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Faith of Our Feminists by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 22, 2008 One of the oddities of modern-day Catholic higher education, particularly in institutions run by Jesuit priests, is that Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues seems to be more ubiquitous on such campuses than Nativity scenes or Crucifixes. Recently, Rev. Kenneth Himes, OFM, explained how the Theology department at Boston College came to sponsor such a production. In comments to Michael Reer, editor-in-chief of The Observer, the Catholic newspaper at BC, Rev. Himes laid out his rationale for giving the show the go-ahead at BC. His comments did not make it into...

Need help. Pastor at our church pulled aside a friend of ours to form a quiet committee to rebuild a religion curriculum from the ground up. She gave him a list of people she thought would be good to have in the group and she named my wife and I, among others. Looking for recommendations, sources, ideas, anything you think ought to be considered for a Roman Catholic Religion Curriculum. Current curriculum has silly nonsense in it, i.e. "a family is any group of people living together". I hate it when they sacrifice God's ethos in the name of His...

MOVES to build a Catholic school in Camden, in Sydney's south-west, have been welcomed by the same community group which vocally opposed plans for a Muslim school. The president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents Group, Emil Sremchevich, told Fairfax the Catholic plan "ticks all the right boxes", even though he was yet to see its development application. "Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone," Mr Sremchevich told Fairfax. "To become part of the community, you need to live in the community. You can't just turn up." Mr Sremchevich said he was not...

My old Catholic elementary school has been struggling, and that's not good for anybody. St. Germaine School in Pittsburgh, Pa. will merge with another Catholic school because of declining enrollment at both schools. St. Germaine's enrollment dropped from 172 students just six years ago to 86 this year. Sister Dale McDonald, Director of Public Policy and Education Research at the National Catholic Educational Association, told me that declining enrollment is a national trend. Though there is some growth in the South and the West, Catholic schools are shutting down at the rate of more than 100 per year. Why? Catholic...

Toronto Catholic School Board Bows to Secularism Commentary on inclusion of "sexual orientation" in Board's Workplace Harassment policy By Fr. Alphonse de Valk, editor Catholic Insight magazineFrom Oct. 2007 edition of Catholic Insight TORONTO, October 4, 2007 (catholicinsight.com) - Just before Catholic Insight went to press with its September edition, on August 15 we learned that in May 2007, the Toronto District Catholic School Board (TCDSB), in its document Workplace Harassment, had moved to prohibit all teachers and staff from complaining or objecting to "same-sex partner status." It turns out that two other unacceptable prohibitions had previously been imposed already;...

Ontario Premier Scandalized Catholic Students, Says Leading Catholic Magazine Editor "Particularly offensive" that McGuinty says he can remain Catholic in good standing while advocating abortion and same-sex "marriage" September 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With statements made on Sept. 17 at a Markham Catholic high school that his so-called "private" Catholic faith does not determine his positions on public policy, Premier Dalton McGuinty scandalized his youthful audience, says the editor of Canada's leading Catholic magazine of news and opinion.  "There is no such thing as a 'private' Catholic faith," says Father Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight magazine. "From the...

Breaking NewsDevice Explodes On Merseyside Updated: 18:28, Friday September 21, 2007 A device has exploded at a school in Liverpool, according to Merseyside police. It went off under a car outside St Edward's, a Catholic school in the Sandfield Park area of West Derby. Sky News correspondent Mike McCarthy said roads near the school had been blocked off by police. Inspector Michael O'Callaghan said: "There was an explosion under a car at the school this afternoon." "What caused the explosion and the reasons behind it we are investigating. "Nobody has been injured and there has been no collateral damage," he...

Ontario Bishops Warns Catholic Trustees Against HPV Vaccine - Second Board Delays Vaccination Program Halton District School Board to vote Tuesdya on motion opposing HPV vaccination  By John-Henry WestenBURLINGTON, September 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a September 13 letter to Catholic trustees and parents in the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB), Hamilton Bishop Anthony Tonnos has warned against the introduction of the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine.  The letter, sent with his signature, was drafted at a September 10 meeting of the Ontario Bishops Conference following a request from Catholic school boards.By order of the Ontario Liberal Government, the vaccines...

