Courtney McGrailDear Editor, Mary McAleese has many welcome things to say in her interview (IC 12/11/2015). However, she would appear to be in error in the matter of corporal punishment of chwildren. You report her as saying in the interview, “I have raised the Church’s support for corporal punishment of children which is set out in the Catechism.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church sets out nothing about the matter. The only part which might be interpreted as supporting corporal punishment of children is a Scripture quotation from the Book of Sirach. “He who loves his son will not spare the rod… He who disciplines his son will profit by him.” (Sirach 30:1, 2)
This would have been a common interpretation in times past, when corporal punishment was seen as essential. Corporal punishment in schools was abolished in 1982; provision for such punishment in Irish prisons was abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1997.
In the Catechism parents are commended to “regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons”. They should even know how to “acknowledge their own failings to their children” – perhaps not such a common practice.
It is much more in keeping with the context of the Catechism to interpret the word “rod” as in Psalm 23:4: “Though I walk in death’s dark vale, Yet will I fear no ill; For you are with me, and your rod And staff me comfort still.” Rather than for punishment, the rod can be used for guidance and protection.
Yours etc.,
Pádraig McCarthy,
Sandyford, Dublin 16.