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Catholic school forfeits baseball game because opposition have a girl on second base

Arizona school refuse to play with girl out of respect

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Saturday, May 12, 2012, 8:00 AM

Updated Saturday, May 12, 2012, 8:00 AM

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Paige Sultzbach - Our Lady of Sorrows has bowed out of Thursday night's game against Mesa Preparatory Academy

Photo by AP

A fundamentalist Arizona Catholic high school is refusing to play in a baseball final as their opponent’s team includes a girl on second base.

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic school, in Phoenix, will forfeit the final rather than play against Mesa Preparatory Academy because 15-year-old Paige Sultzbach is on their team.

The fundamentalist Catholic school is run by the U.S. branch of the Society of Saint Pius X. The group represents conservative, traditional priests who broke from the Catholic Church in the 1980s.

The school’s statement read, “Our school aims to instill in our boys a profound respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty."

Paige’s mother Pamela responded by saying, "This is not a contact sport, it shouldn't be an issue. It wasn't that they were afraid they were going to hurt or injure her, it's that they believe that a girl's place is not on a field."

The athletic director at Mesa Preparatory Academy said, “I respect their views, but it's a bit out of the 18th century.”

The Mesa team coach said she was angry. She said “What true athlete would want to win or lose a championship game by forfeit?"

Lisa Maatz, director of public policy at the American Association of University Women, told AP that this was an example of why laws which enforce gender equality in education programs, including sports, are necessary.

She said, “The very idea that such stereotypes are so strong, they'd actually forfeit a game simply because a girl was on the field. That's ridiculous…Does she have cooties?"

Senior director of advocacy for the Women's Sports Foundation, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, commented that the school’s decision doesn't aid its students.

Hogshead-Makar said "In real life, these boys are going to be competing against the girls for jobs, for positions in graduate programs or in trade schools…In every other area of their life, they are going to be competing side by side."

Nster.com

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46 Comments

15 - 46 | See all comments

seanomelb | May 16, 2012, 07:18 PM EDT

Happy to oblige.

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EamonnDublin | May 16, 2012, 07:21 AM EDT

Good man yerself Sean - I'm sure you feel much better after that ego booster attempt on yourself! The power of positive thinking! I LOVE it! Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

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seanomelb | May 15, 2012, 08:21 PM EDT

The above article has nothing to do with Islam and I am to far down the road Eamonn my boy! and you'll never catch-up.To put it simply for your simple mind I'm streets ahead.

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eiriamach | May 15, 2012, 08:03 AM EDT

jfulton, you write, "modifying one's faith to conform with that which you have been taught is wrong and now are being told is ok is very difficult." Pope Benedict's "reform of the reform" has nullified teachings of Lumen Gentium with new canon law, the collegiality of bishops and 'royal priesthood' of all faithful, for example. He has abandoned 'dynamic equivalence' in translation of liturgy in favor of interlinear translation and produced a faulty (some claim heretical) and un-poetic new missal that is not prayable. The pope calls his rollback of Second Vatican Council a "hermeneutic of continuity" because conservatives like SSPX had been complaining that Vatican II produced a "rupture." It broke with NO church doctrine, but came to terms with democracy, freedom of conscience, and the need for Christian unity, all of which this pope, followed by the American bishops, has rejected in favor of pre-conciliar clericalism and triumphalism. Rollback of Vatican II will be virtually complete when the pope embraces SSPX, and he soon will do so. SSPX is not protestant. I repeat: it is the new Catholic.

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EamonnDublin | May 15, 2012, 07:27 AM EDT

"Seanomelb" You really ARE a pest! It is irritating for me to have to repeatedly state that I did NOT say that of which you accuse me. In this instance, I have NOT, NOT, NOT said "Don't talk about the Catholic church, the Muslims are worse" I CLEARLY stated that there are ongoing, consistent attacks on the Catholic church but nobody criticises Islam. In fact, in my post of May 14th at 3.23pm, I state categorically that it is an EXCELLENT thing to discuss sexism within or without the Catholic church. I have already explained this to "AdrienRain", but you obviously just want to criticise ME, so you therefore twist my words around to suit yourself. Is there nothing that I actually SAID with which you can argue? Clearly not. (For the record, I personally do NOT agree with the school in this matter of the girl playing for the team.) Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

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seanomelb | May 14, 2012, 07:47 PM EDT

Don't talk about the RCC the Muslims are worse, to paraphrase Eamonn. A sure sign of ones inability to discuss the central theme of the above news item.