Ontario City's Catholic Trustees Oppose HPV Vaccination in Schools, Stall Implementation By John-Henry Westen SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, September 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Elected trustees of the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (H-SCDSB) have objected to implementing a plan to vaccinate girls in the Board's Catholic schools with the controversial HPV vaccine.  The recently developed HPV vaccine is designed to prevent the sexually transmitted disease Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer.  HPV is not preventable with condom use.  The vaccine has had little long-term testing and is thus of concern to some health-care professionals. "This is...

Ontario Catholic School Board Approves Referrals to Gay-Activist Therapist, Censors Right to Life Material Also Approves "National Day Against Homophobia" and PFLAG pamphlets By Elizabeth O'Brien and John-Henry Westen WATERLOO, August 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Minutes of meetings of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) Family Life Advisory Committee (FLAC) reveal that the Catholic board has undertaken activities that seriously contradict Catholic teaching. Despite Catholic teaching opposing homosexual acts, the board has approved referral of Catholic students to homosexuality-promoting therapists and organizations. In the January 25, 2006 meeting minutes, published on the WCDSB website, the FLAC approved the referral...

The University of St. Thomas today said it will not let staff or faculty who travel officially with students share a room on those trips with an unmarried partner. The decision by St. Thomas President Rev. Dennis Dease, posted on the St. Thomas Web site this morning, puts into policy the university's position. But it's unlikely to end the controversy that's divided the campus the past few months. While the travel policy affects only a few professors, it became a flashpoint on campus after two professors who live together as unmarried, heterosexual partners were told in December they could travel...

TFP Student Action launches Pray for Notre Dame. Join thousands of concerned students and parents in prayer and reparation. So many students and parents had trusted Notre Dame’s new president, Fr. John I. Jenkins, would restore moral order on campus by stopping two blatant anti-Catholic events from occurring year after year: “Queer Film Festival” and “V-Monologues.” However, hopes that Notre Dame would ban immoral events were shattered on April 5, when Fr. Jenkins issued a statement allowing pro-homosexual film festivals or events to continue at Our Lady’s university. Fr. Jenkins said, “[I] see no reason to prohibit performances of 'The...

For decades New Orleans has suffered from attitudes that have contributed to the malaise that has kept it from prospering. After Katrina, New Orleans needs to rebuild its homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and other institutions. But we also need a new way of thinking, an attitude adjustment, for a rebuilt New Orleans. I told our reunited student body on the first day back at Jesuit High School that each of them had a special calling to contribute to rebuilding our great city. All New Orleanians are called upon to change. A great event such as this hurricane should not leave...

(Bridgeport-AP, Oct. 15, 2005 11:20 AM) _ A teacher at Kolbe-Cathedral High School in Bridgeport has been fired for refusing to display an American flag in his classroom. Stephen Kobasa says he's never seen a new diocese policy on the flag in writing. He says displaying the flag violates a deeply held religious conviction that flags are about separation, assertions of superiority and aggression. Kobasa says he offered a compromise in which he agreed to display the flag at the start of the school day so students could say the Pledge of Allegiance if they wanted. Then he would remove...

A drama teacher at a Catholic high school in Sacramento was fired Thursday after church officials learned she had previously volunteered at an abortion clinic, school officials said Friday. Marie Bain, 50, of Sacramento, who had taught at Loretto High School since August, was dismissed after a student's parent obtained pictures showing Bain escorting people into a Planned Parenthood clinic last spring. The pictures were delivered to Bishop William K. Weigand, head of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, who outlined the decision to terminate Bain in an Oct. 5 letter to the president of the all-female school. "Obviously, the very...

Sex Scandal Rocks Catholic HighCOLONIE, N.Y., August 2, 2005 A female teacher at a Catholic high school in Albany, N.Y., allegedly had sex with a male student and, Judy Sanders of CBS affiliate WRGB-TV in Albany on The Early Show, he's not the only one with whom she's said to have had relations. Beth Geisel, a 42-year-old Christian Brothers Academy writing instructor, mother of four and wife of a bank president, said nothing as she surrendered to face charges of raping a 16-year-old male student last May. Police say she had sex with the boy once at her home...

