College Paper Apologizes for Gay Cardinal Article

The Catholic Church in the Philadelphia area is up in arms about a local Catholic University. As an April Fool's Day joke, editors of the St. Joseph's University student newspaper, The Hawk, put out a special annual edition of the paper called The Squawk. In it the students published an article in which the local Philadelphia Cardinal, Justin Regali, admitted he was gay.

The article, meant as satire, sent heads through the roof. Catholic officials and University administrators were so upset about the article, that the editor of the paper, David Spain, and three others were pressured into issuing an apology to the cardinal and the community.

According to the Southern New Jersey paper The Courier Post, in Spain's apology he stated "I grossly underestimated the personal and hurtful consequences that such nonsense could incur," and "parody does not sanction disrespect, and last week's Squawk was disrespectful to many." Spain also apologized to the cardinal for the incident.

The Sqwawk April Fool's edition was published on March 28. The same edition of the paper also featured a condom ad featuring the school's president, a priest. Other articles included a feature comparing Jesuits to Nazis.

The editor's apology was posted on the online version of The Hawk. Under the apology, in the area where readers may post comments on the article, one reader , John Petsinger, wrote, "How dare you call Cardinal Rigali gay? It's an insult to gay people everywhere." Another reader lamented that the Church, with its history of sexual abuse, did not deserve an apology for anything. One reader seemed to side with the church, saying that the article was inappropriate, and that St. Joe's publication The Hawk is "not Mad TV."

Issues of the newspaper featuring the offending satire were removed from some areas of the school. The Hawk is published weekly, each Wednesday. It has a circulation of 3500. St. Joseph's University is a private Jesuit college located in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is home to about 3500 undergraduate and 3000 graduate and other students. Student tuition was over $27,000 per year for the 2006-2007 school year.

http://courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070406/NEWS01/70405012

http://media.www.dailytargum.com/channel/collegeheadlines/

www.sjuhawknews.com

www.sju.edu