LA DAME – Last week, St. Mary’s College reversed a new policy that would have allowed transgender students to enroll at the traditionally all-female Catholic university after weeks of controversy.
The South Bend college’s non-discrimination policy was updated in June to state that academic applicants whose “sex is female or who consistently live and identify as women” would be considered.
After President Katie Conboy made the policy change public in an email to faculty, staff, and students, it garnered national attention in November.
Days later, Indiana Bishop Kevin Rhoades, whose diocese includes South Bend, urged St. Mary’s board of trustees to “reject gender ideologies that contradict the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church” and “to correct its admissions policy.”
The committee complied on December 21. Conboy and the committee chair stated that it had “become increasingly clear… that the stance we took is not shared by all members of our community” in a letter to the Saint Mary’s College area.
The email states that “some worried that this was much more than just a policy choice; they felt it diluted our mission or even threatened our Catholic identity.” “As this past month went on, we lost people’s trust and unknowingly caused division where we had hoped for unity.” We sincerely apologize for this.
The university’s change of course was praised by those who opposed the previous policy, who claimed that accepting men who identify as women into an all-female institution violated Catholic doctrine.
Bishop Rhoades wrote in an op-ed letter, “The desire of Saint Mary’s College to show kindness to people who identify as trans is not the issue.” A Catholic women’s college adopting a non-Catholic definition of woman is the issue.
According to Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of the Catholic LGBTQ advocacy group DignityUSA, those who support the previous policy claim that the reversal sets a dangerous precedent for transgender students who already experience real discrimination within the church.
She claimed that St. Mary’s board largely gave in to pressure. It just demonstrates how often transgender people are singled out and used as scapegoats in our society and religion. It’s disheartening that the board abandoned its steadfast belief that this was the right course of action.
There are only two genders, according to the majority of Catholics. According to a survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute this year, 69% of white Catholics and 66% of Hispanic Catholics share this view.
St. Mary’s will hold a number of listening sessions in response to the debate to “examine what it means to embrace our values as serious women’s colleges.”
Conboy wrote in the notice, “We will continue to work toward understanding how a school like ours can be truly home—a place of open windows and open hands, where everyone, with all their differences intact, belongs.”
The policy change, which aims to make the church more inclusive while upholding its strict ban on gay marriage, was made just days after Pope Francis officially approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex unions.
According to Duddy-Burke of DignityUSA, it all demonstrates how the church is grappling with LGBTQ issues.
Dealing with gender identity is, in my opinion, truly challenging for Catholic institutions, she said. “However, institutions that try to understand what will be the right side of history in this case are paying the price.”
