The following is from a letter that was sent to Woodmont Academy parents:
I have heard from many of you regarding the article (CR, Feb. 26) in which Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien’s opinions of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi are associated with Woodmont Academy. I spoke Feb. 27 with Archbishop O’Brien and asked him the questions that many of you have asked me, about what his statements could mean for the school.
Does the archbishop want the school to close? Archbishop O’Brien says “absolutely not,” that Woodmont is “a fine school which is in full compliance with the office of schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore” and that he wants us to “remain right where (we) are.”
Archbishop O’Brien says he has no intention to remove our status as an approved Catholic school, and that he has no intention of asking the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi to leave the archdiocese.
I shared with the archbishop that the article upset many of our families. While his comments did not address any events at the school, the article in which they appeared drew a connection to the school, which many felt was unfavorable and could be detrimental to its future. Archbishop O’Brien says it was not his desire to do harm to the school and he apologizes for any unintended consequences of his words. His statements were not meant to be a reflection of his opinion of the school, nor of the opinion of the office of schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The writer is the executive director of Woodmont Academy in Cooksville.