Scott Tibbs
Printed in the Bloomington Herald-Times
March 20, 2007
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St. Charles controversy should have been handled internally
To the editor:The controversy at St. Charles school brings to mind I Corinthians 6:1-8. The Apostle Paul admonishes Christians not to sue each other because a pagan society should not judge a dispute between Christians. Is this so different from the way offended parents have reacted to comments made by Father Chesebrough? While this Scripture does not directly apply, should such cases be tried in the “court” of public opinion?
While Chesebrough’s comments may have hurt some feelings, it seems that there was no malice in his choice of words. The H-T editorial on the matter described his names for students as “terms of endearment.” Since no crime had been committed and no one’s rights were violated, the matter should have been handled through the authority of the church as directed by the Bible.
Regardless of how one feels about how St. Charles has handled the situation, it was beyond despicable for The Herald-Times to compare a fairly minor intra-church disagreement to sexual abuse of young boys and the cover-up that followed. That unfairly casts a negative light on the church and trivializes the very real pain and suffering of sexual abuse victims. The Herald-Times should apologize for this uncivil editorial.
Scott Tibbs