"School administrators, reacting to what they called a "sick" prom culture that was out of control, announced in a letter this month to parents that senior prom was canceled.
"Basically, it has become an event in American culture that has all the trappings of excess," said school principal Brother Kenneth Hoagland. "It is not consistent with our philosophy as a Catholic school."
Last year, the school appealed to parents and stopped 46 Kellenberg seniors from spending $20,000 to rent a house for a post-prom weekend in the Hamptons"
"Hoagland said they have invited students to come up with alternate ideas for a school-sponsored event that are consistent with the goals of a Christian education."
I hate to see a nice event like prom get cancelled, but it's good to see a Catholic school stand up to a culture of "the bigger and more expensive the better." I'm always disturbed to see rich Catholics spend lavishly on themselves and their children, but I rarely hear the clergy speak out against it, even though it's a sin steeped in vanity, selfishness, materialism, and a lack of charity. I'm guessing most clergy, especially parish priests, are afraid of condemning it because the people who engage in such actions are the people clergy need for parish funding.
