A French priest is in the spotlight after video shows him slapping an infant during a baptism. The video shows a woman, man holding an infant and an elderly priest in vestments next to a baptismal font. The infant is crying and screaming. As the infant does this, the elderly priest tries to calm him down by telling him to calm down.
After a while, the elderly priest slaps the child causing a loud gasp among those in the church. The man holding the infant looks at the priest in shock and tries to wrestle the infant away from him as the priest cuddles the infant's head on the side of his own. You can see the video here:
The video has gone viral and has gotten many upset. Some have even posted comments on social media saying that they would have struck the elderly priest back. I must say, the video is hard to watch but we must learn all the facts first. Moreover, decades ago, slaps were used to calm histerical people down. The priest being elderly was possibly trying to use this archaic tactic. I do not think he was intentionally looking to hurt the child. Then again, crying children can cause stress levels to rise in adult humans. In any event, no priest or anyone should strike a child. There are other ways to calm babies down. During baptisms where I have assisted, I have made funny faces or brought out plush toys to get a baby's attention and calm him or her down. He or she then got to keep the toy! Hopefully the parents in the video have made peace with the priest and vice versa. The priest definitely needs to offer an apology if he did not do so already. Too bad the video cuts off and we do not see what happened next.
Source:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/priest-slaps-baby-hits-child-france-child-abuse-church-a8410256.html
http://www.mynbc5.com/article/shocking-video-shows-priest-slapping-crying-baby-during-baptism/21762714
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/priest-who-slapped-baby-crying-12770025
A very good example of an unfortunate and clumsy outcome of adults caving to a screaming hystercal infant or maybe even toddler. The mother and/or father must have been overwhelmed and anxious not to have the good sense of knowing that you should not hand an infant or toddler to an elderly person, much less a screaming, hysterical child. Not a good idea. The priest looks 80 yrs old or so, and is probably on medication himself. Luckily the priest did not drop the child which could have been worse. Maybe some parenting classes would be in order. The priest may well be nearing retirement.
ReplyDeleteVery true. It takes a strong temperament and patience to deal with children.
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