein I
was told, at the first session of this religious doctrination session,
that Confirmation was "the sacrament of free choice." I wanted this
clarified -- religious rules were always tricky, and you didn't want to
get on the wrong side of anything as positive as hell (to paraphrase
Christopher Fry) -- and asked, "So this one we can choose or not, we
don't have to be here, right?" The nun said yes, that's corr---

She never finished the word, as there was no longer a "me"
standing in the room, only a jms-shaped silhouette made of the dust
kicked up by my sudden and rocket-like departure, rather like a Warner
Bros. cartoon, which disappeared before her eyes.

Bottom line...I have *always* been a pain in the ass.

jms