Can Catholic schools resist the new gender confusion?
Two months ago, parents at Sacred Heart girls’ school in Hammersmith received an unexpected letter. “In recognising Jesus as our teacher through the Gospels,” wrote headteacher Marian Doyle, “the first impulse for us as a Catholic school must be to promote greater wholeness for transgender individuals.” That includes “using the young person’s preferred pronoun” – i.e., if a girl identifies as a boy, calling the pupil “he” – and “refraining from any judgement”. These guidelines were the consequence of the school’s Catholic values of “listening, caring, supporting and offering community”,