Dupage Policy Journal

Controversy continues to swirl at Benet Academy after school officials announced they have hired Amanda Kammes as girls lacrosse coach after earlier rescinding a job offer to her upon learning she is in a same-sex marriage.

“Benet Academy, a prestigious and expensive private high school that identifies as Catholic, has just capitulated to the cacophonous voices of apostates and heretics in its midst,” Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David E. Smith recently tweeted.

Located in the affluent Illinois suburb of Lisle, school officials rescinded their offer to Kammes, a 2001 graduate of the school, after learning she is legally married to a woman, which some argue  runs counter to the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

But after more than 3,000 Benet parents, students and alumni signed a petition in opposition to the move, school officials changed their minds.

“The spineless, principle-free board of directors offered lesbian Kammes the job and she accepted,” Illinois Family Institute said in a post to its website. “With Catholic friends like that, Benet doesn’t need atheist enemies. True Catholics should pull their kids out of school immediately.”

Annual tuition and fee costs run over $14,000 at the school, prompting Illinois Family Institute officials to declare “parents are paying $14,000 per year per student to send their children to a Catholic school that has no respect for Catholic doctrine.”

Assistant coach Colleen Savell sees things differently, saying that she was “horrified” when she learned that Benet had rescinded the offer to Kammes to uphold Catholic beliefs. Savell joined the staff at Benet after spending less than a year at Montini Catholic in nearby Lombard.

While Benet officials initially justified their change of heart in hiring Kammes by referring to the school's mission as a Catholic institution, Family Institute staffers now insist they worry about the message the change sends.

“If it hires Ms. Kammes, there will be no limiting principle to this going forward,” Family Institute officials added. “The school will have no basis for refusing to hire anyone in the future who dissents from the Church on grave matters of moral teaching. There will be no principled way it can refuse to hire a qualified teacher or coach who works weekends as a clinic escort for women seeking abortions at Planned Parenthood.”

In a statement, school officials said, “The Board has heard from members of the Benet community on all sides of this issue over the past several days. We had an honest and heartfelt discussion on this very complex issue at our meeting. Going forward we will look for opportunities for dialogue in our community about how we remain true to our Catholic mission while meeting people where they are in their personal journey through life. For now, we hope that this is the first step in healing the Benet community.”