This past week saw the release of a horrific report of abuse by Catholic leaders in Pennsylvania with CNN reporting
a grand jury report released earlier this week that accused more than 300 Catholic “predator priests” of abusing more than 1,000 children over the past 70 years in six Pennsylvania dioceses.
The outrage over the behavior detailed in the report has been growing across the Commonwealth since the release of the report, with a particular concern that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, now archbishop of Washington, hid what he knew about the abuse and reassigned predatory priests to new parishes, where they continued to abuse children as they had in the past.
A number of Pittsburghers are now calling for removal Wuerl’s name from the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, located in Cranberry Township, PA, 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.
An online petition has garnered 5000 signatures as of today, while vandals have started using spray paint to cover his name on the various signs around the school, just a few days before the start of the next school year.
While removing his name is fine and dandy, it is only the first step. Wuerl is just one person in a corrupt institution.
Would it not make more sense to also remove “Catholic” from the name as well and simply make it an independent, religious-free, institution? It is not just Donald Wuerl that let down the students, it is the entire religious education system that is a problem.
Stop supporting Catholic schools. Stop supporting Catholic churches. They are both harmful to your health and the health of your children. To state otherwise is putting your head in the sand and ignoring the real problem.
As to what we should call the school, let me suggest the “North Skeptical High School — A Religion-Free Zone” would be the best name and slogan for the building. Feel free to adopt it.