Prayers won't be heard at IHSA events

Rosary and Driscoll girls basketball players take time to pray after Tuesday's game in Aurora. Practices such as these will not be affected by the postseason policy the IHSA enacted last week.
Terence Guider-Shaw / For The Beacon News

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Last week, the IHSA Board of Directors announced it will add a policy to its handbook and its terms and conditions for every sport and activity "that prohibits prayer over the public address system at IHSA state series events."

Team prayers and postgame prayer circles are not affected by this policy, and it applies only to postseason events. It is not an IHSA bylaw, and schools can continue to read prayers over the public address system during the regular season.

In its e-mail statement, the IHSA said the proposal arose after lawsuits were threatened following a pregame prayer that was read during a playoff football game.

"We just happened to get flooded (with complaints)," IHSA assistant executive director Matt Troha said. "I'm sure it's happened for years, but for whatever reason people were more offended this year and they reached out to us.

"I don't know if it was more than a threat, but people had brought up the idea of a lawsuit. When we went to talk to our lawyers, they said it's no different than being at a public school and someone getting on the PA in the morning and starting with a prayer, so you would be in a liable situation. We put it together quick and got it changed."

No schools were named in the statement, but Troha said complaints were lodged during the playoffs in the wake of public schools being hosted by Catholic schools.

"It will affect us," Aurora Christian athletic director Don Davidson said of the change. "The games that we've hosted, we've prayed before the games even though it's an IHSA event, up until this point. We always have. I'm not sure what we'll do."

Marmion athletic director Joe Chivari and Aurora Central Catholic athletic director Mike Armato said they believed the IHSA already had a provision in place regarding prayer before state series events, but the two had different opinions on the new policy.

"Our position is consistent with the IHSA," Chivari said. "We recognize that when you get to the playoffs, those games are not Marmion games, they're the IHSA's games and you play by their rules. If they say 'no prayer,' then we don't have a prayer. Traditionally we do pray before most of our varsity contests, but there's no reason to make big waves over this. We've never done it before a playoff game anyway, so we're not going to start now. It's their call. It's their tournament."

Armato fell on the other side of the argument, although he said he understands the distinction between state series events and regular-season contests. During state series events (regionals, sectionals, state championships), the IHSA pays the host school a fee to run the tournament and abide by its terms and conditions. The school, public or private, is working for the IHSA during the playoffs.

"Honestly, my first reaction is that it's a shame that people take offense to prayer when our country, clearly in the pledge of allegiance, states 'one nation, under God,'" Armato said. "Our forefathers had a very strong component of faith and trust and belief in something or else we never would have gotten to where we are today."

During the 2008 football playoffs, Plano was one of the public schools that traveled to Aurora Christian, and a prayer was read before the game. The Reapers, who have also visited other private schools in the state series, had no issue with the practice.

Plano athletic director Jim Schmidt was not surprised that other public schools or their fan bases took issue. Schmidt then touched on a larger issue -- the long-standing intrastate feud between public and private schools.

"There are a lot of bitter feelings towards private schools by public schools already," he said. "I think it's kind of like whatever public schools can do to private schools, sometimes they just do to make havoc for them. It's not (Plano) -- we don't have any issues with private schools -- but some people do."

Schmidt pointed to several other proposals that were passed and then to the one that was not -- a waiver rule that would have benefited private schools.

"Everybody sees them as having such a huge advantage that they don't want to give them any breaks," he said.

Armato agreed, saying it was yet another shot at private schools. Private schools are represented on the nine-member voting IHSA board by Fenwick Principal Jim Quaid. Fenwick is a private, coed Catholic school in Oak Park.

The other eight board members come from public schools. Luther South Principal Luther Rainey was a board member, but he cannot serve on the board until the IHSA feels the school's issues with the Illinois State Board of Education are resolved. Luther South is a private, Christian preparatory school.

"The IHSA states they are a reflection of their membership. A portion, a large portion of their membership, are private schools," Armato said. "Just like the multiplier, they are now subjecting parts of their membership to rules that don't apply to everybody.

"Private schools traditionally pray before competition. And now what they're saying is they can't do that if they're hosting. That is something they're taking away from the private schools. It's not across the board. It only affects a component of their membership."

Davidson said he wasn't sure if there was an appeals process regarding the IHSA's addition to the terms and conditions of hosting an IHSA event. But he said if there were going to be protests from private schools, it would be a stronger message if private conferences made a statement together.

"I don't quite understand it," he said. "I know it's an IHSA event, but we're hosting it for them and most of the money goes to them, but at the same time we're the host. I would think the host would have some privileges."