The headline of a story in the Dec. 22-28 edition of the Bayside Times read, “Bayside priest jailed for 5 years.”
With all due respect to the technical dictionary definition of the word “priest,” which includes those ordained in Christianity per se, when most people see the term priest, the Catholic Church comes to mind.
That being said, with all of the terrible publicity the Catholic Church has recently endured, much of which is warranted, there really does not appear to be a need to unnecessarily add further condemnation to this institution.
Many Protestant denominations use the term “minister” to describe their clergy, so perhaps a little more sensitivity in terminology could have been implemented in the headline.
Susan Broderick
Bayside
