It must be a trend: Catholic bishops are laying down the law these days on the use of preferred pronouns, cross-dressing and other accoutrements of transgender individuals on their property.

Guess what? They’re not getting a lot of love from the media over it.

The latest fight is within the Archdiocese of Portland (Ore.), but the dioceses of Des Moines, St. Paul and Minneapolis and Springfield, Ill. have taken similar stands. Thus, I am curious as to why a decision by the Catholic archbishop of Portland has created such a ruckus. Could it be because of the ultra gay-friendly ethos of the area?

The Oregonian’s headline made it clear where the editors stand on this: “Portland-area Catholic schools are at a crossroads over transgender, nonbinary student rights.”

Hundreds of Portland area families whose children attend Catholic schools are protesting western Oregon Archbishop Alexander Sample’s guidance that schools under the church’s umbrella not recognize transgender and nonbinary students’ pronouns and identities.

Sample quietly released the 17-page document in January, when it was billed as a “teaching and formation resource” and not a mandate for the 41 archdiocesan schools, which stretch from Portland to Medford and include Central Catholic High School and 15 K-8 schools in Portland.

Nowhere in the rest of the piece is the statistic of “hundreds” of families supported, although I read elsewhere that more than 1,000 people signed a petition opposing the archbishop.

The news of Catholic resistance to Sample’s doctrinal stance was broken in the middle of Pride Month — a true insult in left-left Portland. (Note: I attended college there, had my first newspaper job in the Portland suburbs, have friends and family there and I swoop through town at least once or twice a year, so I have more than a glancing knowledge of the culture.)

But as the school year drew to a close, teachers and families around the metro area said some schools, including St. Rose School in Northeast Portland, began to treat the recommendations as requirements, including asking faculty members to pledge that they would uphold them. Rumors began to fly that more schools would be required to follow suit by next school year and that teachers who left as a result would not be welcome at other schools in the system.

Now it’s true the archbishop was going for broke by firing both the superintendent and assistant superintendent of his school system, so one could surmise that both people disagreed with the archbishop’s new strictures.

Also, note the requirement that school leaders would be required to honor this doctrinal stance. Question: Is this a requirement for some kind of doctrinal covenant? Is that new or have such documents already been in place?

At St. Rose School, a K-8 which experienced a boom in enrollment during the pandemic as families sought out schools that were open for full day in–person learning, at least three faculty members refused to sign off on the archdiocese’s guidance and their contracts were rescinded, according to an educator there who requested anonymity because they are seeking alternative employment within the Catholic school system.

Do read the whole thing, as a number of people have quit over this. An earlier Oregonian story set out what the recommendations are:

* Pronouns used at school must match biological sex.

* Schools should not have all-gender bathrooms beyond single-use facilities.

* Sports and extracurriculars “should be based on biological sex, rather than self-perceived gender.”

* Students who wear uniforms must follow the “code that accords with his or her biological sex.”

* “Catholic institutions should not post signage or display symbols in support of gender identity theory.”

Willamette Week, an alternative paper known for its in-depth journalism and sources deep within the community, has also been covering this issue.

Its follow-up story at least reached out to a Catholic theology professor in another state, who told the publication that Sample has absolute right to do what he pleases in a church-run system. (The professor wasn’t sympathetic to Sample.) The piece read:

Sample was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI, who was conservative in his views on abortion and sexuality.

What? A pope defending the contents of the Catholic Catechism is merely “his views on abortion and sexuality”?

Attention editors: Basic Catholic teaching opposes abortion and holds to a 2,000-year-old Christian approach to moral theology. It’s not major news if a pope adheres to that — or at least it didn’t used to be.

While Sample is considered conservative by many Portland Catholics, he appears to be in step with other archdioceses across the country that remain more socially conservative than the current pope, Francis.

“There’s a whole group of archbishops and bishops who pay lip service to Pope Francis,” Canales, the theology professor says. “They’re called to be obedient to the pope, but they don’t always do that.”

In Portland, Sample is a fish out of water. Many of the school administrations he oversees have progressive views on sexual orientation, gender fluidity and abortion, and have student-led “ally clubs” matching the liberal leanings of their communities.

Well, some of their communities.

Portland does tend to run liberal, that is true; but the “progressive” viewpoints the reporter touts are held by a minority of local Catholics. Drop by The Grotto in northeast Portland and see rosary-bearing Catholics praying the Stations of the Cross. Who is the real minority or majority here?

It wasn’t long before conservative Catholics struck back — but made the waters only muddier. Our Sunday Visitor said the real issue wasn’t the archbishop’s gender document but more of an effort to get schools back in line “with the directives of their pastors.”

OK. Then why all the resignations at several Catholic schools? And why did OSV cut and paste a sermon by a priest in Beaverton who’s not an official spokesman for the archdiocese?

The progressive National Catholic Reporter shed a bit more light on the history of the controversy but one head-snapper was their interview with the mom of a “non-binary” second-grade girl who said she’d pull her child out of Catholic schools.

There were no interviews on the other side of the aisle — that is parents who were glad that Sample released the guidelines. These parents cannot be that hard to find. Did anyone try?

What all these publications lacked was context. Portland Public Schools are notorious for pushing gender-fluid ideologies. Knowing this, Sample may have wanted archdiocesan schools to offer an alternative and traditional view of gender and sexuality. If you read this Oregon Public Schools document on accommodating LGBTQ2SIA+ students, you might understand why the archbishop saw the whole issue as a rabbit hole he didn’t want to go down.

The debate isn’t over until we see where the dice falls when the archdiocesan schools open this fall. The American Spectator is one of the few national publications to take a look at this and their call is similar to what I thought; that Sample sees the issue as a hill he is willing to die on.

Archbishop Sample is doing what numerous other bishops — across the US and across the globe — should be doing. … Sample is ensuring that yet another generation of would-be-faithful Catholics isn’t poisoned with bad catechesis, he is shepherding his flock and keeping the wolves (of transgenderism, of liberal nihilism, of moral relativism) from mauling the lambs entrusted to his care. 

It's clear that Sample came as a rude shock to liberal Catholics who are seeking doctrinal changes in the church, as this New Ways Ministry piece makes clear.  (New Ways is a gay-friendly Catholic organization). The rest of the piece tells what Sample was saying a year ago; that is, he telegraphed his intent to crack down on the widespread of acceptance of gender-bending in Catholic institutions at least a year ago.

The statements from the archbishop reveal an increasing gap between the cleric and the communities which he oversees. In the queer enclave of Portland, Catholic churches and schools have pushed for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion for decades before Sample was installed.

Just months after Sample became archbishop in June 2013, he told St. Andrew’s, a long-standing LGBTQ-welcoming parish, that they were prohibited from attending a Pride parade as a community. This order was not heeded by the priest and parishioners, who attended the event anyway.

 So, Sample has been in office 10 years. He obviously held legitimate orthodox Catholic views closer to his chest for several years, but is making them very clear this year. Why are people so shocked that he is finally doing so? Has it been only the gay-friendly outlets that understood him?

Apparently so. The Oregonian hasn’t had a religion reporter in years and the state’s other media have covered him here and there. (Well, OK, my columnist brother did write about Sample recently). But where's the profile piece in, say, Willamette Weekly?

For example, this is a man who did an exorcism over Portland. Think there’s a story there?

 The Pillar noted Sample’s rise among the ranks of fellow bishops this past spring, so the man isn’t going away. Any chance reporters can get past the activists and actually try to understand him?

FIRST IMAGE: Uncredited feature art with a Corpus Christi Watershed website article: “Archbishop Sample’s Letter On Sacred Music.”