Christmas Eve may seem like a strange time to take up such a generally contentious topic as the transgender agenda in America, but in this case, it may be perfectly fitting. In Indiana, St. Mary’s College, an all-girls and women’s Catholic University, bowed to the political winds this year and decided to begin admitting males who “identify” as females in the fall of next year. The response from their students and supporters was swift and nearly unanimous. The close-knit community found more than one reason to object to the decision, many of which we have covered here in the past in more secular settings. This was not a good idea and ran contrary to the values of the institution and the church itself. After some time for prayer and reflection and, perhaps not coincidentally, on the verge of the Christmas season, the President of the college announced that the decision has been reversed and the school will continue to accept only admissions from actual girls and women. (PJ Media)

An all-female Catholic college backed down on a new and very un-Catholic policy to allow biologically male “transgenders” in after taking a lot of heat for the decision.

The Daily Signal obtained an email from President Katie Conboy of St. Mary’s College in Indiana. While the report in November was that the college was going to allow men who pretend to be women to enroll in fall 2024, the understandable anger the policy change garnered made the administration rethink its woke strategy. Unsurprisingly, women were a little concerned about having to share dorms, bathrooms, etc., with dudes in dresses.

“This has weighed heavily on our minds and in our hearts,” Conboy said in the Thursday email. “There have been many voices responding to us from many places and perspectives. We have listened closely, and we have heard each of you.” Despite the fact that the Catholic Church doctrinally condemns transgenderism as gravely evil, the college president made the puzzling claim that the proposed policy change was a “reflection of our College’s commitment to live our Catholic values as a loving and just community.” I guess she missed the part of Genesis where God created humans as male and female—from the moment of their existence, based on biology. Conboy did admit that “the position we took is not shared by all members of our community.”

In some ways, this is a rather unique battlefield because it strays outside of the typical, leftist political debates in America and into the heart of fundamental questions of Christian history and beliefs. Many of us have attempted over the past decade to argue over the fundamentally unscientific nature of arguments claiming that people born with stereotypical DNA structures that define the two genders that make up our species (and that of almost all other animals and most, though far from all plants) fall into two definitive gender categories. This is just basic science and our politically and financially motivated medical authorities have led us far astray.

But the community supporting St. Mary’s College took a parallel and equally compelling approach to the question. If you are a Christian institution and presumably believe in the Word of Christ and the Bible, there are clear guidelines to follow. They point out that we are reliably informed that the male and female participate equally in the image of God, both ontologically and functionally. “So God created man [Heb. Ha’adam ‘humankind’] in His own image, in the image of God created he Him; male and female created He them” (Gen 1:27)

More crude analogies have arisen over time, such as the declaration that the Lord created “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” But the underlying message is the same. Both biblical and historic texts have reflected the existence of men and woman as two halves of the divine formula required to continue the propagation of the species and the expansion of its dominion over the land and the rest of the life that abounds here.

It’s true that later historical references noted the occasional existence of what are now known as intersex people, previously referred to generically as hermaphrodites. These include Eleno de Céspedes, a 16th-century intersex person in Spain. Families with children sharing these attributes deserve full care and recognition that adaptations must be made to accommodate these children as they grow.  But these births are rare in the extreme and are the result of wide diversions from genetic norms, most of which are fatal prior to birth. Further, such intersex births do little in a scientific sense to advance the perpetuation of the species.

For the overwhelming majority of human beings, people express themselves both physically and developmentally in markedly different and uniquely glorious ways as men and women. Science has historically long recognized this, as did the authors of the Bible.  And for those who believe, so did God Himself. St. Mary’s College has taken a brave and politically risky stance in asserting these facts and values. And the fact that they did it on the eve of Christmas might send a message to us all.

Merry Christmas to one and all, men and women alike. And may God bless us all.