Actress Lara Flynn Boyle, the star of ABC’s “The Practice,” has told Vanity Fair how horrible her Catholic upbringing was. “I got a terrible education from the nuns and the Jesuits,” she said in the February issue. “They kept flunking me and saying I wasn’t participating. I grew up thinking I was stupid.”
Boyle also confessed that she “used to lie in confession all the time” and considers herself a “bastard” because her father had his first marriage annulled.
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had a few things to say about Boyle’s comments today:
“The fact that the Jesuits kept on flunking Lara Flynn Boyle is hardly reason for her to blame them. They were just doing their job. Would she have preferred that they lie, as she is wont to do in the confessional? No matter, Boyle’s self-perception—that she is stupid—may not be an easy pill to swallow, but it sure beats self-delusory visions of brilliance. She should at least thank the Jesuits for this.
“The Catholic Church does not regard the children born to a marriage that has been annulled as bastards, but the Church has no power over those who persist in labeling themselves as such. We suggest that Boyle seek out a member of the Marianist community (the Jesuits are obviously not a good choice) for remedial education.”
