Five-year-old barred from enrolling in a local Catholic school because of his last name

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A MELBOURNE father says his five-year-old son was barred from enrolling in a local Catholic school because of his surname - Hell.
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Alex Hell, 45, of Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne’s west, says despite the school now saying his son Max is welcome, he will move the family to Geelong.
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“We’re quite devastated by the whole thing,” Mr Hell, a Catholic father of three, said.
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Mr Hell admits that he volunteered the idea of changing his son’s name to his wife’s maiden name of Wembridge, a suggestion that was welcomed by the principal of St Peter the Apostle primary school Michael McGrath.
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But after mulling it over Mr Hell decided against the name change and was then told that Max would not be able to attend the school.
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“We are victims of our name,” Mr Hell said.
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“The school has turned around and said Max can go there but why would you want to go there after being victimised.”
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The primary school said today that the Hells were looking to enrol Max at St Peter the Apostle School from a state school “because of a range of matters that were impacting on the child”.
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“The issue of a change of surname of the child was an initiative of the parents which they believed would assist the child in the transition of schools,” the school said in a statement.
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After discussions between the parish priest and principal, St Peter the Apostle School has made an offer of enrolment to the student.
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“The school is working with the family in the best interests of the child.”
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However, Mr Hell, who says an offer for his son to now attend the school came only after he went to the media, is adamant that Max won’t be going to the school.
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“I’d rather go to another school - we had no problem with the public school but we just wanted to further Max’s education,” Mr Hell said.
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Mr Hell, of Austrian heritage, says the name means light or bright in German.
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“It’s 2007, not 1407, it’s not the Dark Ages,” he said.
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Mr Hell said the family is now looking at moving to Geelong, his wife Sue’s home town, to find a school for Max.
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Thoughts?
 
Thoughts - the school probably balked at his last name thinking it was some jerk who intentionally changed his last name to Hell and then thought he’d get further kicks out of it by having his kids attend a Catholic school.
  • Sounds like the school attempted to work it out with the guy - whether it was before/after the media got involved.
  • Is it too little too late or I’m taking my ball and going home?
 
The Church teaches there is a Hell. So, I am surprised the name would even raise an eyebrow honestly.

I think the child should be enrolled asap.
 
You can have Hell (or would that be “Give 'em Hell”?) in the public schools, but the Catholics no longer believe in Hell. 😉
 
rlg94086 said:
No…Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the existance of Hell just recently.

The kid’s first name wasn’t Gotu by chance?
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What are you saying?:confused:

To be clear- there never was a time the Church said there was no Hell.

Some theologians have taken odd stances on it, but fortunately do not speak for the Church.

So, even if Holy Father had never addressed the issue it would not even matter.

But, that is good news. I have been a bit out of the loop lately and must have missed Holy Fathers recent comments. I will go try to find them, thanks for mentioning this!👍
 
Now, with a name like “Hellisreal,” how did you miss this news? 😉
lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07032707.html

But I agree with you, the Church has always believed in Hell. Some people just needed to be reminded. I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure Hell freezes over every year.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
Hellisreal said:
What are you saying?:confused:

To be clear- there never was a time the Church said there was no Hell.

Some theologians have taken odd stances on it, but fortunately do not speak for the Church.

So, even if Holy Father had never addressed the issue it would not even matter.

But, that is good news. I have been a bit out of the loop lately and must have missed Holy Fathers recent comments. I will go try to find them, thanks for mentioning this!👍
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wow, that reads like a joke and I was almost thinking where’s the punch line?

What a bunch of loons at that school.:rolleyes: Poor parents and child.
 
This is another case of the secular media running with only half the story, so long as it discredits the Catholic Church.

It appears that the boy used to go to a public school. He was on the receiving end of a significant amount of bullying from other students on account of his name. To solve this problem, they decided to change schools. Initial consultation with the Catholic school in question regarded being able to enroll the boy under his mother’s maiden name in order to avoid what had happened in the other school. This was an initiative FROM THE PARENTS! The father subsequently changed his mind about the name change and took the opportunity to bash the Church. That the school balked at the name change is evidence that they are more concerned about the child’s welfare. Enrolling him under his father’s name would only continue the problem already experienced at the other school. If anyone should be castigated it should be the father for deciding to take the story to the media.

Now the poor kid has to live with the media attention and most probably increased harrassment from fellow students, no matter where he goes.

news.com.au/story/0,23599,22042622-13762,00.html?from=public_rss
Row at school over opening gates to Hell
By Karen Collier
July 09, 2007 12:00am

A VICTORIAN Catholic school denies closing the gates to a five-year-old boy because his surname is Hell.
Dad Alex Hell says a priest refused to enrol his son, Max, at St Peter Apostle School in Hoppers Crossing.

