Why Millstones?

Above: The logo of the Congregation of Christian Brothers

"Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18: 1-6 King James Version.

So this blog's name has a suitable Scriptural basis.

Most of the child abusers who've inspired Millstones are dead, so Jesus Christ's suggested punishment for them comes too late.

The name also suggests the metaphorical millstones which continue to hang around the necks of abused people today, thanks to the brutal regime inflicted by the Irish Christian Brothers in the schools that they ran. Much of the physical and sexual abuse suffered by these people as children continues to haunt them, more than half a century later.

The crimes of Blessed Edmund Rice's disgraced Congregation of Christian Brothers have been well publicised in Canada, the USA, Australia, and of course Ireland, where it was founded. But there has been no specific focus on the UK schools where the Brothers imposed their rule of fear.

Edmund Rice may have been a saintly man in many ways, and many of the Brothers were kind and good teachers. But too many of them, unbalanced and brutal as they were, should never have been allowed to come into contact with children. For that, the Roman Catholic Church is deeply guilty.