Some white students at a South Jersey Catholic school walked out of classes Tuesday in protest over a speech by the New Jersey Secretary of State Regina Thomas. Tensions have been building up at Paul VI High School since Thomas' speech on racial justice last week.

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. -- Charges were dismissed Monday against a 69-year-old nun who had been accused of threatening to knock out the teeth of a student she was disciplining for leaving class without pernission.Louis Faccone, whose 11-year-old son was sent to see Sister Catherine Iacouzze, the assistant principal and disciplinarian at St. Cecelia School, withdrew the harassment charge he had filed against the nun in munincipal court.The Diocese of Metuchen fired Iacouzze in December."Being a woman of faith, I firmly believed that in the end, truth would triumph over treachey," she said after the hearing had concluded, declining further comment.'snip'"The phrasing...

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Some parents and parishioners have accused the Roman Catholic diocese in Orange County of violating church doctrine by allowing a gay couple to enroll their children in a church school. The group demanded that St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa accept only families that pledge to abide by Catholic teachings, the Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday's editions. Church doctrine opposes gay relationships and adoption by same-sex couples. "The teachings of the church seem to have been abandoned," John R. Nixon told the Times. "We send our children to a Catholic school because we...

COSTA MESA, Calif. A group of parents and parishioners are accusing the Orange County diocese of violating church doctrine by allowing a gay couple to enroll their children in a Catholic school. The group has demanded that Saint John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa accept only families that pledge to abide by Catholic teachings. That would likely bar the men's two adopted boys from attending the school's kindergarten because of church opposition to relationships and adoption by same-sex couples. School officials have rejected the group's demands and issued a new policy stating that a family's background -- quote --...

Indonesian Catholic School Closed for Three Weeks After Muslim Protest Muslim residents object to church services on school grounds. DUBLIN November 1 Heated disputes over a Catholic school have yet to be fully resolved despite a meeting between government ministers and local residents on October 27. A district official had allowed Catholic residents to hold services at the school on weekends after an application was rejected for a church building permit. However on October 3, crowd of Muslim residents attacked the school during Sunday Mass and erected a brick wall in front of the school gate. Students were kept home...

Eugene, Oregon, Aug. 06 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - A lesbian couple has sued a Catholic school and its parish after a daughter was refused admittance. After describing her irregular domestic arrangement to school principal Dianne Bert last year, Lee Inkmann was told her daughter would not be allowed to attend O'Hara Catholic School, because the lesbian relationship conflicted with Church doctrine, and could be confusing to other pupils. Inkmann and partner Trish Wilson are suing for $550,000 in damages, naming the school principal, as well as Father Mark Bachmeier, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, in their claim. Portland Archdiocese spokesman Bud...

BRADLEY FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN SCHOOL VOUCHER CASE Gerard V. Bradley, professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Law, is filing an amicus brief for the Catholic League in an historic case concerning the constitutionality of school vouchers; Bradley is chairman of the Catholic League’s legal advisory committee. A ruling by the high court is expected by June. The Supreme Court will hear three related cases that deal with a program that provides tuition aid to parents in Cleveland who have opted out of failing public schools. The program offers vouchers of up to $2,250 toward tuition at ...

10 years after bequest, county's Catholic schools find $1.8 million gift is on its way Sunday, August 25, 2002By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer Edward S. Gaber has been dead for nearly 10 years, but his name is on the minds of every Catholic parish elementary school principal in Allegheny County. That's because his will included a gift of about $1.8 million to be divided evenly among the 74 schools over the next two years. Last week, each school received this year's gift of about $12,500. Gaber, a bachelor who belonged to St. Bernard Church in Mt. Lebanon, died in...

Kathmandu (Fides Service) - Despite Maoist rebel attacks on two Catholic schools in the Gorkha region of Nepal, the local Church is determined to continue her mission of service. On both occasions the rebels, who control a quarter of the country, broke into the school building and torched classrooms. Fides Service spoke with Rev. Anthony Sharma , Prefect of the Prefecture Apostolic of Nepal. "These attacks are made not only on church institutions and schools, the Maoists rebels attack private enterprises, they want to abolish private property. The raids are very sudden, and recently there has been an escalation. But...

