The Long Ripples of Thoughtlessness

The motto reads: "Overcome evil with good."

Catholic Memorial is an all-boys high school in the West Roxbury section of Boston and this March the local media was abuzz with reports some of its students shouted anti-Semitic chants during a basketball game.  The first few headlines appeared to place all the blame squarely on the school's fans and the story was quickly shared among a few of my more liberal Facebook friends.  Some of them used the news as ammunition to bash the Church while others were genuinely worried anti-Semitism was part of Catholic Memorial's curriculum.  A closer look at the situation would reveal a pattern of escalation from fans of both teams but this was cold comfort to those who were shocked by such offensive remarks.

The opposing team was from Newton North High School which is located in a community with a sizable Jewish population.  During these games, there's an accepted tradition among student fans to chant at their rivals in order to rattle the players and sometimes remarks can get offensive.  After trading a few harmless barbs, the Newton North kids decided to take it up a notch by shouting at the all-boys Catholic Memorial, "Where are your girls?”  They also hurled the term “sausage fest" at their opponents.  Now the gloves were off and Catholic Memorial fans responded by chanting, "You killed Jesus!"  With that, a line had been crossed and in the minds of many, it was no longer harmless mischief but hate speech.

Catholic Memorial's faculty quickly reprimanded the students and made them apologize and shake hands with the principal of Newton North at the end of the game.  In their zeal to criticize all things Catholic, some people conveniently glossed over the opposing team's "sausage fest" remark.  Perhaps that chant wasn't considered offensive enough but the principal of Newton North later discussed with his students their role in the incident.  Subsequent news stories would report these details more thoroughly but the damage was done.

Sin often has far-reaching effects even if we don't think so and what seemed like harmless fun at a basketball game would cause a great deal of embarrassment for the Boston Archdiocese.  The day before, Cardinal Sean O’Malley had called on Catholics to gain a deeper awareness of the Jewish faith when he celebrated the Second Vatican Council’s denunciation of anti-Semitism at Temple Emanuel in Newton.

On a personal level, I found myself having to reassure one of my Jewish acquaintances that anti-Semitism isn't taught in Catholic churches or schools.  I was actually in my twenties when I first heard the term "Christ killer" but it was during a discussion of religious intolerance on the PBS show The McLaughlin Group.  Why the student fans of Catholic Memorial so quickly resorted to using this anti-Semitic slur is something parents and faculty of those involved need to ask themselves.

It's safe to say sports are a big deal to many high school students and this was very evident during my years at Bishop Fenwick.  Not only did sports foster teamwork and discipline among my fellow classmates but also entitlement and cruelty.  Crowds can get so easily swept up in the mob mentality of team spirit and one only needs to watch news reports of the occasional post-game riot to realize that even fans of professional sports sometimes cross a line.  On a visceral level, the manhood of Catholic Memorial's players was insulted so their student fans decided to fight dirty.  Did they have a deep-seated hatred of Jews or was it just their way of hitting Newton North below the belt?  Only they know what was truly in their hearts at that moment.

We can do some pretty dumb and hurtful things in our teens…things we'd hate to be held accountable for later on in life.  However, if religious schools are going to promote a higher standard, then we need to expect a lot better from their students.