Charlotte, NC -
Officials at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina are under fire over a Catholic nun's remarks to students.
Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, an assistant professor of theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly condemned homosexuality during a March 21 school assembly.
"The statement she basically made was that homosexuality was something developed from lack of masculinity or a lack of father figures in one's life," a student told WSOC-TV.
Sixty-four students and eighty-six alumni signed on to a letter criticizing Laurel's remarks and asking for an apology from the school,
Q Notes reported.
"Using outdated or false statistics to tell children and young adults that their LGBTQ friends, family members, and colleagues are the result of their parents' missteps is damaging," the letter reads in part. "Suggesting that LGBTQ members for the very audience you were addressing owe their sexual identities to pornography and masturbation is abhorrent. Presenting these false ideas to high school students not only advocates discrimination of LGBTQ students, but also tells those individuals that they are damaged or incomplete."
Some parents said they were upset that they were not notified about the assembly. A spokesman for the diocese told
WSOC-TV that church leaders apologized to parents Wednesday night about the "misunderstanding," saying they believed the nun was there to discuss gender.