Bout of sexism in Catholic school exposes nation’s lack of progress

This is a historic time.

We have both a black man and a female bidding for the title of president of the United States.

Our country seems to be making strides toward become more open and accepting and eliminating racism and sexism.

Really?

No. Not really.

After all, if sexism was being eliminated from out society, St. Mary’s Academy, 25 miles northwest of Topeka, Kan., would not be making national headlines.

If you haven’t heard, this Catholic school would not allow a female referee, Michelle Campbell, to officiate a boys’ high school basketball game.

The reason given, according to Associated Press reports of what the referees were told, was that “Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy’s beliefs.”

It should be noted that this particular Catholic school is owned and operated by the Society of St. Pius X, which follows older, Old Testament beliefs that used to be followed by the Roman Catholic Church.

These beliefs are not the same as those followed by the current Catholic Church.

In fact, the St. Pius Society’s leader, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s.

Clearly this group of people is a fringe clan of male-chauvinist sexists that don’t truly represent the Catholic Church.

Even so, how sad is it that such sexism still exists in America?

The United States is held up as an example for progress to the rest of the world, and then something embarrassing happens because a select group of people decides it’s the man’s burden to properly raise young boys and make all the important decisions in a household.

What a crock.

Women can vote. Women can join the military. Women can raise a family without the aid of a male if need be. Women can even be high-ranking business or political figures.

Yet in some groups, they can’t officiate a basketball game.

And that’s the scary part. Both men and women buy into this thought process, and one never knows who thinks this way until he or she is seen interacting with others.

It could be the nice man living next door, the woman buying vegetables at the supermarket, or the rich family that owns and operates prominent businesses in the community.

Until these people show their true, distasteful colors, they can exist alongside the rest of society and appear to be quite normal or even respected, so what causes them to think men are superior to women?

Obviously for some, it is a religious belief, which for a Christian-based religion is quite contradictory to what the entire concept of Christianity seems to be.

For others, it is simply the way they were raised by their families. They were taught that the man is the bread winner and the woman stays home to cook and clean.

But regardless of the reasoning, it is asinine to think another human is inferior due to varying anatomical characteristics.

Everyone is equal.

Anyone barbaric enough to believe men are superior to women needs to take a look around.

Men don’t go out and bludgeon wildlife every day to provide for their families.

The days of the caveman are long gone, and in such historic times, so should be the days of sexism.

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About toddvogts 833 Articles
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of media at Sterling College in Kansas. Previously, he taught yearbook, newspaper, newsmagazine, and online journalism in various Kansas high schools, and he ran a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas. He continues to freelance as a professional journalist from time to time. Also, Vogts is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), among others. He earned his Master Journalism Educator (MJE) certification from JEA in 2022. When he’s not teaching or writing, he runs his mobile disk jockey service and takes part in other entrepreneurial ventures. He can be reached at twitter.com/toddvogts or via his website at www.toddvogts.com.