University of St. Thomas board "will always include bishops or priests"

St. Paul, Minn., Dec 10, 2007 / 16:51 pm

Archbishop Harry Flynn has responded to a column written by Katherine Kersten originally printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and then reported on by CNA. In her story she accused the University of St. Thomas of taking steps to distance itself from its Catholic identity. The following letter of clarification is from the archbishop:

Katherine Kersten's column of Dec. 4 ("Battle for soul of St. Thomas takes a turn for the worse") was an inaccurate and slanted portrayal of the current and future Catholicity of the University of St. Thomas.

I simply wish to make two points about the statement she quoted as being from our "Archdiocesan spokesman":

First, the statement we e-mailed and faxed to her was headlined as being a "Statement of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis." It came from me, not from our "spokesman."

Second, and more important, Kersten used only the first sentence of my statement in her column. The other two sentences were ignored. They read as follows: "The Saint Thomas board will always include bishops or priests. Any rumors or speculation about the 'de-Catholicization of the University of Saint Thomas are ill founded, inaccurate and ludicrous.'"

The editing of my statement leaves open to question her motivation in writing this one-sided and inaccurate column.