Seven years ago a little boy in the Philadelphia area died of a seizure. This year his mother decided she wanted to show her gratitude to everyone at St. Anselm’s who has been so nice to her; the boy would have graduated from St. Anselm’s this past June. She wanted to award $500 in savings bonds to ten deserving graduation students. The problem was that she wanted to select the students; school policy says the faculty decides all awards. She was therefore denied her request.
This is akin to a family quarrel. But our point is that no matter what side one takes, this is a question for the parishioners at St. Anselm’s. It is most certainly not the business of the local newspaper (in this case, the Northeast Times). Reporting on the controversy is one thing, but taking an editorial position on this issue (they sided with the woman and blasted the parish) is quite another.
This is a straight case of house rules. In response to our criticism, the newspaper said it had a legal right to issue the editorial. How pitiful. That was never our point and they know it.
