Catholic school faces backlash after denying education to child with same-sex parents

Local residents call on catholic school to 'prayerfully reconsider' rejecting student with same-sex parents

Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition asking a Catholic grade school in suburban Kansas City to “prayerfully reconsider” denying admission to a same-sex couple's child.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Reverend Craig Maxim told families in a letter last month that he sought guidance from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas when the same-sex couple asked to enrol their child in kindergarten at St Ann Catholic School in Prairie Village, Kansas.

The archdiocese reportedly advised against accepting the child because the parents could not “model behaviours and attitudes consistent with the church's teachings.”

“Same-sex unions are not in conformance with the Church’s teaching on sacramental marriage,” the archdiocese said. “We do not feel it is respectful of such individuals, nor is it fair, loving or compassionate to place their children in an educational environment where the values of the parents and the core principles of the school conflict.”

About half of the people who signed the petition to Archbishop Joseph Naumann and the archdiocesan schools superintendent are St Ann members.

“Respectfully, we believe that the decision to deny a child of God access to such a wonderful community and education, based on the notion that his or her parents union is not in accordance with the Church’s teaching in Sacramental marriage, lacks the compassion and mercy of Christ’s message,” the petition reads. “We ask you to consider the many ways that other modern marriages may be inconsistent with the Church’s teaching on Sacramental marriage”.

Catholic schools nationwide are divided over whether to admit same-sex couples' children.

In their letter to the religious leader, residents noted the school has previously accepted students with parents whose relationships do not conform to traditional ideas of marriage.

“We recognise the complexities of morality, politics and theology in modern times,” the petition read. “We hope that you can recognise what may seem to be the shifting of values as actually the welcoming of tolerance, love, understanding and mercy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report