A bishop has upset parents by telling children that Santa Claus isn’t real.
Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, provoked a backlash after explaining the real story of St Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop, during a visit to Belleville’s Our Lady of Peace school.
A diocesan official said the remarks were made to 10- to 12-year-old children and that the controversy was based on a “complete misunderstanding”. But parents argued that the remarks still trickled down to the younger children.
“They hop in the car with and say: ‘Bishop said there’s no Santa Claus’,” one parent, Boyd Ahlers, told Belleville News-Democrat. “All the kids are talking about it … it just waterfalls.”
Another parent, Ray Schott, told the Chicago Tribune: “These kids are exposed to so much, so early. is the last pure thing in a child’s life. It hurts. He had no right to do any of that.”
