Leave a Light on for Jesus
Vincent Cobb
Leave a Light on for Jesus by Vincent Cobb is a scarifying indictment of the Catholic school and clergy system. The protagonist is a boy, brutalised by his sadistic father and by the Christian brothers, and later sexually abused by the clergy. In the opening chapter, we are introduced to his austere school.
'St Joseph's College - or Holy Joe's jailhouse as it was commonly referred to - was situated on the top of a hill, on a main road, about a half mile from the Catholic church St Kentigern's and approximately two miles from Blackpool's town centre. It was a singularly depressing building, constructed of grim, grey, quarry-stone slabs, sometime in the last century. It was also a part boarders' college, and whenever Erin felt overly sorry for his lot, he only had to consider the plight of the boarders, who had no means of escape, to lift his spirits.'
Three of the characters are instantly recognisable. There is 'the Headmaster, Brother Woodhouse, or Woodpecker, as he was sarcastically referred to', a vacillating character who recognises that a boy in his charge is suffering abuse but whose ultimate solution is to try to have him moved to a state school. Brother Phillips (actually Tubs Phelan) sees the boy as 'a cocky little runt' and his teaching methods include beating the boy about the head with a strap. Some time after the setting of the novel, Phelan disappeared from Joe's after accusations of sexual abuse of boys. Another character is Brother Murray who, 'as a rule, cared for the general welfare of his pupils'. Murray struggles ineffectively to defend the boy, pointing out to Woodhouse that 'someone has to come bottom of the class', but his pleas are rejected by the headmaster, who seeks to place the blame for the boy's troubles outside the school, and exacerbates the boy's plight by writing to his father, accusing him of neglecting his son's education. The actual Murray became sickened by the attitude of his fellow Christian Brothers, and some time later left the order. Woodhouse's letter acts as a catalyst for the father's indignation, causing him to explode and perpetrate more violence, which obliges the boy to leave for London, where he encounters other abusers and other forms of abuse.
The text is often excruciatingly explicit in detail but the narrative allows the reader to empathise with the protagonist, who maintains a positive attitude, despite all that he encounters. A fine story and a good read, but not for the squeamish reader.