A Principal’s Principle: YOU CAN’T ASSUME YOUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL IS CATHOLIC

July 5, 2023

The news of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon shutting down its department of Catholic Schools and its controversy involving how their schools are handling the hot-topic of gender ideology demonstrates the infiltration of anti-Catholicism I have seen happening in Catholic education. As a 40-year veteran educator in the neighboring Seattle Archdiocese Catholic schools, with 34 of these years as a Catholic school principal, I am not surprised to see a conflict between the two groups who make up our Catholic school faculties and parent populations – authentic Catholics and other orthodox Christians on one side and on the other side, lukewarm Catholics or averse-Catholic Christians.

Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample is a rarity in the United States these days – a staunch shepherd who is known for speaking out on the need for authentic Catholicism and calling on his flock to faithfully adhere to the Catechism. His recent document on the truths of human sexuality was not welcomed by a number of Catholic school principals, teachers, and school parents in Portland – along with at least one pastor – who didn’t see eye-to-eye with the Archbishop regarding how Catholic schools should handle so-called transgenderism.

Archbishop Sample recently published “A Catholic Response to Gender Identity Theory,” a document that he said was “to provide clarity on the Catholic Church’s teaching on gender identity theory.” The Archbishop’s guidelines state facts and truths that faithful Catholics would have no trouble endorsing and applauding. Some of these recommendations and directions included:

• “Gender identity theory and gender affirming care offer a simplistic and a psychologically regressive response to a person in distress. Gender affirming care is neither patient nor inquisitive, but quick to impose a one-size-fits-all framework that obscures comorbid conditions, complex circumstances, and the developmental process of adolescent identity formation.  Any therapeutic approach that does not address the whole person, body and soul, cannot lead to human flourishing and conflicts with the Catholic faith.”
• “Catholic institutions and programs should not endorse gender identity theory nor enable any form of gender transition, whether social or medical. This means that names, pronouns, facilities use, attire, and sports participation should depend upon biological sex identity, rather than self-perceived gender identity.”
• Regarding educational materials: all informational and pedagogical materials should align with a Catholic understanding of the human person; schools should offer age-appropriate curricula and conversations about gender and sexuality in the context of the Catholic worldview.” 

The controversy that has made the national news is that a number of teachers, principals, and school parents – and even one pastor – have openly demonstrated defiance to the Archbishop and disagreement with his directives regarding so-called transgenderism as it pertains to his 40 archdiocesan schools. Some educators resigned, and some school parents and students protested, with more than 1,000 people signing statements opposing the guidelines, according to one report. It is worth noting that by not agreeing with Archbishop Sample’s recommendations on how Catholic schools should handle the issue of gender dysphoria, the protesters are signaling they don’t agree with the Catholic Church as a whole, since Portland’s guidelines are simply following similar information already published by the Vatican. 

Whether coincidental or connected with the Archdiocese’s document, Archbishop Sample “temporarily closed” Portland’s department of Catholic schools – which was staffed simply by one superintendent and her two assistants – and there is a report that these three might have been permanently dismissed. It appears the Archbishop either did not think his superintendent can effectively manage the turmoil evident in some of the Catholic school communities, or he came to find out she too isn’t in concert with him and the Church in fundamental areas.

When I served as a Catholic school principal, it became noticeable that public schools were becoming more progressive and vocal than ever in embracing and indoctrinating students with the culture’s anti-Christian beliefs in homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and gender ideology. Concurrently, it became evident to me that a growing number of Seattle-area Catholic school parents – and regrettably Catholic teachers and principals – were either ignorant about the Church’s teachings on these topics or were knowledgeable but opposed to the Church’s stance.

We are seeing a higher percentage of non-Catholic families enrolling in Catholic elementary and high schools, especially evident during the recent covid-pandemic years when non-Catholic parents left the public schools after realizing Catholic schools were doing a better job of virtually educating and were quicker to resume in-person schooling. At my own Catholic school in the Seattle Archdiocese, as we welcomed more non-Catholic families into our school, we wanted to be upfront and unambiguous about what all our students – regardless of if they are baptized Catholics or not – partake in for religion class lessons and have to follow concerning a code of conduct, especially as they pertained to this generation’s swiftly developing human sexuality standards and ideology.