But the school denies taking offence and says an enrolment offer from the end of last term remains on the table.

Hell is a traditional Austrian surname meaning bright.

The boy’s parents complained he was being bullied and harassed over his surname at his current school and sought a transfer, Herald Sun Online understands.

Mr Hell said he first told the school’s principal he was prepared to enrol his child in a prep class under his wife’s maiden name to avoid potential ridicule.

But he later changed his mind.
 
Linda_Marie said:
This is another case of the secular media running with only half the story, so long as it discredits the Catholic Church.

It appears that the boy used to go to a public school. He was on the receiving end of a significant amount of bullying from other students on account of his name. To solve this problem, they decided to change schools. Initial consultation with the Catholic school in question regarded being able to enroll the boy under his mother’s maiden name in order to avoid what had happened in the other school. This was an initiative FROM THE PARENTS! The father subsequently changed his mind about the name change and took the opportunity to bash the Church. That the school balked at the name change is evidence that they are more concerned about the child’s welfare. Enrolling him under his father’s name would only continue the problem already experienced at the other school. If anyone should be castigated it should be the father for deciding to take the story to the media.

Now the poor kid has to live with the media attention and most probably increased harrassment from fellow students, no matter where he goes.

news.com.au/story/0,23599,22042622-13762,00.html?from=public_rss
Row at school over opening gates to Hell
By Karen Collier
July 09, 2007 12:00am

A VICTORIAN Catholic school denies closing the gates to a five-year-old boy because his surname is Hell.
Dad Alex Hell says a priest refused to enrol his son, Max, at St Peter Apostle School in Hoppers Crossing.

But the school denies taking offence and says an enrolment offer from the end of last term remains on the table.

Hell is a traditional Austrian surname meaning bright.

The boy’s parents complained he was being bullied and harassed over his surname at his current school and sought a transfer, Herald Sun Online understands.

Mr Hell said he first told the school’s principal he was prepared to enrol his child in a prep class under his wife’s maiden name to avoid potential ridicule.

**But he later changed his mind./**QUOTE]

It seems that Mr Hell needs to remember how people can end up in Hell.
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Nino:
whats in a name…a private school has the right to bar anyone it wants…the amount of student hazing re: the name…what if your last name was Hitler or Stalin…would you then still think your a martyr? During ww2 we Italo-Americans were dubbed…foreign aliens and had one heck of a time…but we lived thru it by using nicknames instead of our real names and also by being better then average American citizens and neighbors! As a retired catholic high school teacher (small C) I know about student names and the problems it brings…both to the student and the school!..This victimization bit is catching…nothing is ever our fault…its always ‘they’…thats why the left-wing national socialist party of germany ie Nazi did so well…all of the nations woes were blamed on ‘they’ and thus ‘they’ were sent to the gas chambers…Nino
 
I agree. As I said in the duplicate thread about this, I have no attachment to my family name. If it were one that would bring constant harassment to my kids, I would change it. It’s that simple.

Hitler? Yep.
Satan? Yep.
Stalin? Yep.
Moron? Yep (from my days as a waiter…customer name)
Fagot? Yep (same as above)

Any of these would be a burden for kids in school. These parents had the right idea of using the mother’s maiden name, but then they changed their minds. Why??
Nino said:
whats in a name…a private school has the right to bar anyone it wants…the amount of student hazing re: the name…what if your last name was Hitler or Stalin…would you then still think your a martyr? During ww2 we Italo-Americans were dubbed…foreign aliens and had one heck of a time…but we lived thru it by using nicknames instead of our real names and also by being better then average American citizens and neighbors! As a retired catholic high school teacher (small C) I know about student names and the problems it brings…both to the student and the school!..This victimization bit is catching…nothing is ever our fault…its always ‘they’…thats why the left-wing national socialist party of germany ie Nazi did so well…all of the nations woes were blamed on ‘they’ and thus ‘they’ were sent to the gas chambers…Nino
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I prefer my beer “hell” to “dunkel” – “hell” means “light” in German. Is Mr. Hell German? If so, he and the school officials need to get out of their English language ghetto.
 
mercygate said:
I prefer my beer “hell” to “dunkel” – “hell” means “light” in German. Is Mr. Hell German? If so, he and the school officials need to get out of their English language ghetto.
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Yes. Read the article. The Catholic school has a place for their son. They are moving him to a different school because he was teased incessantly in public school. The parents were going to have him go by his mother’s maiden name, but they changed their mind.

They obviously don’t care that their kid is being harrassed.

And, I prefer my beer dunkel…although a good Belgian Ale is better than German beer. 😉
 
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