November 29, 2001 Teachers Renew Threat to Strike Over Pay at 10 Catholic Schools By YILU ZHAO Teachers at 10 Roman Catholic high schools in New York City and its suburbs yesterday renewed their threat to go on strike against the Archdiocese of New York, resuming a stance they first adopted on Sept. 10, the day before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. After picketing briefly on the 11th, the teachers had reserved their decision until yesterday. Saying they may strike as soon as today, they maintain that the archdiocese has failed to meet their demand for ...

NEW YORK -- New York is discriminating against Christian students by allowing Islamic and Jewish holiday symbols to be displayed in public schools while banning nativity creches, a Catholic organization suing the city charged Tuesday. "All we're asking for the city of New York to do is to treat Catholics the same way they do Jews and Muslims," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. "This is nothing but pure, unadulterated religious discrimination." The Thomas More Law Center argues in the lawsuit that the Department of Education holiday policy is unconstitutional because it permits Hanukkah menorahs and the Islamic...

6-Sep-2001 -- EWTN News Brief KENYA THREATENS TO PUT CATHOLIC SCHOOLS UNDER PENTECOSTAL CONTROL NAIROBI, (CWNews.com) - In a new twist to the long struggle for control of the country's schools, the Kenyan government is seeking to remove parochial schools from the Catholic Church, and hand them over to the African Independent Pentecostal Churches of Africa (AIPCA).Education minister Marsden Madoka said the government would hand over 328 schools to the AIPCA, so that the Protestant group could instill discipline in the students. The Catholic hierarchy has responded by warning AIPCA not to become involved."We will not sit back and ...

A FORMER Catholic schoolboy from north London who converted to Islam has been named as the eighth Briton being questioned by American interrogators at their high-security Cuban prison camp. Richard Belmar, 23, told his parents 18 months ago he was leaving London to further his knowledge of the Koran and learn Arabic. They last heard from him in October, when they received a letter saying he had been arrested in Pakistan eight months previously after being found with an expired visa. Four weeks ago, the family received a call from the Foreign Office to say Belmar had been taken to...

Catholic schools in Queensland will no longer be able to refuse to employ a teacher simply because he or she is homosexual, under amended anti-discrimination legislation introduced to State Parliament. An exemption granted by the 1991 Anti-Discrimination Act to religious schools to reject a teacher on the grounds of sexuality will be taken away under the Discrimination Law Amendment Bill brought in by Attorney-General Rod Welford on Wednesday. Premier Peter Beattie (pictured) said yesterday the Catholic system still would be permitted to discriminate in favour of Catholics. "If the Catholic system wants to employ a Catholic teacher, they can," he...

November 10, 2001 Are There Crosses in Schools? Is Italy Catholic? By MELINDA HENNEBERGER LA SPEZIA, Italy — When Cattaneo Middle School's sixth-grade history teacher, Ornella Orlandini, removed a crucifix from her public school classroom recently, she hoped the gesture would make a new Muslim student feel more comfortable. With any luck, she thought, it might even jolt her 11-year-old pupils into a little give-and-take about tolerance before the new boy arrived later that morning. It never occurred to Ms. Orlandini that she was the one in for a lesson. "I didn't expect what happened then," Ms. Orlandini said. ...

Monday, 13 January, 2003, 10:43 GMT Scrap Catholic schools, says poll Jack McConnell reiterated his support for faith schools Almost half of Scots believe state-funded Catholic schools should be abolished, according to a new opinion poll. The System Three poll carried out for The Herald newspaper said 48% of those questioned supported scrapping denominational schools - which are almost all Catholic in Scotland. The survey of 1,030 people also suggested that 29% of Roman Catholics were in favour of abolition. However, First Minister Jack McConnell repeated his endorsement of Catholic schools. The Catholic school system in Scotland teaches consistently high...

Thinking of moving near Phily, PA (Kennet Square) for Employment, wondering if any Conservative Catholic Schools (elementary and High School) were near by.

