Easton Area High School in Easton, Pennsylvania recently mishandled an anti-Catholic issue that emerged on campus. Though the school sought to crush any involvement by the Catholic League, it didn’t work.
One of the high school teachers has long had a bumper sticker on his car that reads, “Keep Your Rosaries Out of My Ovaries.” A problem occurred when a school-sponsored event was to take place in the area where the car was parked. Some of the Catholic teachers took their complaint to the principal, who, in turn, agreed to move the site of the event. But that is not where the matter ended.
The school newspaper, The Junto, interviewed one of the Catholic teachers and published a story about the incident. But it also published a picture of the bumper sticker, thus giving profile to the subject. In addition, the article made some untoward comments about Catholics. The following is the text of a letter that William Donohue sent to the newspaper:
| Dear Editor:
The December 13 edition of The Junto carried a piece surrounding the controversy over a bumper sticker displayed on the car of teacher Chris Magyarics. The sticker in question, “Keep Your Rosaries Out Of My Ovaries,” is a favorite among anti-Catholic pro-abortion forces. Instead of arguing the merits of abortion, they resort to diatribe, the effect of which is to silence debate.I was struck by the characterization of those who protested the bigoted sticker as “Scrambling to defend their Catholic beliefs.” Do Jews and African Americans also “scramble” when they respond to bigotry, or is this an attribute exclusively exercised by Catholics? Sincerely, |
Perhaps the silliest comment made by anyone was made by history teacher Judy Turner. She wonders “Who is to decide what’s wrong or right?” Is this how she approaches the subject of slavery in her class? That there are certain things that are morally wrong should be axiomatic, and among them are inflammatory statements made against religious groups.
This was not the end of the issue. The Junto, on the advice of the principal, refused to print Donohue’s letter. Unfortunately for her, news of this decision reached the desk of the local newspaper, the Express-Times, and they ran a story on the entire controversy. Indeed, the Express-Times, outraged at the attempt to quash the league’s response, ran Donohue’s letter on the editorial page.
This just goes to show that in a free society it is hard to keep the news from surfacing. It also goes to show what happens when dirt is swept under the carpet.
