No issue at Mt Alvernia
published: Wednesday | June 22, 2005

THE EDITOR, Sir:

ON THURSDAY, June 16, 2005, I read the article on the front page of The Gleaner's Western Focus that was written by Staff Reporter, Monique Hepburn. The following day most of the information from the previous article was printed on page 5 of The Gleaner (Nuns pulling out of MoBay schools), but this time there was a section entitled Clash of Faiths in effect claiming that doctrinal differences between the nuns and the teachers, especially the Seventh-day Adventists, were making a harmonious accommodation difficult. I have spent the past ten years as Principal of Mt. Alvernia High School and I have had the satisfaction of seeing this institution experience marked growth. This could not have happened with a staff that finds "harmonious accommodation difficult".

ROMAN CATHOLIC INSTITUTION

The five of our 53 teachers who are Seventh-day Adventists act as professionals, and the fact that they are in a Roman Catholic institution with a Roman Catholic principal, has not been an issue. We are all about the business of educating young people, not about grappling with religious differences.

The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany have committed many joyful years to the education of the nation's youth. As we prepare to withdraw from Montego Bay, we would like to do so in peace.

I am, etc.,

SISTER ANGELLA

Montego Bay