Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS

The new bullies on the street – transgender activists – are in the process of bullying a private Catholic school in Rhode Island for not enrolling students who identify as transgender.

Breitbart is reporting on the controversy involving Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which is run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. The school’s primary mission is “the evangelization of young people” with the express aim of forming “the whole person, traditional values, high expectations, self-discipline, fairness, professional competence, and collaboration.”

As Dr. Thomas D. Williams writes for Breitbart, this mission would obviously “preclude encouraging young people from self-destructive experimentation with gender fluidity, contrary to Catholic teaching on the human person.”

The dustup began when alumni noticed that the Philosophy of Admissions section of the 2015-2016 Parent and Students Handbook contained a statement which read: “Mount Saint Charles Academy is unable to make accommodations for transgender students. Therefore, MSC does not accept transgender students nor is MSC able to continue to enroll students who identify as transgender.”

These few alum decided that this was an outrageous act of discrimination. LGBT activist groups were notified, which sparked the usual round of hysterical “Hater! Hater!” accusations. Protestors set up an independent Facebook page entitled “No Hate at MSC” for the sole purpose of attacking the school for daring to uphold their religious convictions (even though the creator of the page makes an awkward attempt at saying the page is meant to encourage the school to exemplify the compassion it preaches).

Activists raised more than $5,000 to “educate” school administrators about gay issues and how to create “safe spaces” for transgender students in locker rooms and bathrooms – even though the school has never had a single request for admission from a transgender student.

At first, the backlash caused the school to issue a statement that seemed to be capitulating on the policy.

“The policy that currently appears in the Mount Saint Charles Student Handbook is not intended to be discriminatory toward transgendered students nor is Mount Saint Charles Academy’s intent or desire to exclude transgender students. The policy was put in place for the simple reason that Mount Saint Charles feels that its facilities do not presently provide the school with the ability to accommodate transgender students,” the school explained.

“Although the school has not been approached with any requests to admit transgender students, Mount Saint Charles Academy’s administration has been exploring ways in which it might provide reasonable accommodations for transgender students and fulfill its mission.”

It added: “Rather than criticize the school for a policy you deem unreasonable, please try to understand the reason for its existence, please know that we would very much like to correct the problem, and your help would go a long way in allowing us to achieve that goal.”

Just 45 minutes later, this statement was followed by another which apologized for “unintended hurt feelings” and the “seeming insensitivity of our policy” but appeared to reaffirm the policy, saying that the school’s facilities do not presently accommodate transgender students and that it’s not a “comprehensive high school” that has the ability to accommodate all students.

It concluded by saying that the “administration has been exploring ways in which it might provide reasonable accommodations for transgender students and fulfill its mission.”

In other words, it’s mission is important and any accommodation must be in accordance with that mission.

Of course, that sent the alumni, activists, and the always supportive liberal media into a tailspin. Reporter Russell J. Moore, writing for GoLocalProv.com, revealed his rather limited grasp of the teachings of Jesus Christ by saying, “I find it hard to believe that Jesus would approve of rejecting people based on their gender identity. Instead, I believe he would embrace acceptance and tolerance.”

Yes, Mr. Moore, Jesus would surely embrace everyone, even transgendered people, but He would never approve of creating “safe spaces” for them because that would mean enabling behavior that disrespects the designs of the Creator.

As Pope Francis explained in Laudato Si: “The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.”

If Moore took the time to get to know the real Jesus, rather than this figment of the liberal imagination that only appears during their discussions of sexual ethics, he would have also known that while Jesus taught us to love our neighbor – He never taught us to love their sins.

In fact, He specifically issued this command to His followers: “If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault . . .” And, after repeated warnings, if he still doesn’t repent, then Jesus says we are to “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” (Matt 15-18)

I guess that makes Jesus just another one of us transphobic Christians.

We need to pray for the administrators of this school that Jesus will give them the grace to withstand this attack against their religious identity and allow them to maintain their sacred mission.

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