The Deacon's Bench
After this story made news on Saturday, here’s an update:
Catholic Memorial School administrators apologized after their student section chanted “You killed Jesus” at Newton North fans prior to a basketball playoff game Friday night.
Newton Superintendent David Fleishman said he was on his way to Friday’s South Division 1 boys basketball final when he received a call that Catholic Memorial students had participated in an offensive chant, reports CBS Boston.
Fleishman said Catholic Memorial students had chanted “You killed Jesus” at Newton North’s crowd.
“As I walked in, a parent was shaken about what happened. I know there’s a lot of concern in the Newton North community,” Fleishman said. “She could not believe this was happening in 2016, to hear something so insensitive and so troubling.”
Administrators from Catholic Memorial immediately had students stop the chant, Fleishman said. Catholic Memorial went on to win the game, 77-73.
After the game, Catholic Memorial officials asked fans to apologize to Newton North’s interim principal. Fleishman said each student shook the principal’s hand.
“They were very apologetic. They said they would address the incident with their students on Monday,” Fleishman said.
On Saturday afternoon, Catholic Memorial School released a statement on the incident, saying: “Catholic Memorial School is deeply disturbed by the behavior of a group of student spectators who made an unacceptable chant Friday night while playing Newton North High School.”
In addition to Catholic Memorial’s statement about the incident, the Archdiocese of Boston also reacted, calling the situation “unacceptable.”
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