OPINION: Some students have been left behind and feel smacked by reality when they finally learn the truth about sex
St. Norbert’s College will now affirm that there are only two sexes, but the change has left students confused.
The Wisconsin Catholic college will now only recognize men and women in its policy, as reported today by The College Fix.
The Catholic Church has long taught that there are only two sexes – “male and female He created them,” as just one example.
Furthermore, there are numerous documents and statements in the past years affirming the sex binary in Catholic Church teaching. This 2023 document from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides dozens of citations from just the past decade or so.
But sadly, some students have never learned this, despite attending a Catholic college. Thus, they believe it is a “new” Catholic belief.
“What’s going to happen to this entire department if the school is saying that they’re following the new Catholic interpretation and belief system of there’s only two, there’s only two genders,” Gracelyn Griese, a gender studies minor, said in response to the policy. “That goes against what some of my classes for the past 3½ years have been teaching and have been discussing,” she said, according to the dissident New Ways Ministry, apparently quoting the Green Bay Press Gazette.
The policy change came in response to a Vatican document called “Dignitas Infinita” which affirms the church opposes the surgical and chemical mutilation of individuals.
My point is not to beat up on Griese, as I actually feel bad for her.
For three and a half years she has been paying money to a Catholic college and has yet to ever hear what the Catholic Church teaches about gender. It is sadly a meme when someone expresses a dissident view and says something like “I went to a Catholic school.”
The shame should be on her professors for not teaching her the truth. I don’t expect a college student to read every document from the Catholic Church or speech from Pope Francis, but it is depressing that her professors never told her about these issues. To be fair, the gender studies department does offer several courses that purport to discuss Catholic Church teaching and sexuality issues.
The other issue is the notion of truth and its immutability, even if we are ignorant of it. I would guess most practicing Catholics have heard something along the lines of Griese’s statement on the sex binary. “I never heard my priest say that [about abortion, marriage, birth control],” as if it changes the teaching. Or “The Catholic Church doesn’t teach that anymore, does it?”
We aren’t culpable for what we don’t know – but professors at Catholic colleges are responsible for what their students don’t know.
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