I'm not sure I leveled any charge of racial bias at all…lots of old east coast dioceses have closed inner city facilities because of shifting populations to the suburbs.

I think my statement is true – the Baltimore prelates clearly do value the land value over the history and the current school population. Perhaps I should have given them the benefit of the doubt and posited that it was a “tough” choice. Of course, their refusal to comment sadly adds to the easily-drawn perception!

That's a cheap shot you wouldn't take against any community you weren't part of. (Well, check that — any religious, racial or ethnic community. Conservative policitcal communities, you probably would.)

But seriously, if you think racism is afflicting the Catholic Church's approach to managing the challenges of maintaining Catholic schools, you should be shouting about it from the roof tops. That would be a very significant story, not least because it runs counter to popular perception, which sees Catholic schools as a stalwart of inner-city education, despite the relative paucity of Catholics in many inner-city communities. Popular perception is often wrong, and if it's wrong here I welcome an expose.

But more likely, you're just taking an easy jab at an easy target to identify yourself as virtuous by contrast. You should rethink that. Among other things, unfounded criticism dulls the impact of justified criticism, which the Church remains in need of from the laity on other issues.

And yeah, too bad about the school.