Josephites, St. Aug. board agree to sit down and talk

18th July 2011   ·   1 Comment

The St. Joseph Society trusted payday loan websites of the Sacred Heart, the Roman Catholic order that has owned and operated St. Aug­ustine High School in New Or-leans’ 7th Ward for the past 60 years, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to put an end to what it describes as “an attempted coup” over control of the school.

The lawsuit seeks to have a federal judge declare the new bylaws passed by the St. Augustine Board of Directors in June declared invalid.

“Plaintiff seeks and is entitled to a Permanent Injunction barring the Defendant Directors from attempting to take any action… or holding themselves out to the public as Directors of St. Augustine,” the lawsuit reads.

The “attempted coup” referred to in the lawsuit took place after a bitter public debate over the use of corporal punishment at the all-boys school. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which owns and has authority over St. Augustine, commissioned a study by a Texas-based consultant that concluded the school’s use of corporal punishment was improper and barred its use as a disciplinary tool. Prior to being instructed by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to halt the use of paddling to reprimand students for the recently concluded school year, St. Augustine High School was the only Catholic school in the country still using corporal punishment.

In an effort to regain use of the paddle as a disciplinary tool, St. Aug alumni, students, faculty and supporters marched to the archdiocese offices this past spring to demonstrate their commitment to preserving St. Aug’s proud traditions, including corporal punishment.

St. Aug’s Board of Directors, led by chairman Troy Henry, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Josephites this past spring which claims that the report by Dr. Monica Applewhite condemning the high school’s use of paddling has damaged St. Aug’s reputation.

The earlier demonstration, the defamation lawsuit and St. Aug president Rev. John Raphael’s unrelenting supporting of corporal punishment and criticism of the Archdiocese of New Orleans led to the reassignment of Father Raphael to an unspecified post in Baltimore, Md.

But the Board of Directors of St. Aug, which the lawsuit says operated in a mostly advisory capacity before 2005, sued the Baltimore-based order of priests cash advance in yukon ok that runs the school, the St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart, for defamation after an Archdiocesan designee, Dr. Monica Applewhite, condemned the school’s use of corporal punishment in a report on the issue.

The reassignment led to a large rally at St. Aug in June during which St. Aug’s board said it intended to honor Father Raphael’s contract which was set to expire next summer. During the rally, a defiant Father Raphael told alumni, parents, students and other supporters that he had no intention of abandoning his post as the school’s president.

But two days later, the Josephites made changes to the group’s bylaws that gave it the power to reassign Raphael.

That decision was made just days before the term of Superior General Edward was set to expire.

The Rev. William Norvel a priest who was ordained at St. Louis Cathedral and taught at St. Aug for one school year in the 1960s, was elected to succeed the Rev. Edward J. Chiffriller as superior general last month.

The Josephites’ lawsuit individually names the six board members, Troy Henry, Daniel Davilliler, Wilmer Jacobs, Ben Johnson, William Bostick and Carl Blouin.

“This action was taken in spite of an agreement reached at the June 28 meeting of the Board, that no public statement or action would take place prior to a convening set for July 14 between the executive committees of both the Board and the Josephite Council,” St. Aug board chairman Troy Henry said in a press release. “This is evidence of a consistent pattern of the Josephite Council refusing to meet or communicate with the Board of Directors and acting in ways deleterious to the school without consulting with the Directors. The Board is deeply disappointed by the Josephite Council’s most recent efforts to undermine the authentic local leadership and governance of St. Augustine High School – leadership the Josephite Society has incubated and grown since 1951, and governance the Society supported and launched in 1995.

“Particularly troubling is the fact that the Josephite Society filed suit against those persons who have been most directly involved in promoting the best interest of St. Augustine High School,” Henry continued. “The fact that Mr. Carl Blouin personal loans in middlesbrough is included among the objects of the Josephites’ suit is unconscionable. Mr. Blouin is a member of the first graduating class of 1955, legendary math instructor, director of the St. Augustine Jazz Ensemble, former principal, former Director of Finance, current faculty member, and truly the last of those great men who were present on the day St. Augustine was opened and have given their entire life in service to this school. The Josephites’ continued lack of gratitude to him and to the other defendants in their suit is shameful.

“The Board is confident its decisions of Tuesday, June 28, are valid and will be upheld by law. The Board of Directors will fight this lawsuit and will continue to ensure that the progress made by St. Augustine High School since Hurricane Katrina will continue. Fr. Raphael, who has fully engaged the canonical process challenging the punitive actions of his superiors against him, will continue functioning as president of St. Augustine High School, and looks forward to welcoming all new and returning Purple Knights on August 11, 2011. Parents should rest assured that the day-to-day operation of St. Augustine will continue uninterrupted and that the school is fully prepared to begin and complete a successful academic year. The Board of Directors and the administration are fully engaged in protecting and preserving the mission of St. Augustine and the investment that they and other stakeholders have made in the success of our school.”

Both sides went to federal court Wednesday, but after several hours of meeting with Judge Jay Zainey, they agreed to meet a second time last week to try to resolve their issues.

The board said it would not hold a meeting and won’t vote on anything that could affect the future of the school.

“We’d requested two weeks ago to meet and we thought we’d be meeting today, so all we wanted to have some dialogue to discuss what’s in the best interest of students once and for all,” board chairman Troy Henry said.

The Josephite priests declined to comment as they left court.

This article was originally published in the July 18, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper