Diocese makes right call in ending football season
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh made the right call in pulling the Central Catholic High School team from the playoffs. The decision was made this week following the filing of criminal charges against two players who are alleged to have sexually assaulted a team member following an August practice session.
The incident involves a claim that two players restrained a teammate and slapped him in the face with their penises, an act that is so defile, disgusting and humiliating for even adolescent pranksters.
Where were the coaches when this is said to have taken place? Where were the coaches and the school’s principal when the victim and his parents reported in detail what had occurred. The school claims that it considered the incident “hazing” and an incident of “alleged physical abuse” but nothing criminal and certainly not sexual assault. Further that team members were interviewed as a group and as individuals and denied any knowledge.
The school let it go. The parents did not. Once police were contacted, other team members came forward to say what they knew or witnessed. Charges were quickly filed.
How seriously did the school take this charge? It almost seems as though the initial questioning of the team was on the lines of “You didn’t see anything, did you? Good.”
Once the school and diocese were confronted with the results of the criminal investigation and with the complicity of other team members involved in the cover-up or who failed to help the boy, there was no other choice than to do what was done. End the football season.
This has angered other football parents – who even attempted to entice a federal judge to intervene – who reason their sons are being punished for the actions of others. They are wrong. These kids play as a team. Win as a team. Lose as a team. And acted as a team.
They need to listen carefully to what the Rev. Kris D. Stubna, the diocese’s secretary for education, had to say. “While sports may be important, personal integrity and the moral foundation of a Catholic school is far more important to us. And our investigation has led us to find that some of the basic principles of Christian decency and the gospel value that are the foundation and the reason Catholic schools exist have been violated – that’s integrity, honesty and respect for others.”