In the middle of the night. When Mollie wakes me and I listen to a podcast. This time it was Antony Gormley talking, I have only ever seen his 'Angel of the North' from a great distance. I think from a McDonald's window if I remember rightly but he has style. So my ears cropped up when they mentioned he had been at Ampleforth College, the Benedictine Catholic school of North Yorkshire. I wondered if he had been taught by Madeline Bunting's father John Bunting at the school but no it was someone called James Tower a brilliant ceramicist, you can find him on the link. James Tower (1919 - 1988)
I had never made it to the college on its open days, though a neighbour would often go and visit some ponies who kept the vegetation down at some sort of heritage site. Also I had read of the sexual misconduct that had gone on in the college over a long period of time and how an Ofsted Report had (hopefully) nipped it in the bud, you will find relevant newspaper article links below.
There is a photo in the Telegraph article of the boys gathering in the hall in 1952, and I think the picture says it all, single sex schools and religion is not a good mix. All that is now water under the bridge.
Gormley came from a rich middle class family, his name, Sir Antony Mark David Gormley makes up the initials AMDG - Ad maiorem Dei gloriam = To the greater glory of God, his parent's choice.
As you will note if you read my blog, religion intrigues me, especially the strong Catholic faith which takes such a hold on people. I often wonder if it is a sign of weakness when someone cannot become a free spirit in the world and needs an anchor to lean on.
But I turned up a couple of blogs written a few years back, about this part of the world in North Yorkshire, so I shall record them here.
John Bunting an interesting man. North Stoke: John Bunting
North Stoke: Sutton Bank - the area itself, which is rather beautiful and where once William and Dorothy Wordsworth on a walking holiday came through Sutton Bank.
And the two newspaper articles
The man who saved ‘Catholic Eton’ after its devastating sex abuse scandal (telegraph.co.uk)
When a child is sexually abused, he or she will carry the memory of it like a massive weight till the end of their days. It is tragically ironic that so called "men of God" have frequently used their positions to mistreat children in the most heinous manner. Shouldn't they have been paragons of kindness and understanding?
ReplyDeleteOf course they should but the 'patriarchal' laws of the world, left these men with the knowledge that they were superior to others. They thought their deeds would remain undercover, and to a degree the Church protected them. The vulnerability of these children at these schools is heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteI have never met a lapsed Catholic who has no burden of guilt remaining from childhood. They should allow the priests to have girlfriends/boyfriends, then things might get a little better. Maybe not.
ReplyDeleteI think celibacy in the Catholic church was a wrong turn, allowing marriage would have at least fulfilled part of the answer. The Catholic church is a past master in the art of guilt ;)
DeleteThere have been popes with wives in the past.
DeleteMonks were called 'incontinent' when they had wives or messed around, that word has always amused me Tom!
DeleteI did not know Gormley was a rich f..er. He is quite a sculptor, for sure. I've seen The Angel four times. once close up, as my sister in law photo bombed a teen boys' mass photo shot. We gathered at the base of the sculpture for a family photo, The above mentioned sis in law slipped off the sculpture as the photo was snapped. Pull off parking areas have stopped motorists smashing into the back of cars in front as drivers slow to see The Angel of the North. I really liked his big person sculptures out in the sea, north of Newcastle. I can't remember exactly where now, but there was another public statue in London I liked.
ReplyDeleteThe ones in London Andrew are the four seated horses statures in the Thames. The horses have no face and the men are presumably modelled on Gormley. It reminds me of the Edwin Muir poem - The Horses.
ReplyDeleteReligion is interesting. Some people cling to it desperately, and I don't understand it exactly, but my theory is that for some, they struggle with something that they cannot bring themselves to admit out loud. For instance, homosexuality. They feel it is a sin, and so they try to counterbalance their own fear and self loathing by going into a career/ministery/calling that allows them to 'hide' and not be questioned about the fact that they have no women in their lives. And yet, yet...some things tend to refuse to remain hidden. Someone struggling with himself and suddenly finding himself surrounded by boys...what do they think is going to happen? Really?
ReplyDeleteSocial logic should have sorted this wretched business years ago. Children's homes were once in the frame as well. The protective element and all those commandments didn't actually work and the evil still stalks amongst us. Sounded religious then;)
ReplyDeleteSocial logic...I would love to think such a thing existed.
ReplyDelete