<p>A state business tax credit program may double the amount of donations to help pay tuition in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh schools.</p> <p>Diocesan officials estimate that $1.5 million to $2 million may become available for scholarships for next fall as a result of the new Educational Improvement Tax Credit.</p>

The sex abuse crisis that threatens to erode confidence in the Catholic Church has done nothing to dull the demand for parochial school education, a demand that Catholic educators in the Washington region are meeting with two new middle schools and plans for two more high schools. Link to full article

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - In the 1960s, 3,800 students roamed the halls of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish Elementary School. This year, the number is down to 170 and about two-thirds aren't Catholic. Nearby, once-thriving Good Shepherd Parish Elementary School has just 203 students and the number is expected to drop. Crippled by the declines, both schools - fixtures in southwest Philadelphia for decades - will close in June. "Sadly, it has become impossible to keep these parish schools open and viable," said Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, the spiritual leader of Philadelphia's 1.4 million Roman Catholics. Catholic officials blame the declines on ...

Catholic SchoolsBy Tracey Middlekauff 20 May 02 Frank Brancato's ninth-grade remedial English class begins with the Parable of the Lamp from the New Testament, about Jesus telling his disciples that when one lights a lamp, one does not hide the light under a bed or a bushel. "Is it saying you shouldn't hide your intelligence?" one student asks. Brancato replies with a resounding "Yes!" and then moves on to the main lesson, the book they are reading, Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," about a future society where books are banned. What Brancato is clearly trying to teach the students is the...

Congregation for Catholic Education (For Seminaries and Educational Institutions) The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium Introduction 1. On the threshold of the third millennium education faces new challenges which are the result of a new socio-political and cultural context. First and foremost, we have a crisis of values which, in highly developed societies in particular, assumes the form, often exalted by the media, of subjectivism, moral relativism and nihilism. The extreme pluralism pervading contemporary society leads to behaviour patterns which are at times so opposed to one another as to undermine any idea of community identity....

Syracuse, NY - The Diocese of Syracuse on January 16th announced that four more Catholic schools in the city of Syracuse would close, bringing to a total of nine schools that have closed since Bishop James Moynihan announced the diocese would implement Fr. Richard Sparks' pre-adolescent Growing in Love sexual catechesis series.&nbsp; Diocesan officials claimed the schools were closing because of demographic factors, rising costs, and declining parish income.&nbsp; &quot;The reality,&quot; said Bishop Moynihan, &quot;is that we simply have too many school buildings for our shrinking population and we must be financially responsible to the whole diocese.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;I'm grieving,&quot; added ...

A screaming Catholic child is escorted to the Holy Cross Primary School in the republican Ardoyne district of Belfast. Photo: AFP Stone-throwing Protestants confronted children and parents going to a Catholic primary school for a second day yesterday. Some girls retreated in tears, and parents determined to take their daughters through the school's front door rather than a safe back entrance were forced to turn back, despite the efforts of riot police to hold back the protests. "It is unbelievable in the 21st century that we have to have this type of situation to get kids to school," said ...

<p>Last Wednesday, Michele Curay-Cramer's name was on a list of more than 600 names in a newspaper advertisement in support of abortion rights.</p> <p>Today, she is out of a job.</p> <p>Curay-Cramer, a teacher at Ursuline Academy, an independent Catholic school for girls in Wilmington, was fired Monday by the school after school officials saw her name on a list compiled by the Coalition for Choice, an abortion-rights advocacy group that commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision last week, according to a school spokesman. The advertisement appeared in The News Journal, as did a list of anti-abortion advocates compiled by Delawareans for Life.</p>

<p>What a shameful example of intolerance Mercy High School has set for students in its craven decision to strike lunch with Gov. Jennifer Granholm from the list of items to be auctioned at the school's annual fund-raiser next week.</p> <p>In a memo distributed to parents and students Tuesday, Sister Regina Marie Doelker, president of the Farmington Hills-based school, said Mercy was initially "thrilled to accept" Granholm's offer to host a luncheon for two of the all-female school's 900 students and their mothers.</p>

Catholic school board rules against gay prom date Last Updated Tue, 09 Apr 2002 12:44:29 OSHAWA, ONTARIO - A gay Toronto-area high school student will not be allowed to take his boyfriend to his prom after a Catholic school board rejected his request Monday. Marc Hall Marc Hall, 17, made his appeal in front of hundreds of people packed into a meeting of the Durham Catholic District School Board. The Grade 12 student at Oshawa's Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic High School said he wanted to take his 21-year-old date to the prom on May 10. But the board ruled...

