Richard D. Salyer was raised as a Catholic and attended Blessed Sacrament Catholic Grade School in Wichita, Kansas. During my early grade school years at Blessed Sacrament the infamous Fr. Larson (since convicted Priest pedophile) was an educator. Many of young boys knew Fr. Larson was odd and knew instinctively to stay away from him. I was a bit of a hellion as a youth and spent much time at the rectory (Priest home on the school grounds) serving detention with Monsignor Glenn, a gregorious Irish priest. On many occasions, during detention, Monsignor would supervise my after school boxing matches with weighted gloves in order to dissuade my propensity to be aggesive with my fists. Monsignor Glenn did not keep Fr. Larson at Blessed Sacrament for more than a year. I am convinced the Monsignor shipped off the problem prior to having to deal with any issues. Monsignor Glenn was above all an honest and Holy man whose only fault (to my knowledge) was his love of beer sitting across the kitchen table with my dad.
Long story short, if you are not Catholic you likely will not understand the teachings of the Church. Many of us Catholics do not always agree with the teachings of our leaders, and I believe all of us want the pedophile priests to be held accountable for their atrocities and any priest covering up these actions should also be held accountable.
With that said, Archbishop Naumann is following the teaching and beliefs of the Catholic Church and too is an honorable man. The wrestlers and families of both St. James and St. Thomas were aware of the policy of the Catholic Diocese regarding the restrictive policy in place regarding boys wrestling girls. This was not a surprise nor was it a policy change recently brought about. The Wichita Diocese has a similar policy however it is less restrictive. Some may say the rules should be the same for the Kansas City and Wichita Diocese however, this agrument is similar to stating the laws of Kansas should be the same as that of Missouri or Oklahoma.
In closing, priests are men, men are fallible and not perfect, and we all will make mistakes. A boy forfeiting a match to a girl because of his faith is not one of these mistakes.
