Written by by Milt Harris at canadafreepress.com
There are many sub plots, but in the end a brand-new building is donated to take the place of the old school by Horace P. Bogardus, a businessman who has constructed a modern building next door to the school on land he had bought from them. Another bit of interesting trivia about the movie, Crosby played the same character a year earlier in the movie ‘Going My Way’, for which he won the Academy Award for Best actor. He was nominated again for ‘The Bells of St. Mary’s’, making him the first actor in history to receive two nominations for portraying the same character in different films.
Ok, so you now probably know more than you ever cared to about a great Christmas film, but what does that have to do with the present day? Well, just like in the old film when St. Mary’s school was saved, another St. Mary’s was recently saved as well.
It was just last month when Turning Point USA covered how Saint Mary’s College, a Catholic women’s school in Indiana, quietly revised its non-discrimination policy to allow trans-identifying individuals to apply for undergraduate admission. The policy stated that the college would consider admitting applicants who “consistently live and identify as women,” not just biological women.
The ruling created a lot of backlash, so much so that the school has decided to reverse its decision
At the time the college hid under Title IV of the education Amendments which was enacted in 1972, a policy that reached for compliance with anti-discrimination laws. The Idea of Title IV was essentially to protect the rights of women, and now here was a Catholic women’s school using the same argument to circumvent those rights.
However, critics argued that the Department of Education has clarified that Title IX exemptions apply to private undergraduate colleges, which would include Saint Mary’s College. The ruling created a lot of backlash, so much so that the school has decided to reverse its decision and to return to its previous admission guidelines.