Posted on Tue, Jan. 11, 2005


Charge dropped against nun

Sister Catherine Iacouzze had been accused of threatening to attack a
student who left class.

By Wayne Parry

Associated Press

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. - Charges were dismissed yesterday against a
69-year-old nun who had been accused of threatening to knock out the
teeth of a student she was disciplining for leaving class without
permission.

Louis Faccone, whose 11-year-old son was sent to see Sister Catherine
Iacouzze, the assistant principal and disciplinarian at St. Cecelia
School in Woodbridge, withdrew the harassment charge he had filed in
municipal court.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen fired Iacouzze in December.

"Being a woman of faith, I firmly believed that in the end, truth
would triumph over treachery," she said after the hearing, declining
further comment.

Faccone said Iacouzze admitted to him that she had threatened his son.
But the stress of continuing with the case was too great for his
family, Faccone said.

"I brought this matter because of the actions she did against my son,"
Faccone told Municipal Court Judge Emery Z. Toth. He said that since
bringing the action, he had learned of similar complaints against
Iacouzze.

Iacouzze's lawyer, James Mackevich, denied she had threatened anyone.
He said she was guilty of nothing more than a sarcastic remark to a
sassy student.

"The phrasing was, 'With an attitude like this, you're lucky you have
all your teeth,' " Mackevich said outside court after the charges were
dismissed. "The implication was, 'You're being so disrespectful that
you're lucky something hasn't happened to you in the past.' There was
no present or future threat."

Mackevich said the sixth grader left class without permission last
fall, went down a stairway he was not supposed to have been on, and
entered a gymnasium without supervision. A teacher saw him and brought
him to Iacouzze's office, Mackevich said.

"She tells him four times to be quiet and stand still," the attorney
said. "It's a sixth grader being disciplined. Can you imagine filing
charges every time a third grader gets yelled at?"

Mackevich said he was unaware of similar complaints against Iacouzze.
A spokeswoman for the diocese said she could not comment on personnel
matters other than to say the diocese was glad the charge had been
dismissed.

Iacouzze does not plan to appeal her termination from the school, her
lawyer said. She said her immediate plans are a long vacation.

Faccone said his son now attends a different Catholic school.