Although the Archdiocese of Omaha insists a new transgender policy for archdiocesan schools changes nothing, merely formalizes current practices, one Catholic LGBTQ+ advocacy organization nevertheless has called the policy exclusionary.
The new six-page “Policy on Human Sexuality” says students must conduct themselves in accord with their biological sex at all times publicly and at school, including with uniforms, competitive and recreational activities, bathroom usage and dates at school-sponsored functions.
The policy also stipulates that behaviors which cause “disruption or confusion regarding the church’s teaching on human sexuality are prohibited,” and that “social media activity and other conduct by students shall be respectful of others and not promote, advocate, or endorse a view or conduct contrary to the Catholic Church’s teachings, including on human sexuality.”
A separate portion of the new policy applies to school employees and volunteers. It states that they must publicly be in accord with their biological sex at all times, including with dress, bathroom usage and names and titles.
In all, the policy covers students, parents, guardians, teachers, and volunteers. Violation can be grounds for dismissal or disciplinary action. The policy will officially become a part of each of the 70 archdiocesan school’s handbooks on Jan. 1, 2023.
“I think as society continues to normalize gender ideology, we have to anticipate that we could have more students present themselves as transitioning, so we gave our schools guidelines and now a policy on how they could respond when a student or parent might come forth,” Deacon Tim McNeil, the chancellor of the archdiocese, told Crux.
“This is what’s been practiced for many years, so it should be no surprise,” McNeil said.
However, Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry – an organization that works to bring together the Catholic Church and LGBTQ+ community – told Crux in an email that the document looks like it “was designed to exclude and turn people away.”
“It is astonishing that church officials would consider a child’s personal problems to be a threat to the church’s magisterium,” he said. “It is disheartening that church officials would rather expel a student with such problems than work to help the child become healthy and whole.”
The Omaha announcement follows a similar move from the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, earlier this month, and from the Dioceses of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Lafayette, Louisiana in July. In recent years, a number of other Catholic dioceses have issued similar policies as the conversation on gender ideology has become more prevalent.
The “Student Admission and Retention” portion of the Archdiocese of Omaha policy states that a student experiencing gender dysphoria – a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity – should not be denied admission or dismissed from the archdiocesan school they attend for that reason, so long as the student and his or her parents “agree that the child will abide by the expectations and standards of conduct set forth in this policy.”
The section outlines similar regulations for prospective students, and further states that a child whose parent(s) permit gender-affirming care and medications, or authorizes sex procedures or surgery cannot be enrolled in an archdiocesan school. It continues that every current and prospective student and his or her parent(s) must respect Catholic teaching….
The above comes from an August 25 story in Crux.
Yes, the policy is wisely designed to exclude. Being exclusive is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes being exclusive is the right thing to do. Catholics should exclude anyone who is unwilling to accept his biological sex as normative and real. Keep the alphabet people away from Catholic schools.
I’ve been Catholic all my 79 years and never have I been so disappointed in my Church. Why aren’t we teaching those who share our beliefs? How can anyone claim to be Catholic, but support gender dysphoria? Not a hater, folks can do whatever they want, but the Church has to stay strong in its teachings.
Hope they stay strong…parents are desperate when their daughters (mostly) decide to cope with their difficulties by being groomed into gender dysphoria. These parents have no where at all to turn and it is the Church alone that offers coherency and actual aid.
I am really getting bored with this.
This isn’t news-it’s clickbait.
Catholic school does what it has always done.
Catholic dissident group doesn’t like it.
Better stories please.
Actually, many Catholic schools do not do what Catholic schools have done in the past. Many have virtually abandoned the faith. Think of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose that hired a pro-abortion, gender fluid president this year. Think of those with lesbian administrators and teachers. I wish what you said were so, but, it isn’t.
Did you read the article? It looks like Crux just called NWM up to get their reaction to a statement which changed nothing in one diocese.
““It is astonishing that church officials would consider a child’s personal problems to be a threat to the church’s magisterium,” he said. “It is disheartening that church officials would rather expel a student with such problems than work to help the child become healthy and whole.”” What dissimulation, what prevarication. This is an important story, and not click bate. Francis DeBernardo firmly believes a child becomes healthy and whole by rejecting his/her God given biology. The Church stands on Natural Law and the proposition that Grace is mediated through Nature. The two positions are irreconcilable. It is a battle between God, the creator, and Satan, the destroyer.
Good for the Archdiocese of Omaha! Our entire nation needs a full return to faith in God, traditional Marriage and Family, and Christian morality! No more of this crazy leftist hippie garbage! Do you want to be “included?” Grow up! Give up your sinful ways and your sinful “lifestyle!” Become a good, mature, responsible adult, with good Christian morals and good manners! Your sinful ways must NEVER be “included” in any society at all! And keep your mental illness of “gender dysphoria” private– between you and your family and doctor. You have NO BUSINESS bringing it into a school! Especially, a Catholic school!
Everyone in that picture is a confused Catholic or a fake Catholic
It is “New Ways Ministry” that excludes people from salvation, excludes God’s men and women from their true identity imposing new language so that the promoters of their ungodly “new ways” feel better about themselves and their choices to identify and to give over their bodies to degradation not of God. When the church teaches the truth, it show people the “NEW WAY MINISTRY” of Jesus, not the “new ways” of Dorothy Jeannine Gramick, James Martin, Robert McElroy, John Stowe, John Wester, Joseph Tobin. I am only excluded from salvation if I choose to live outside Jesus and His conversion, as some of these folks do in trying to draw people into their own “new ways” apart from the NEW WAY of Jesus Christ.
