Hattip to commenter Greg Mockeridge:
Diocese of Covington Bishop Roger Foys apologized Friday afternoon for issuing a premature statement about a group of Covington Catholic High School students’ interactions with Native American activists Saturday in Washington, D.C.
In a letter to Covington Catholic parents, Foys wrote the diocese felt harangued into reacting as quickly as possible to a viral clip of the incident — and then, when additional clips filmed from other perspectives began to circulate, to issuing a just-as-quick retraction of its earlier condemnation.
“We should not have allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely, and we take full responsibility for it,” he wrote. “I especially apologize to Nicholas Sandmann and his family as well as to all CovCath families who have felt abandoned during this ordeal. Nicholas unfortunately has become the face of these allegations based on video clips.
“This is not fair. It is not just.”
Go here to read the rest. Better late than never.
Update: Was the apology precipitated by action of attorney Lin Wood? Go here to read about it.
Last night, Todd McMurtry @FitLwyr and I delivered a preservation of evidence demand to Bishop Foys. This afternoon, he belatedly apologized to Nick by letter. Good first step but more is necessary in order to fully remedy the damage caused by his libelous statements.
As the saying goes, if you can’t get them to see the light, make them feel the heat.
I know that I have rushed to judgement unfairly on numerous occasions through out my lifetime. I too have been on the other side of that coin and it’s uncomfortable to be falsely accused.
May patience and understanding be our gifts to each other.
The letter is a not an apology for anything Bishop Foys did. Instead, he simply claims to be a victim of unnamed bullies who made him do something in “good will”. His only sorrow is that “this situation has caused” disruption in so many lives. President Clinton would have been proud and couldn’t have said it better. The upside here is that faithful Catholics no longer have any doubt about these wolves (Kurtz and Stowe as well) in shepherd’s clothing.
I like that saying, “if you can’t get them to see the light, make them feel the heat”. Who is that attributed to?
Reagan used to say it. I doubt if he coined the phrase.
Agree with Father of Seven – it is not an apology, not even a start of an apology. It is a deflection of blame. He is a complete liar – he was not “bullied” – he jumped on the bandwagon with full throttled enthusiasm. But then, deflection and lying is all that the hierarchy is about nowadays.