A Roman Catholic women’s college in Indiana is being accused of betraying its religion with a new policy allowing men who claim to be women to attend the school.
Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame will begin accepting applications from men who “consistently live and identify as women” in 2024, the Notre Dame student newspaper, The Observer, reported on Tuesday.
The school’s president, Katie Conboy, sent an email to the student body alerting them to the coming change and pointed to the school’s “non-discrimination policy,” which was updated and approved in June.
“The mission of Saint Mary’s College is to empower women, through education, at all stages in life,” the policy reads in part. “Essential to this mission is fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive campus experience.”
Conboy also cited Pope Francis as an inspiration for the transgender policy, according to The Daily Signal.
Francis has made a number of overtures to transgender people recently, declaring them eligible for baptism and inviting a group of them to lunch at the Vatican.
“Pope Francis advocates for love as the appropriate approach to those who are different from ourselves,” Conboy wrote in her email.
“The revised non-discrimination clause seeks to advance just this kind of community, where we honor the dignity of all persons who work at the college and we follow an inclusive admission process that retains our identity as a Catholic women’s college.”
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Conboy noted that administrators are still formulating the “practices that will follow from the policy,” The Daily Signal reported.
She said a group called the “President’s Task Force for Gender Identity and Expression” will “[gather] information and best practices from other Catholic colleges and women’s colleges and will present their recommendations on student housing considerations.”
The announcement immediately drew condemnation from conservatives and graduates of the college.
“What a grotesque betrayal of its mission and its namesake. So in its homage to the gods of gender identity, will St. Mary’s exclude and expel women who ID as men?” Ed Whelan, distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote on X.
What a grotesque betrayal of its mission and its namesake.
So in its homage to the gods of gender identity, will St. Mary’s exclude and expel women who ID as men? https://t.co/0CvNESEV1F
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) November 22, 2023
Lisa B. Ezell also described the move as a betrayal, posting, “I’m deeply disappointed as a [Saint Mary’s] alum in this decision. The school has betrayed its Catholic mission.”
I’m deeply disappointed as a @saintmarys alum in this decision. The school has betrayed its Catholic mission. https://t.co/mivb8Bt5SO
— Lisa B. Ezell (@LisaBEzell) November 22, 2023
Clare Anne Ath, another alumna, called the school’s new policy “blasphemous & a complete rejection of the Church and [its] teachings on gender and sexuality.”
Just found out my alma mater @saintmarys, an all-women’s Catholic college, will be accepting BIOLOGICAL MEN starting next fall.
This decision is blasphemous & a complete rejection of the Church and it’s teachings on gender and sexuality.
Where is the @diocesefwsb? How can this…
— Clare Anne Ath (@clareanneath) November 22, 2023
Students, parents and alumnae have reached out to Saint Mary’s to voice their concerns, a school spokesperson told Newsweek.
“We also know there are others who support the more-inclusive policy and have written and called to let the college know,” the spokesperson said.
It’s all just another example of the radical LGBT lobby working to allow deluded men to invade women’s spaces. Worse, the rot has infected one of the pillars that used to uphold society — religion.
How long until it all comes crumbling down?
