Amid criticism of its new gender identification policy in Archdiocese of Boston schools, a priest during a homily on Sunday falsely claimed children identify as cats and use litter boxes.
“We don’t make any judgment calls on people in transition. We treat people with dignity and respect, whatever their preference, whatever the agenda or whatever their gender identity,” the Rev. Kevin Sepe of St. Francis Assisi of Dracut said. “We always treat people with love and respect.”
However, the priest then went on to question who is allowed in locker rooms and the number of gender identifies.
“It’ll make your head spin,” he said, later claiming it is “bordering on some mental health issues.”
Another example he talks about in the homily is claiming children are identifying as cats and requiring schools to put in litter boxes.
That claim has been disputed for years, again surfacing in May 2022.
Brian Friedberg, a Harvard Shorenstein Center researcher who tracks misinformation on social media, told WGME-TV the spread of “furry panic” comes far-right social media figures with large followings picking up misinformation from niche sections of the internet, such as 4chan. It started as rumors in the 2010s.
School districts in Wisconsin, Vermont and Michigan have also debunked information that they have had to accommodate children identifying as animals, the news outlet reported.
Disinformation and misperceptions about what furries are “can sort of spark things up and turn it into something that is actionable for these conservatives, i.e. taking it to their school board,” Friedberg told the news outlet.
John Pitman, who attended Sepe’s homily, told NECN he was shocked when the packed crowd of hundreds started clapping at the end. He said he was disgusted and walked out.
“Disgusted, floored, befuddled, I just couldn’t believe it was coming out of the mouth of a man who was supposed to embrace love and teach love, and teach all the good things in the world, and with everything going on in the world,” Pitman said.
For more than a year, a committee convened by the Boston Archdiocese has been working to develop guidance for educators should a student identify as transgender.
“We hope to complete that work soon,” Terrence Donilon, an archdiocese spokesperson, told MassLive in September.
Donilon said the policy produced by the archdiocese will be “a very thoughtful document that is foundational in terms of Catholic faith but recognizes the complex world we live in.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester made national headlines and, from some critics, met with stinging rebukes when it announced in August a new policy directing students to act in accordance with their biological sex while attending its religious schools.
The diocese policy approved by Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus prohibits students from advocating, celebrating or expressing “same-sex attraction in such a way as to cause confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities, or events.”
It also said students should adhere to their biological sex, from how they dress and which pronouns they use, to how they behave at school dances, which athletic teams they compete on, and which bathrooms they use during the school day — with rare exceptions allowed, the diocese noted.
The Worcester gender identity policy also appeared to be a near carbon copy of guidelines issued in 2016 by the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark.
David Palmieri, a theology teacher at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, discovered the similarities in the Worcester policy — right down to the identical misspelling of Pope Francis’ name in the text.
The Diocese of Springfield Diocese requires “all students in Catholic schools will be called by the name they were given at birth,” the diocese said in a written statement to MassLive. “In sports, in the classroom, and in every activity, students will be expected to act in accordance with their biological sex.”
But it stated it is working on updating its current policy.
Sepe continued to joke about the false claims after the crowd clapped.
“We are going to be giving out free bags of kitty litter outside,” he said, with the crowd laughing. He then added it’s in case a car gets stuck in the snow.
MassLive reached out to the Archdiocese of Boston for comment.