Farmington Hills, MI -- On Feb. 11th, Mercy Catholic High School removed its "Lunch with Governor Granholm" item from its upcoming auction after vigorous protest by pro-life parents, alumni, and local Catholics due to Governor Granholm's well-known advocacy of abortion. In response, local Catholics are now applauding school president Sister Regina Marie Doelker's decision to withdraw Granholm from Mercy's "Night with the Stars" auction "Out of sensitivity to any who might interpret this item as Mercy taking a pro abortion stand." (see memo below). Dr. Monica Migliorino-Miller, director of the Stop Granholm Church and Truth Project, praised Sr. Doelker's decision:...

Priest Effigy Angers Parents Halloween Display Located Across Catholic School Posted: 9:04 a.m. CDT October 18, 2002 Updated: 9:14 a.m. CDT October 18, 2002 SAN ANTONIO -- An effigy of a child-molesting priest hanging outside a home in a South Side neighborhood has angered some parents whose children attend a Catholic school across the street. Art Hernandez, who lives on Monterey Street, and his brother, the Rev. Phil Hernandez, said they decided to create the effigy because of the priest-sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church earlier this year. "Its not a popular thing," said Phil Hernandez, a...

Policeman hurt as homemade explosive lands near those guarding Catholic schoolgirls BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Sept. 5 — A homemade bomb believed to have been thrown by pro-British Protestant Loyalists exploded on Wednesday near police guarding Roman Catholic schoolgirls in Northern Ireland, injuring one policeman, witnesses said. SHRIEKING GIRLS cowered beside their mothers as the bomb exploded shortly after 9 a.m., terrifying parents and schoolgirls walking through a huge security cordon to get to a school where rioting Protestants have taunted them for three days. One policeman sustained a serious leg injury from the blast, a police spokesman said. A witness ...

<p>Last Wednesday, Michele Curay-Cramer's name was on a list of more than 600 names in a newspaper advertisement in support of abortion rights.</p> <p>Today, she is out of a job.</p> <p>Curay-Cramer, a teacher at Ursuline Academy, an independent Catholic school for girls in Wilmington, was fired Monday by the school after school officials saw her name on a list compiled by the Coalition for Choice, an abortion-rights advocacy group that commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision last week, according to a school spokesman. The advertisement appeared in The News Journal, as did a list of anti-abortion advocates compiled by Delawareans for Life.</p>

<p>Immokalee, Fla. -- Thomas Monaghan, onetime fast-food magnate, is pursuing what may be the last phase of his life's work: the saving of souls.</p> <p>The result, if Monaghan's vision and an artist's conceptions are translated into reality, will be the first new Roman Catholic university in the United States in a generation, built from scratch on what is now rich agricultural land near the Everglades of southwestern Florida.</p>

<p>Last Wednesday, Michele Curay-Cramer's name was on a list of more than 600 names in a newspaper advertisement in support of abortion rights.</p> <p>Today, she is out of a job.</p> <p>Curay-Cramer, a teacher at Ursuline Academy, an independent Catholic school for girls in Wilmington, was fired Monday by the school after school officials saw her name on a list compiled by the Coalition for Choice, an abortion-rights advocacy group that commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision last week, according to a school spokesman.</p>

8:34 a.m. EST April 2, 2002 - The "Predator" has been rejected as the new Plymouth High School symbol by the Plymouth-Canton School Administration. The students voted for the mascot in the fall, but school administrators vetoed the students' choice after media reports used the term "sexual predators" in stories about Catholic priests accused of molesting children. The eighth-graders re-voted for a mascot and chose the Wildcats. Parents and administration must still approve the choice before it is final. The new high school is scheduled to open in fall of 2002.