Catholics Do What Independent Christian Schools Should Have Done
Thank God for the Catholics!
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference advised its schools yesterday that they should hold fast to the truth that “a human being’s sex is a physical, biological reality”.
The move not only provides clarity for school staff and families, it puts governments on notice. The Catholics will not be intimidated or bullied on gender ideology.
Catholic schools will be told they should “respectfully avoid” endorsing concepts that say gender is assigned at birth.
Staff should not endorse the idea that gender is fluid.
Staff should not endorse the idea that gender is separate from biological sex.
If only the associations representing independent Christian schools were as courageous.
Bioethical Concerns
Yesterday’s Australian newspaper reports that Catholic school leaders will be told puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and/or surgery for children identifying as trans is unhealthy.
Such treatments can cause infertility, “unnecessary damage” and limit “future possibilities for healthy human growth”.
Most children identifying as trans will overcome the condition with supportive psychological care.
Schools should not assist in efforts to affirm gender transition for students.
School staff will be told that, while popular culture believes each person’s innermost concept of themselves determines their gender identity, this is “in conflict with the Catholic understanding of creation”.
Accommodations
At the same time, staff will be encouraged to do what they can to make school comfortable for gender incongruent students. (Catholics will be encouraged to use this term rather than ‘transgender’.)
Schools should provide uni-sex toilets for students who want them, and they should allow some modifications to uniforms.
There is no suggestion that trans students should not be allowed to attend Catholic schools.
All school documentation is to record students’ biological sex at enrolment.
Unaffordable Backlash
There are more than 1700 Catholic schools educating about 780,000 students in Australia.
I have little doubt that activists will now call for government funding to be cut from the Catholic sector. But, of course, governments know they cannot do this.
If Catholic schools suddenly closed, flooding the state system with three-quarters of a million extra students, the state system would collapse overnight.
That the bodies representing independent Christian schools have not put out a statement like this is to their shame, and to their members hurt.
If they had done this, then schools like Citipointe in Brisbane would not have been smashed in the press and former principal Brian Mulheran would likely still have his job.
If the independent Christian schools don’t issue a statement immediately, so as to take advantage of the strength of the Catholics, then they are not doing their job for schools, or for the Christian families they represent.
___
Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.
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Photo by Karolina Grabowska.
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For once the Catholic Church is doing the right thing.
I can so relate to your statement…..but that is my feeling , and my thought comes second . Pray for me to do better !
At long last the Church is using its authority to give a different approach to the issue of gender incongruent
Students as to that of the current “Woke” ideoogy. What a relief !
Go the Catholics! Good on you :-)
What the Bishop’s have done is indeed a beginning and absolutely better late than never.
That said I-quote another CD author who at the age of 21, points out the following – that we the people too often use language to subversively marginalise .
The written word like the spoken word holds or hides, truth.
Thank you for all that you do.
Thank you, to the Catholic Church for having the guts to take a stand! I am tired of waiting for Christian leaders to take a stand, its not that hard, it simply needs a little bit of courage and faith that we are all God’s creation and that we are not here by accident and ‘male’ or ‘female’ were part of the original design.