Managing Cork and fickle fans can make you cynical creature

An old religion teacher of ours sure knew how to make an introduction. 

Welcoming her class of 12-year-olds for the first time, she asked us who among the 30 of us were regular mass-goers, non mass-goers and those who attended for occasions. Because she had no time for those fair-weather Catholics (lapsed Catholics wasn’t her term).

The mistake she made was giving her opinion before calling for a show of hands. There were but a handful of brave kids who admitted they didn’t go. She thanked them for their honesty. The sheepish pick-and-choosers joined in with those who did go and held their lámha suas. When nobody confessed to being an indifferent attendees, she smiled almost with relief.