It’s Hear, Hear for Hearlihy

How long will society allow religious organizations to ruin the reputations of individuals, whose only mistake is to believe that these religious organizations believe in the “Word of God”?

Alemany High girls’ basketball Coach Melissa Hearlihy [lost] her job and was not given a reason.

It seems that the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles believes that someone with money and power is more important to the Catholic church than the person who tries to educate the children of the Lord in the philosophy of the Lord.

All Coach Hearlihy wants to know are the reasons why she was fired after so many years of loyal service to the Catholic church. Yet the archdiocese seems to feel that people only need to know what the Catholic church wants to them.

When are we going to start holding religious organizations and their leaders accountable for practicing what the Bible says: “Protect all of the Lord’s children, tell the truth, and have faith in the Lord.”

Jeff Trovatten

Reseda

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We feel as if we have a responsibility to speak on behalf of former Alemany High girls’ basketball Coach Melissa Hearlihy, whose successful 12-year career as a teacher at Alemany ended when the archdiocese of Los Angeles fired her. The archdiocese made a grave mistake not supporting Coach Hearlihy.

Speculation is that she was fired because she would not allow a particular Alemany student to be on the team. Coach Hearlihy has always been fair and consistent. All of the girls on the team knew her standards, her rules, and what was expected from them.

Factors that must be taken into consideration when judging a player’s right to be on a team, include not only their talent, but also their behavior and sense of sportsmanship. If a player cannot effectively work with the other girls on the team, she should not play. From what we have learned, a team is about working together to strive for goals. The bottom line is, when a person cannot work within a team, they do not belong on it.

The sad part about this situation is that it proves how political and bureaucratic the affairs of the archdiocese of Los Angeles can become. Coach Hearlihy’s basketball program instilled the importance of hard work, fair play, and camaraderie. She put everything into our team and it is tragic that the archdiocese would turn its back on her.

During the years we’ve played basketball for Alemany, we have never witnessed Coach Hearlihy treat any girl different from another. She has always been fair both on and off the court. Her judgment has always been accurate and for the best of the team as a whole.

We expected more from the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles. What an unfortunate lesson the Alemany students are learning from this. The archdiocese’s decision is terribly unfair to Coach Hearlihy, to Alemany, and to the girls remaining in the basketball program.

We ask the archdiocese to reconsider its decision to terminate Coach Hearlihy and offer her a contract for next year.

Signed by 14 current and former members of the Alemany High girls’ basketball team

Mission Hills