Priest's Whipped Cream Initiation Ceremony Banned at High School

The News
September 25, 2012

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/113242,Priests-whipped-cream-initiation-ceremony-banned-at-high-school


The Salesian Society has said that pupils licking cream off a monk's bare knees will no longer be part of initiation ceremonies at a high school run by monks in Lubin, southern Poland.

Father Alfred F. Leja, chief inspector at the society, which supervises educational standards at the St Dominik Salvio high school in Lubin, said that initiation ceremonies involving a priest with white foam on his knees, with first year pupils kneeling before him, "crossed the boundaries of good taste" and would no longer occur.

Last week it was reported that the school had photographs on its web site of 13 year-old pupils kneeling before a priest, who had what TV Odra said was whipped cream on his knees – the school claims it was shaving foam – during an initiation ceremony for first year students.

The children appear to be licking the cream off the priest's legs in the photos, which have now been withdrawn from the school web site.

On the Salesian Society web site, the chief inspector writes that, after reviewing the case, some parts of the ceremony "crossed the border of good taste. In the future, this type of practice [...] will be withdrawn from school ceremonies. I express my regret at the suffering of middle school students who have been harmed by the interpretations of this incident."

The school maintained that the practice was entirely innocent had been going on for years.

Monika Sajkowska, from the Nobody's Child Foundation said the behaviour was "inappropriate" though not of a sexual nature.

"The children were manipulated into this. Limits were exceeded. But not, it appears, with any other intention other than having fun," she said. (pg)