According to a letter to parents from Archbishop George Lucas, the Archdiocese of Omaha will postpone the implementation of a new policy on gender identity and gender dysphoria for Catholic schools and will take into account feedback from parents and educators to promulgate a new policy for the 2023–24 school year.
The policy, which Lucas had only days earlier announced, would be postponed and altered as a result of “input and inquiries from school administrators and members of the school communities,” according to the letter dated August 31 that local TV station WOWT released.
By the end of 2022, a new policy, according to Lucas, will be made public. “We will utilise comments to write updated standards that will be more clearly defined and will not compromise the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Church,” he said.
All students, parents, guardians, workers, and volunteers would have been expected to “act toward a person in accordance with his or her biological sex at birth” under the terms of the August 25 policy, which was set to go into effect on January 1, 2023.
Students would not have been allowed to go to school-sponsored dances with a date of the same sex and would have had to use facilities and locker rooms “that correspond with their biological sex.”
Additionally, a student’s biological sex would have determined whether or not they were allowed to engage in sports. According to the rules, failing to follow the policy might lead to staff termination or dismissal for the student.
The rule would have allowed students who were suffering gender dysphoria to enrol in school as long as they and their parents agreed to follow the rules.
The policy forbade bullying and discrimination against students who are experiencing gender dysphoria and directed such situations to the school’s bullying and harassment policy.
Parents and prospective students were also protected by the policy.
A parent’s kid may be expelled or denied admission if they “reject the school’s education to the youngster in the Catholic doctrines respecting the human person and human sexuality.”
According to the rules, a student may be expelled or denied enrolment if their sexual expression should be confusing, compromise the Catholic education program’s academic integrity, or stir up controversy.
In his letter, Lucas made the point that because Catholic schools are an outgrowth of the Church’s effort to lead people to Christ, they suffer if parents ask them to support decisions that go against God’s design for gender.
As a result, “the school-parent partnership suffers, thus requiring discernment about the appropriateness of the family’s place in the school,” wrote Lucas.
“We teach our pupils about the love of God in Jesus Christ in our classrooms.
We want them to have faith that God accepts them for who they are and that he provides them with gifts to help them develop.
Growing up is difficult, and we work to share Jesus’ kindness and presence, particularly at trying times,” he added.
“The wellbeing of children and young people is threatened by the notion that gender may be a matter of personal choice.
It jeopardises the divinely ordained bond between parents and their offspring.
It is a denial of God’s status as the source of all life and the focus of genuine worship, as stated in the First Commandment. It is irreconcilable with both the mission of Jesus and our Catholic faith, he stated.
A representative for the archdiocese reaffirmed that even after changes, the new policy will uphold the gender-related teachings of the Church.
It will essentially be the same policy when it returns. In an interview with KETV on September 7, Deacon Tim McNeil said that it will still adhere to church beliefs.
At least three religiously affiliated Catholic schools in the Omaha region, including Creighton Prep, Duchesne Academy, and Marian High School, have informed the Omaha World-Herald that they do not intend to adopt a comparable gender-neutral policy.
The Congregation for Catholic Education’s 2019 document, “Male and Female He Created Them,” states that the Church teaches an essential difference between men and women, ordered in the natural law and essential to the family and human flourishing. Omaha is one of several U.S. dioceses to have issued gender theory guidance in recent years based on this document.
Other dioceses around the US, such as Milwaukee and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, have put similar regulations on gender dysphoria into effect.