Catholic priest's advice to a fourteen-year-old girl

[chilipeppasbaby]

My character is a fourteen-year-old girl who migrated to Australia with her family from Singapore when she was six. Her family were Hindus way back when, but have been Catholic for generations. She attends a Catholic girls' high school, where she is bullied by other girls for being what they consider overly religious: volunteering to sing a hymn

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

I'd hope he'd tell her to tell the teachers, and take steps himself to ensure that bullying was stronbgly discouraged in the school, but alas, your story is set on planet earth...

[nineveh_uk]

Well, priests are not allowed to divulge anything said to them in Confession, so unless she gave him permission to tell her teachers, he wouldn't be able to do so. Priests cannot even tell the police if somebody confesses a serious crime like murder

[nineveh_uk]

He doesn't have to tell the teachers it's about her, or even in more general terms mention that he knows bullying is going on. But he could off his own bat decide to look at the school policy on bullying and take steps to ensure that it is both adequate and being appropriately enforced across the board (which in this scenario is clearly not the case). He could even, god forbid, lie: "I saw some children behaving in the playground in a way that concerns me. I won't identify them, but I think you need to take immediate steps about bullying in the school." If he thought it important, there would be ways and means without brining the girl in - she isn't a murderer, she is merely the symptom of a wider problem, and the problem is separate.

[nineveh_uk]

I actually misread your comment. I thought it said that he should tell a teacher, when it said he should advise her to tell a teacher, so that's what I was saying wouldn't be allowed. Sorry about that. I should have read more carefully before replying.
-Margaret

[deepfishy]

Just a tangential comment on your character's experience of racist bullying ("older girls chasing her around and gabbling at her in "African language," no matter how many times she tried to explain that she was from Singapore"): it's not impossible - lord knows the things bullies pick on can fly in the face of "logic" - but it struck me as odd for Aussie schoolkids to choose African over Indian (or Chinese/other Asian, depending on her appearance). I mean, at the very least we have a cricketing rivalry with India ;).