As it became imperative that all the Catholic schools’ policies and curricula regarding sexuality needed to be heightened and made clearer to ignorant and/or intransigent personnel and parents, I approached the Seattle Archdiocese’s department of Catholic schools to ask if they would be proactive in clearly defining policies and guidelines. Specifically, I asked our superintendent’s office if they were going to create written procedures for schools to help them address the growing controversies of same-sex marriage of school personnel, policies and curricula dealing with homosexuality and gender dysphoria, and requirements that boys have to use boys’ restrooms and girls have to use girls’ restrooms. Disappointingly, I was rebuffed. I was told the Archdiocese was going to leave the development of any policies or guidelines up to individual schools.

The superintendent’s office’s reasoning was because in the greater-Seattle area there are some Catholic communities who will want to be more lenient on how closely they follow the Church’s stances on homosexuality and gender identity, and may want to allow so-called transgender students to use whichever bathroom they prefer. I should have guessed this would be their answer when earlier I had logged into an Archdiocesan-wide virtual meeting of Catholic school principals, and some of the principals had their “preferred pronouns” labeled on-screen along with their names. Additionally, at a couple of other Archdiocesan elementary schools, their principals allowed boys to wear girls’ uniform skirts and blouses if they so-called identified as girls.

Where in both Portland and Seattle you will find large numbers of dissenting, lukewarm Catholics, at least in Portland you have a faithful Archbishop standing firm against his unorthodox and often heretical opposition. He doesn’t say and write what he does out of malice; he does it out of love. Like a shepherd, the archbishop uses a crook to symbolize that sometimes a big stick is needed to convey authority as well as to prod his sheep and catch them when needed. He loves his sheep, doesn’t want them harmed, and thus will act forcefully if they need saving.

Since my Seattle Archbishop was not going to speak in unity and clarity on established Catholic beliefs, and since Seattle’s department of Catholic schools washed their hands of the situation, it was going to be up to solitary, principled principals to speak the truth to their school parents and teachers about human sexuality and lead their school communities on the narrower, more difficult, counter-cultural path.  

At my school, I did just that, and with the assistance of a committee of school parents and my school commission, a few years ago we updated and more clearly expressed our school’s policies on how certain human sexuality topics are handled in our authentic, traditional Catholic school. These policies were written after much consultation with legitimate Catholic sources such as:

• “Male and Female He Created Them: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education” (The Congregation for Catholic Education)
• “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination” (The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• “Protecting the Human Person: Gender Issues in Catholic School and College Sports” (The Cardinal Newman Society)
• “Human Sexuality Policies for Catholic Schools” (The Cardinal Newman Society)
• “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” (The Vatican)

Some of the precise statements we made to remind our school’s casual or lapsing Catholic parents, to initially educate our non-Catholic parents, and to reinforce on our teachers included these:

• “The school faculty insist on the fundamental norm that God created humanity as male and female and that according to God’s plan a man and a woman come together and ‘the two of them become one body.’ The Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts, and our school teaches at appropriate grade levels that homosexual acts are ‘intrinsically disordered’ and cannot be open to life and thus ‘are contrary to the natural law’ and ‘under no circumstances can they be approved’ (Catechism #2357).”
• “At our school, our programs, policies, and actions always relate to students, parents, and staff in a way that is respectful of and consistent with each person’s God-given sexual identity and biological sex. The term ‘sex’ means the biological condition of being male or female as determined at birth based on physical differences, or, when necessary, at the chromosomal level.”
• “At our school, people are addressed and referred to with pronouns that are consistent with their biological sex in all school communication and programs. Students, staff, and visitors are to use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex while on school property or at school-sponsored events.”

The result of being proactive and having our school independently create a firm, detailed, and truthful explanation of sexuality in our school policies was somewhat similar to what is currently happening in Portland. Just as some Portland schools saw some of their educators resign and some of their school parents protest, after publishing to our community our school’s updated, faithful commitment to Church teachings on sexuality, a handful of my school families rejected these truths regarding sexuality and did not reenroll for the following school year. Likewise, a couple of my teachers told me they didn’t like the harshness of using terms like “homosexuality” instead of “gay” and that it felt unkind to describe these acts as “disordered,” so they too resigned at the end of that school year. They didn’t seem to or want to understand that the policies and chosen terminology came directly from Church doctrine. Thus, by not agreeing with our school’s written documents, they were thumbing their noses at the Catholic Church. 