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jfulton | May 14, 2012, 06:40 PM EDT

"eiriamach", I would like to defend my previous statement by answering your response if you don't mind. -You'll see outside the school a large permanent sign with the words 'Roman Catholic School.' Just because you put a sign out that makes a claim doesn't make it true. They knowingly and willingly broke from Rome. -Pope Benedict XVI is expected to allow SSPX, a controversial, ultra-conservative splinter group, back into the Catholic Church. According to what I've read and been told by my bishop, they will be allowed back into the fold if they embrace the current Church. SSPX has stated that they "acknowledged significant internal resistance to such a move, which he said might lead to the group splitting apart." -The price SSPX demands for returning is dismantling the reforms of Second Vatican Council. Do you see how this story foreshadows what is to come? I do not see what foreshadowing you are alluding towards. The Second Vatican Council reforms will stand. I truly hope that SSPX and all other faiths that broke away would come back to the fold, but modifying ones faith to conform with that which you have been taught is wrong and now are being told is ok is very difficult. The best explanation I have heard was actually from a Baptist minister whom stated that each religion is a dangerous, narrow, twisting path up a very high mountain. If you spend too much time yelling at the other guy how to climb his path, you're going to fall off. My whole beef is that the title to the article should have alluded to the fact that it was SSPX or a Fundamentalist Catholic school. Most people only graze article titles and would be left with the wrong impression.

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peterson | May 14, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT

I guess that they did not want to defeated by a girl.

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EamonnDublin | May 14, 2012, 03:23 PM EDT

Hi "AdrienRain" - Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I can't see where I wrote that "one should not discuss sexism in Roman Catholicism because Muslims sometimes murder their female family members". As far as I can see, what I said was that instead of "ALWAYS (my caps) having a go at the Catholic church and Christianity in general", some people might turn their attention to "honour" killings, etc. "ALWAYS" is the operative word. I have no problem whatsoever with people discussing sexism within or without the Catholic church, in fact, I think it is an EXCELLENT thing that these matters should be discussed. By the same token, I also think it would be a good idea if the negative side of Islam were discussed. THAT is clearly what I wrote. I have no idea as to why any reasonable(?) person would argue against my request for balance. Unless, of course, one takes my words, changes them to suit what one would LIKE me to have said in order to contradict me, and then make an argument out of nothing. Éamonn, Dublin.

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EamonnDublin | May 14, 2012, 03:07 PM EDT

Good Man Yourself, EiriAmach! Maybe we might start a trend? Change the board to a positive one instead of all this negativity (although, in truth, I really do believe "Seanomelb" is a bit too far down the long road to come back, and "ByTheBay"'s sole consumption would appear to be whether or not I am Irish and/or actually live in Dublin). A very strange obsession! Now, I must go because I promised Ciara we would go to the flix tonight! Take care - and thank you for your response, Éamonn, Dublin.

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adrienrain | May 14, 2012, 03:00 PM EDT

EamonnDublin - so one should not discuss sexism in Roman Catholicism because Muslims sometimes murder their female family members? Are there any other things that should never be discussed because they don't involve Islam? Should we never discuss Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Fed bldg in Ok City because of 9/11?

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eiriamach | May 14, 2012, 02:21 PM EDT

Wow! Thanks, Eamonn. In truth, I've enjoyed our debates! Don't go away, OK? (Btw, I have no formal training in theology, just a strong interest in church politics and the medieval philosophy, Thomism, that still prevails in RC today.)

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EamonnDublin | May 14, 2012, 02:05 PM EDT

"EiriAmach", You are obviously well steeped in matters theological and/or its periphery. I think I owe you an apology for hitting out at you in earlier posts (BTW, even then I admired your placid temperament). I might not agree (even nearly) with some of your views, but you most certainly are well worth listening to. Best Wishes, Éamonn, Dublin.

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eiriamach | May 14, 2012, 01:27 PM EDT

Some posters think that the SSPX boys school is not really Catholic, so I'll repeat some of my earlier words: "Those who think Our Lady of Sorrows is not really a Catholic school should take a look at the (Yahoo) video on this issue. You'll see outside the school a large permanent sign with the words "Roman Catholic School." SSPX simply consider themselves more Catholic than the Vatican, or they consider other Catholics not really Catholic. Also, From Spiegel online: "Pope Benedict XVI is expected to allow SSPX, a controversial, ultra-conservative splinter group, back into the Catholic Church.... But Holocaust denier Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop, opposes the agreement, which is likely to be reached before the end of May." SSPX Superior General Fellay, however, has urged his followers to support reunion; the price SSPX demands for returning is dismantling the reforms of Second Vatican Council. Do you see how this story foreshadows what is to come?

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jfulton | May 14, 2012, 11:23 AM EDT

I dislike that they are first to point out that it's a Catholic school but you have to read further into the article to find out it's a fundamentalist offshoot that "broke away" from the Catholic church. Hence they are no longer Catholic. The media just loves to take every stab they can get at the Catholic church.

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