Lose a few, lose a few

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 30, 2003

In the San Francisco Faith, Phil Sevilla tells a depressingly familiar story about a Catholic high school teacher named Lisa Newman who, after twelve years of teaching and coaching, has announced that henceforth she is Mr. Tim Newman, etc., etc. Lisa's lifestyle change may not be a common one, yet, but most of us can pencil-in the story line ourselves: the expostulations of the few still-shockable parents; the inevitable statement of solidarity by sympathetic colleagues; the fraudulent "open mike" meeting modeled on the Soviet Agricultural Congress of 1951; the chancery run-around; the unreturned phone calls; the perfunctory answers to letters; frustration, incomprehension, despair, defeat.

Father McLeod offered his theological perspective on transsexuals. "God don't make junk," he quipped. "He made humankind in His image and likeness. Ultimately what gender is chosen is between the individual and God. God may have made one huge mistake in creation. He limited His power. Humans were given the freedom to choose. We use our intellect to choose. He took a risk."

As you will have guessed, Fr. Donald McLeod, C.S.B., is the school principal. It will almost certainly take a generation or two for the Miss Lisas and Fr. Donalds and Archbishop Remberts in our midst to get the gender thing figured out for themselves. So what are Catholic parents to do in the interim? Only two means of sending a message to Headquarters have proven effective. Home-schoolers discovered one. Dontee Stokes found the other.