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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lihigh0619.story
Hitting a Sour Note
Student out after opposing song medley
Megan Gaffey
(Newsday Photo / Nelson Ching)
Jun 18, 2002 By Rita Ciolli
Staff Writer
June 19, 2002
When Megan Gaffey got her school ring last month, she said she took it as a sign that she belonged at Kellenberg Memorial High School. Yesterday, the honor student was officially told not to come back to the private Catholic school for her senior year after she refused to sing a medley of songs that she and her family consider blasphemous.
As part of the spring concert, the school's chorus sang several selections from the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar.” But Gaffey, a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Franklin Square, said the medley was offensive and unfaithful to the Gospels.
"There was a piece in there by Mary Magdalene saying she was in love with Jesus ["I Don't Know How to Love Him”] and I knew I wasn't going to sing that song. The rest of the words were not very holy either,” said Gaffey, of Amityville, who turns 17 next week. She asked to be excused during that medley or not to participate in the concert. Instead, in April she was removed from the chorus.
James Gaffey, an executive for a Long Island retailer, said his daughter should have been excused from the concert for exercising a matter of conscience, or penalized in some other way for not participating. "Never for a minute did I expect this sort of thing,” he said.
Brother Kenneth Hoagland, principal of the Uniondale school, said the challenge to the songs only brought to a head almost three years of conflict with the family who "did not accept the school's notion of Christianity.” Hoagland said that by calling the song blasphemous, the parents showed they "had no confidence in the school's administration.” He said he advised them to "seek a school more in line with their philosophy.”
The school, founded by the Marist Brothers, is 98 percent Catholic and all students must be Christian. Several years ago a student who converted to Islam was asked to leave, Hoagland said.
Hoagland said that when Gaffey first was admitted to the highly selective school he was unaware that her parents "had left the Catholic Church because they considered it too liberal and unevangelical,” he said. "Soon this hostility became evident. A number of Megan's teachers found Megan difficult in class since she reflected her parent's hostility to the Catholic Church.”
Gaffey, who said his daughter was not confrontational, called the charge of hostility a "total falsification.” He said that Megan would have dialogues with her teachers in religion class and that once she did challenge the infallibility of the pope. "They want to blow it up bigger than it is,” he said.
Gaffey, who has paid $16,000 in tuition so far, wants to see his daughter graduate from Kellenberg next year. Otherwise, he said, she most likely will attend Amityville High School in the fall. She ranks among the top 15 in a class of approximately 340 students.
Megan Gaffey said she was allowed to attend the school's ring day ceremony in May and had the impression that she would be allowed to stay.
"They waited until yesterday to tell me for sure, leaving me with very little choice but to go to public school. I have never been in public school and that is going to be difficult for me,” she said.
Gaffey attended a Christian day school from kindergarten through second grade and then was home schooled until she started as a freshman at Kellenberg. Her two younger sisters and a brother also are being home schooled.
"Jesus Christ Superstar” was released as a rock album in 1970 and a year later a musical theater production opened on Broadway. At the time, it was picketed and condemned by some Catholic and Jewish groups for its portrayals of Jesus and Judas. The Rev. Billy Graham called the show "blasphemy.” While some Christian groups still object to the show, the Vatican endorsed the musical in 1999 for the first time, abandoning its criticism that Jesus was demeaned and portrayed as too human. The musical was performed as part of the Vatican's year 2000 Jubilee Celebration in Rome.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.