Australian Jesuit And The Chastity Chariot

Double-edged mirrors

Chris Gleeson SJ
In 1967 I learned to drive a car in what the Jesuit university scholastics

affectionately called ‘the chastity chariot’. It was a rather large Commer van, capable of seating the twelve of us attending Melbourne University, all dressed up in our clerical blacks and neck-chafing white collars.

Every morning the gatekeeper at Tin Alley would greet the driver with a nudge-nudge wink: ‘How’s the family, Father?’ It gave him his first, perhaps his only, adrenalin rush for the day. Not long after I received my driver’s licence, with Jesuit friend Des Dwyer chatting happily to the accrediting policeman in the back seat, I was asked to do a four night defensive driving course with the Brunswick Police. It was excellent value. There I learnt how to use my mirrors to maximise the safety of my vehicle and its passengers. Mirrors can save lives.

Link to the full article (here)