At the school, St. John the Evangelist in St. John, Indiana, an official, who asked The Post not to publish her name because she didn't make the decision to ban Cady's suit, said that the school simply couldn't bend its dress code to suit Cady's style.
"We have a dress code in place for our school. We consistently enforce that," she said. "Oftentimes you'll get somebody who wants to wear sneakers instead of dress shoes, or a purple shirt instead of a white shirt."
The dress code prescribes dark slacks and a white shirt for the boys at the school, and a white dress or skirt for the girls. A girl would not be allowed to wear an outfit that fits the boys' dress code, the official said, though she couldn't give a reason, other than that it is against the dress code.
"Most people have dress codes at work. They have dress codes for other things. They're in place for a reason: So that there's a consistent, uniformly enforced dress code," she said.
The Rev. Sammie Maletta, the priest at St. John the Evangelist, told the Mansells that a deacon at the church could administer Cady's First Communion privately, but that she couldn't attend the ceremony with the rest of her classmates unless she wore a dress or skirt. Cady was upset by that; she wanted to sit with her friends.
"We couldn't go to the real Communion Mass," Cady's mother, Chris Mansell, said. "We would have to wait until all the kids left the building, then come in like a secret. No picture, no anything, like we were ashamed of her. I said, 'That's not an option.' "
After Chris, who worked at the school as a teacher's aide, discussed the dress code with the principal, her husband took Cady to the rehearsal for the ceremony. There, Chris said, Maletta pulled Cady's father aside.
In Chris' telling, Maletta said: "You're raising your daughter wrong. You're setting bad examples for her. She doesn't have the brain development and maturity to decide if she wants to wear a suit. It's your job as a parent to say, 'You're not wearing a suit. You're wearing a dress.' If you won't do this, you're raising your daughter wrong."
Mansell responded by saying that if that was how Maletta saw it, the family would leave the parish, which was central to their lives. It meant pulling their daughters out of the school and Chris quitting her job at the school. They went through with it.
"He already said I was raising my daughter wrong and we're bad parents. At that point, I don't want to be in an organization like that," Chris said.
Chris said that all this has nothing to do with Cady's gender identity or sexuality - her 9-year-old girl definitely identifies as a girl. Cady does have short hair right now, for excellent reason. She has twice grown her hair long and then cut it to donate to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for patients who lose their hair to disease. And her father has shaved his head several years in a row as a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research.
This year, Cady declared, "Can I shave my head for St. Baldrick's? I want to see if I can make more money than Daddy ever did." And she did it - she said that she raised $6,000, the most of anyone at the event, and after she shaved her head, they gave her a medal almost as big as her face.
Her hair is still growing back right now; she wears it plain at school, but at home, she sometimes plays around with silly styles like a mohawk. Ask her about her fashion sense, and you'll get a list not just of clothing but of all her many favorites: "I like Star Wars stuff. I like cartwheels. I like drones. I like math. I like to color."
Cady said she's enjoying the new Catholic school that her parents enrolled her in a few days after they left St. John the Evangelist at the end of September. But the kids at her new school already did their First Communion at the end of third grade, instead of the beginning of fourth grade like Cady was supposed to do at St. John the Evangelist, so Chris (who will also need to find a new job) is looking for a church where Cady can finally make her First Communion.
That matters a lot to Chris, who said she tried attending a nondenominational church for about a year but returned to Catholicism specifically because of her deep connection to Communion. "I just felt really called to go back because of the sacrament. I prayed on it a lot. I always wanted my girls to make the sacrament in the Catholic Church," she said. "The Eucharist is just something so special. I think when you're a cradle Catholic, it's different. It's in your blood. It's in your roots. I just wanted my daughters to be able to experience that."
Until that day comes, Cady is getting ready - she practiced Communion at home with orange soda instead of wine. And her mom posted a photograph of her in her suit in the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation, a group of feminists who supported famous pantsuit-wearer Hillary Clinton. Cady liked hearing some of the responses on Facebook.
"I really love it," she said, "because then I'm not the only one that thinks girls should wear suits."
Oh, the irony. A pox be upon them..
Break the dress code and Sister Mad at the World would administer an ass kicking in front of the class. After the first ass kicking there were usually no more dress code infractions.
Winning, more winning!
You gotta read all the way to the end to find out the rest of the story...
“her mom posted a photograph of her in her suit in the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation, a group of feminists who supported famous pantsuit-wearer Hillary Clinton. Cady liked hearing some of the responses on Facebook.
“I really love it,” she said, “because then I’m not the only one that thinks girls should wear suits.”
Oh boo-hoo.
First Communion is not supposed to be a fashion show. Dress code is a rather simple code to follow. Follow it.
Our house, our rules. It’s part and parcel of being a Catholic. If you don’t understand the rules, you need to educate yourself. If you don’t like the rules and it means more to you to have your daughter wear a bow-tie than to belong to the Catholic church, that’s your choice and everything that goes (and doesn’t go) along with it. You don’t belong to the Church in order to change it to meet your fancy, but because it is the Church. Try this crap at a synagogue or a mosque. Good luck with that.
Making her First Holy Communion at nine years old? What’s up with that?
There’s nothing like teaching your child that rules only apply to everyone else, and not your precious snowflake self.
The mom sounds like a real winner, what a bunch of attention whores.
The parents are letting this child think that she can call the shots.
She can’t,none of us can——there are laws,and rules,and standards.
This child is in for a very big surprise when she gets out in the world.
.
.
Surprise! It’s not all about you and what you want.
May want to show a little humility if not actual contrition.
The girl and both her parents need a talking to if the pastor has enough nerve to do it.
She won’t be ready for Confirmation for a good while. Not with that attitude.
These liberals DEMAND we give in to their every whim - disregarding standards that are in effect otherwise.
Case in point.
In Maryland a school teacher was missing and found dead. When they did the autopsy it was revealed she was pregnant.
(I don’t think her being pregnant was common knowledge)
So they questioned everybody and finally the boy friend/fiance was charged and people were calling him a meanie because he killed her AND she was pregnant.
Apparently some wanted him charged with TWO murders but the states AG ruled that MD didn’t recognize unborns as ‘people’, hence can only charge him for one.
Guess even ‘they’ realized if they charged him with the two murders, the BELOVED school teacher and her unborn child, they would be opening the door to the anti abortion people.
Love it when the LIBs end up trashing themselves, however, they are spending taxpayer money to squirm themselves out of all the ‘messes’ they conjure up while ‘protecting’ them from themselves.
geez... a holy sacrament of God isn’t project runway? who knew?
“the family would leave the parish, which was central to their lives.”
Doesn’t sound like it.
“Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!”
If only all the Catholics of this bent would [not transfer but] leave.....
Child abuse by the parents in allowing their daughter to dress like a boy.
God created her a girl......they are blaspheming God by letting her dress as a boy.
The other families lucked out.
I hated having to put on a tie and have never worn a tie since. Yes, SSPX had Masses in our area for a while but fortunately they did not enforce the usual dress code.
Gosh ! With all the the stuff going on why do you suppose the Washington Pooper promotes and supports, when it should be ridiculing, life styles that support diversion and perversion which would corrupt or disrupt the intent of participating in a oeligious services ?