Bishop Donald DeGrood of the Diocese of Sioux Falls published new guidelines for how to serve those struggling with gender discordance and same-sex attraction as well as other matters related to human sexuality, including the postponement of sacraments, in parishes as well as schools. I encourage readers to read the document, linked below. In part, it states, “All persons have inherent human dignity and are thus deserving of innate respect as a person. Bullying, harassment, or threats or acts of violence against any student based on that student’s perceived sex, same-sex attraction, or perceived gender identity, will not be tolerated. … All persons are called to chastity in accordance with his/her state in life. … Students may not advocate, celebrate, or express same-sex attraction in such a way as to cause confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities, or events. … Students may not advocate, celebrate, or express transgenderism in such a way as to cause confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities, or events (Cf. Congregation for Catholic Education, Male and Female He Created Them, #30-32, 2019). … Mindful that the Most Holy Eucharist represents the source and summit of our Catholic faith and that the Church’s mission is to make known the tenets of faith:
those publicly living a transgender lifestyle or undergoing a transition are to refrain from receiving until they fully accept the teachings of the Church, whereas
those who are privately harboring thoughts about transitioning or are otherwise experiencing the symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria are invited to receive.
… it is essential to note that this same reality exists for any member of the parish whose actions place them in a state of grave sin or public scandal (sex outside of marriage, cohabitation, homosexual union, etc.).”
The bishop’s policy is linked here:
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22131508/bishop-ogorman-policy.pdf
They can’t be godparents or sponsors. They can have a funeral as long as you don’t mentioned they transitioned. They can’t be lectors or music ministers. They can’t work for a church, school or the diocese.
This was stunning. I think the most shocking part was to see it compared to sexual sin.
To me, a better comparison is infertility.
Both are conditions of extreme suffering that the Church limits one’s option for relief.
The Church asks both the infertile and those with gender dysphoria to “offer it up” with resignation.
Back in the day, girls protested so we could wear pants to school. Wearing pants allowed us to play on the playground without having boys harass us and look up our skirts. Nobody put a stop to that bad boy behavior back in the day. So then, girls were allowed to wear pants, play basketball, be on sports teams— and also in the winter, we no longer froze to death because pants are warmer. I took martial arts and was able to fight back against sexually harassing boys, with my strong armor think Joan of Arc, and they backed off. The school admin did nothing, so I took them on and won. The boys realized I was going to war and they had better leave me alone it was war. So if you really care about girls, then police boys aggressively. Stop blaming girls for refusing to wear dresses, sheesh. New Ways Minister was given a letter by the Pope supporting them. Guess the Holy Father can be ignored these days?
He support was for them bringing people into the Church.
So…. Handmaid’s Tale in grade school?
So… #2 no parents or guardians to help you in Gilead?
Audrey, there is a difference between wearing ladies’ jeans, slacks or pants for modesty and practicality, and wearing them because you want to play the man. Cropping ones hear super short, wearing more manly looking pants, etc. is different from more feminine styles. Everyone knows it when they see it. Butch vs feminine. Many of the women who go to the Traditional Latin Masses wear dresses and skirts there with veils and hats, but wear ladies’ pants at work or shopping because they are far easier to put on and practical, myself included, but we do not pretend to be a “husband”.
I remember those days. Unlike Audrey, we were not given permission to wear pants. They did agree to let us wear shorts under our skirts if it was a gym day. This was at public school. It was due to protests about girls modesty and the chant “Teacher, teacher, I declare…” This was the post-Kennedy era. My parents resented it. Lots of kids hated gym.. Kennedy had a program to toughen up American youth because:
The first indication of a decline in the physical strength and ability of young Americans became apparent among United States soldiers in the early stages of the Korean War. The second came when figures were released showing that almost one out of every two young American was being rejected by Selective Service as mentally, morally or physically unfit. But the most startling demonstration of the general physical decline of American youth came when Dr. Hans Kraus and Dr. Sonja Weber revealed the results of 15 years of research centering in the Posture Clinic of New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital—results of physical fitness tests given to 4,264 children in this country and 2,870 children in Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
The findings showed that despite our unparalleled standard of living, despite our good food and our many playgrounds, despite our emphasis on school athletics, American youth lagged far behind Europeans in physical fitness. Six tests for muscular strength and flexibility were given; 57.9% of the American children failed one or more of these tests, while only 8.7% of the European youngsters fail
Sorry I posted before attributing the quote. “The Soft American” by John F. Kennedy, Sports Illustrated, Dec. 26 1960
http://www.recreatingwithkids.com/news/read-it-here-kennedys-the-soft-american/
Picture is supposed to be from GLAAD but I could only find it on Notre Dame’s website
https://sites.nd.edu/thecc/2012/06/07/homosexuality-in-the-parish-the-example-of-st-mary-magdalene-parish/
The parish in the article appears to have been closed in 2015.
For those struggling with gender discordance or same-sex attraction, I recommend Eden Invitation at
https://www.edeninvitation.com/
And, let us pray for our brothers and sisters; and serve them in truth and love.
Praise God the Indiana Supreme Court sided with the Catholic Church in firing a LGBT teacher from a Catholic school. No gay, no way.
Dan,
This is a brilliant reply; thank you for it and let’s keep the faith. i fought this battle in its form then about 20 years ago at St. Francis in Vista. It is gut wrenching if you have a child that is targeted by this Satanic force within Catholic education. To suggest this is click bait is to express an unwillingness to look at the truth. May the New Creations Series rest in hell.