Is the Boston Archdiocese stealing from children?
By DAVID BERNSTEIN | March 3, 2006
The Boston Archdiocese is closing the South Boston parish of St. Peter, and along with it the St. Peter School. But that’s not all. The Archdiocese is also taking all the money local parents raised for the school through cupcake sales, face-painting booths, and costume contests.
The first document here is the school’s bank statement as of April, 2004, showing a balance of $150,261.66. The Archdiocese planned to transfer that money to its central fund. But last year, parents from the St. Peter School filed a lawsuit to claim the money. The second document here, a flyer for the school’s 2002 Spring Festival, is from an inch-thick stack of posters describing all manner of fun and frolic held by the school, most of which promise that “All proceeds . . . will benefit the students of St. Peter School.”
That promise, the parents claim, is a contract that legally prevents the Archdiocese from taking the money and using it for other purposes. So far, though, the parents’ suit has been stalled, and the Archdiocese has repeatedly been granted extensions in filing its response to the suit.
Related:
The real meaning of the Diocesan property sale, Continuing homophobia, Not kidding, More 
- The real meaning of the Diocesan property sale
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence last week announced that it will sell several Rhode Island properties.
- Continuing homophobia
Deirdre Fulton's and Shay Stewart-Bouley's comments and Seth Berner's letter on the Marriage Equality Act repeal are insightful. I would add another perspective.
- Not kidding
While the battle over same-sex marriage dominates the headlines in the ongoing struggle for gay-and-lesbian equality, many other battles are just as important, if not more so.
- Clerical error
Oliver O’Grady, “Father Ollie,” the pastor of a Catholic Church in a bucolic, tight-knit Northern California community, would have felt at home in The Bells of St. Mary’s . Watch the trailer for Deliver Us from Evil (QuickTime)
- Condi’s BC gig
Conservatives want us to think that the flap over Condoleezza Rice’s upcoming Boston College gig is another example of the Loony Left's campus excesses.
- The problem with the Pope’s new list of deadly sins
The pope recently declared obscene riches, pedophilia, and causing social injustice as three of the newest deadly sins.
- New church sex abuse film rings familiar
In Amy Berg’s haunting new documentary, Deliver Us From Evil , the first-time director gets a convicted pedophile to talk in disturbing detail about the molestation acts he committed during his 22-year span as a priest in the Catholic Church. Watch the trailer for Deliver Us from Evil (QuickTime)
- Communion shouldn’t be based on politics
Catholic priests call themselves “vicars of Christ,” so those giving communion need only recall Christ’s forgiveness of a thief on an adjacent Calvary cross, and ask, “What would Jesus do?”
- Bully pulpit
While I understand, appreciate, and respect the First Amendment and our right to speak freely, in the case of bullying, Harvey Silverglate makes a dangerous assumption that “civilized people, even teenagers can intuit the difference between protected speech and criminal harassment.”
- Queering the Code
With close to 60 million copies in print worldwide and a film version starring Tom Hanks opening on May 18, The Da Vinci Code is a galloping success.
- The keys to Heaven can make for good fundraising
- Less
Topics:
The Document
, Culture and Lifestyle, Religion, Christianity, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Religion, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Archdiocese of Boston, Less
