By admin 
A group of three Jesuit High School parents submitted a canonical petition to the Catholic Church earlier this month, the latest escalation in a fight over the private school’s plan to begin admitting girls.
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The petitioners — Anthony Hernandez, Mary Jo Adams Hermann and an anonymous parent — claim the Sacramento school violated Catholic canon law, the church’s system of laws governing its institutions and members. The violation, they said, stemmed partly from Jesuit’s decision to welcome its first cohort of girls without deliberation or consultation with parents.
Addressed to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the petition asked the church department to order Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto to investigate the school.
Jesuit has faced backlash from parents, alumni and donors since announcing its plan to become co-divisional last October. The decision by the school’s board of trustees came in response to a “changing educational landscape” that included declining enrollment, according to a school news release.
Under the co-divisional model, two distinct academic divisions would exist: a boys division and a girls division. Board chair Amy Rogers wrote in a statement that the structure will provide “meaningful single-sex classroom educational and formation experiences within one Jesuit school community while extending the benefits of a Jesuit education to young women throughout the Sacramento region.”
Jesuit is aware of the canonical petition, Rogers wrote. Because the petition involved questions of canon law and church governance appropriately addressed through ecclesiastical processes, she continued, the school would not comment on the petitioners’ claims out of respect for those processes.
On July 21, a group called Men for Others sued Jesuit and its administration in Sacramento Superior Court. It claimed the school abandoned its all-boys mission and made the plan with little community involvement.
The group behind the canonical petition, the Concerned Parents, Alumni and Donors, is separate from Men for Others but shares some of its concerns. Christopher Bakes, a Jesuit alumnus and co-leader of the group, said the petitioners do not oppose admitting girls but object to how the decision came about.
“The reason that the co-divisional decision becomes controversial at all is not because it’s about admitting women — it’s because of the abrupt nature of the decision,” he said. “There was no such study or any kind of process of discernment … It’s as if it came in the dead of night.”
Bakes said the plan also came without meaningful engagement with parents. He pointed to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which says parents are “bound by the obligation and possess the right of educating their offspring,” and schools are “the principal assistance to parents in fulfilling the function of education.” Under these provisions, he argued, Jesuit was required to defer to parents on their children’s education.
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Rogers wrote that the decision reflects a “thorough, thoughtful, and mission-centered discernment process focused on preserving and strengthening Jesuit education for future generations.” She added that it was approved and endorsed by Father Sean Carroll, provincial of the Jesuits West Province, and Soto following extensive consultation.
According to Bakes, Soto received an identical copy of the canonical petition but declined to investigate the school.
When asked about the canonical petition, Soto affirmed his support for the school.
“I am grateful to Jesuit’s leadership team and its educators for their commitment to Catholic education in the Sacramento region,” he wrote in a statement. “I look forward to them continuing to faithfully serve the Church in forming missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.”
The canonical petition is the most recent development in a six-year battle waged by the Concerned Parents, Alumni and Donors against Jesuit High School.
It began in 2020, when Bakes wrote a letter to the school criticizing its website for what he called “illiberal, far-left content” — “a departure from … Catholic teaching.” He said administrators failed to engage with him and address his concerns, instead becoming “hostile.”
In 2021, Bakes and others forming the Concerned Parents, Alumni and Donors hired a canon lawyer, Laura Morrison. The group has since issued complaints against the school for what it views as the secularization of Catholic education. Its correspondence with Jesuit is documented on the website faithnotrace.com.
Bakes submitted a canonical petition in opposition to the school’s plan for a co-divisional model on March 23, but he said the church rejected it because he lacked standing as he was not the parent of a student. As a result, the group filed a new petition in the names of three current parents.
“What we’re now asking for is minimalist, which is to recognize the voice of parents, to recognize them as legitimate, and to stop treating them like nuisances,” Bakes said.
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