CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania, August 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Though a picture may be worth a thousand words, one slash of spray paint sufficed to convey a message: “Take Cardinal Wuerl’s name off our school.”
In the wake of revelations that the former Bishop of Pittsburgh protected predator priests and shuffled them between parishes, over six thousand people have signed an online alumni petition demanding that his name be removed from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.
Today someone made a more concise request with a can of red spray paint, covering the offending moniker. “This [man] does not deserve to have a prestigious school named after him,” the alumni petition reads. “This will directly impact students currently enrolled in the school, but will also impact the legacy of the school. Not to mention those that were hurt while he looked away.”
The school, originally named North Catholic High School, began as a boys’ private academy in 1939 in the Troy Hill district of Pittsburgh. Founded by the Marianist Order, it first admitted girls in 1973. In 2012, the diocese built the present building in Cranberry Township, naming it after Cardinal Wuerl in time for the 2013-2014 scholastic year. Notable alumni include Kevin Colbert, now the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Luke Ravenstahl, a former Mayor of Pittsburgh.
Cardinal Wuerl needs to resign. Sign the petition here.
Signatory Joanetta Fetchko, whose daughter graduated from the school in 1996, wrote that the school’s name has been “tarnished.”
“It was a thing of prestige to attend there,” she wrote. “Now the school’s name has been tarnished. Remove Bishop Wuerl’s name.”
“Just take it back to ‘North Catholic’,” suggested Terry Hennessy. “It's very simple. This isn't a football stadium with ‘naming rights’.”
“I am signing because I was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area and it sickens me to know that these children were abused and those abusers were protected by the church,” wrote Joyce Gardner. “To me, hiding this abuse is every bit as bad as committing it. Shame on Wuerl and all of those ‘men’ he protected.”
“Class of 1970,” wrote John Beierle, reporting in. “The name should never have been changed in the first place, but big donor money talks. Now there is a great reason to remove the Wuerl name and the shame that goes with it. ‘Forever true to the North Catholic High.’”
Another signatory mentioned that her own husband had been abused at North Catholic High.
“My husband graduated from North Catholic High over 50 years ago but the abuse he suffered there impacts him still today,” she wrote.
Eight Marian brothers who worked at the school have been accused of abusing minors. They were named Brother Bernard Hartman, Brother James Kline, Brother Joseph Binder, Brother Julius May, Brother William Charles Hildenbrand, Brother Francis Meder, Brother Ralph August Mravintz, and Brother John Keegan.
Despite calls for Wuerl to resign as the Archbishop of Washington, the Cardinal shows no sign of stepping down. He has, however, cancelled his appearance at the World Meeting of Families in Ireland. The Cardinal was to deliver the keynote address at the event. His theme would have been “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World.”