Honestly, losing my teachers – as strong as educators as they were when it came to teaching math and English – was a good thing as it was beneficial to our students’ souls. At a time when it is difficult to find good teachers, let alone good teachers who are Catholic, our Catholic leadership – be it archbishops, pastors, or school principals – must not waver when it comes to upholding our Lord’s Truths and the Catechism. Standing firm may require our clergy and lay leadership to give non-supportive teachers pink-slips and to accept the reality of decreased enrollment as non-Catholic or lukewarm-Catholic school families self-withdrawal due to their robust opposition to Catholicism as it clashes with the culture’s current love affair with so-called gay pride and gay marriage and with so-called transgenderism.

Along with Portland, other dioceses such as Des Moines in Iowa have also updated and/or created common sense and truthful policies for their Catholic schools that mandate their students use the bathrooms of their biological sex, so-called preferred pronouns are not allowed, and school employees who are openly active homosexuals or are living in sin either as an unmarried heterosexual couple or a “married” same-sex couple must be removed. 

It’s frustrating that similar policies haven’t been promulgated from every Catholic diocese regarding every Catholic school and parish. This dereliction of duty is a reflection of the large number of ineffectual and/or dissident bishops.  Because not all dioceses are standing firm and promoting truthful stances, and because some bishops, pastors, and school principals are clandestinely followers of the culture’s progressive stance on human sexuality beliefs, school parents must be vigilant in assuring their chosen Catholic school is indeed Catholic. No longer can parents assume that just because they send their kids to a school with crucifixes on classroom walls that their principals and teachers hold authentic Catholic beliefs and will impart human sexuality principles that differ from their public school counterparts. 

With ever-increasing numbers of non-Catholic families enrolling in Catholic schools, it’s imperative that the principals and pastors clearly and delightedly affirm their school’s Catholic identity and uphold Catholic principles via their school policies and hiring practices. Most crucially, Catholic schools must insist their teachers and school staffs adhere to true Catholicism, teach sound doctrine, and don’t let any anti-Catholic beliefs they might secretly carry enter through the schoolroom doors.  

It is very challenging in today’s culture to “strive to be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), and thus we all falter in some aspects of living our lives and making choices. However, when it comes to the examples we set for our youngsters and the choices we direct them to make that will keep them in God’s good graces, nothing is more paramount than sustaining our children’s souls. Therefore, there is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Catholic educators to lead their students to walk faithfully with their Lord. 

Unfortunately, there appear to be Catholics-in-name-only who are administrating or teaching in some Catholic schools, like the ones protesting in Portland against Archbishop Sample’s safe and sane guidelines. Just think how appalling it would be if they intentionally or even incidentally reach children with their false theology and poison their faith lives. 

It is key for us to comprehend the fact that the so-called LGBTQIA2S+ movement works like crazy to groom your children because homosexuals cannot procreate on their own. They need your kids to carry forward their immoral legacy to the next generation. Recent proof of that can be seen when looking at the “pride parades” where homosexual men either dressing as women or wearing nothing, approached children and shook their body parts in front of them. There was also this incident.

Today’s society accuses the Catholic Church and devout Catholics of discriminating against those who so-call identify as gay or trans. But it is actually an act of charity, and not discrimination, to explain that homosexuality and transgenderism do not conform to nature and to make sure our children do not get indoctrinated with immoral propaganda.

As the primary educators of their children, parents have a difficult task in this era of anything-goes, unbiblical sexuality to educate their children properly regarding the topics of sexual activity, reproduction, masculinity, and femininity. If you are going to send your children to a school that will be partnering with you and assisting in teaching your kids – especially if you are going to make those high tuition payments – it is vital you find a school that shares the same Catholic vision of human sexuality you have – which is the vision of how God intended it to be when He created man and woman.