Arizona Catholic School Forfeits Championship Baseball Game Because A Girl Plays On The Other Team
Another Catholic institution is demonstrating how rampant sexism is in conservative religious views. Our Lady of Sorrows is a Catholic school in Phoenix, Arizona. The school is operated by the U.S. branch of the Society of Saint Pius X, which represents conservative, tradition-oriented priests who separated from the Catholic Church in the 1980s. Our Lady of Sorrows was scheduled to play in the Arizona Charter Athletic Association baseball championship game on Thursday night, but they forfeited the game. Why? Because a girl was playing on the opposing team.
Paige Sultzbach is a 15 year old girl who plays second base for Mesa Preparatory Academy. She has played in every game except two during her team’s undefeated season. Out of respect, she sat out two games, which happened to be against Our Lady of Sorrows. Mesa won both games. But the championship game was different. Paige wanted to play for her team and contribute in the biggest game of the year and support her teammates. She didn’t want to let them down.
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But Our Lady of Sorrows forfeited the game because they objected to a girl playing baseball on the same field as their team. Basically, the Catholic school thinks girls have no place in the public sphere. Paige’s mother Pamela, disagrees, telling The Arizona Republic, “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) a girl’s place is not on a field.”
According to ESPN , officials at Our Lady of Sorrows declined comment. In a written statement Thursday, the school said the decision to forfeit was consistent with a policy prohibiting co-ed sports. The statement also said the school teaches boys respect by not placing girls in athletic competition, where “proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty.”
This statement, of course, is merely an excuse. Did this Catholic school really believe that one of their players would stop running the bases to make out with the female at second base? That’s just a ridiculous notion. This excuse is an attempt to cover up the real reason why Our Lady of Sorrows didn’t want to play the game. They are either scared of women, or they are sexists. Or both.
Here’s a video of the story via ESPN
Many Catholic organizations and institutions, including Catholic officials, have expressed sexist attitudes toward women over the last year. These conservative Catholics believe women shouldn’t have access to contraception or abortion. That a woman’s place is in the home, and that women should be submissive to their husbands. In their view, women are inferior beings in society, which goes against the values Americans have supported for many decades now. Our Lady of Sorrows should have played that baseball game. But rather than respect the other team for including a talented girl on the field, the Catholic school bowed out of the game because they think everyone else should be like them. Paige Sultzbach respected their beliefs twice. In return, the Catholic school should have respected her decision to play this game. All Our Lady of Sorrows is doing is teaching generations of young men to disrespect women and have sexist attitudes. And that’s a very unhealthy thing to learn in a society that values equality, personal liberty, privacy, the pursuit of happiness, and women’s rights. That includes the right to play baseball on any field against any opponent.
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