{"id":2271759,"date":"2024-06-19T16:03:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/catholic-charity-sponsors-book-reading-encouraging-children-to-move-beyond-the-gender-binary\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T16:07:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:07:14","slug":"catholic-charity-sponsors-book-reading-encouraging-children-to-move-beyond-the-gender-binary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/catholic-charity-sponsors-book-reading-encouraging-children-to-move-beyond-the-gender-binary\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Charity Hosts Book Event Promoting Non-Binary Gender Awareness for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcatholic-charity-sponsors-book-reading-encouraging-children-to-move-beyond-the-gender-binary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2271759&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Catholic charity group in New Jersey, the \u2064Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Trenton, sponsored a reading event at the Hamilton Township \u200dPublic Library\u200b which featured the book \u201cMy Shadow is Purple.\u201d The book, aimed at young children, promotes the understanding of gender beyond the traditional binary, depicting a child who identifies as neither solely male nor female. Despite its intent to inspire children\u200c to be true to themselves, local\u2064 Catholics \u200bexpressed concerns, questioning how the charity could endorse a narrative that seems to conflict with traditional Catholic teachings on gender. The\u2064 event, held as part of the \u200dcharity&#8217;s educational outreach under a contract\u200d with the\u200b New Jersey Department of Children and Families, \u200chas been met with both surprise and criticism from the local community, including from devout Catholics who are struggling to reconcile the charity&#8217;s actions with their faith.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Catholic charity group in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/new-jersey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Jersey<\/a> sponsored a reading of a book for young children teaching kids to move \u201cbeyond the gender binary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Trenton <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hamiltonnjpl.org\/event\/community-storytime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">sponsored a reading<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  on Monday at the Hamilton Township Public Library in Hamilton, New Jersey, of a book used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/massive-spending-bill-could-funnel-millions-to-abortion-industry-lawmakers-warn\/\" title=\"Massive Spending Bill Could Funnel Millions To Abortion Industry, Lawmakers Warn\">promote gender ideology<\/a>. The book, \u201cMy Shadow is Purple,\u201d follows the story of a young child who identifies as neither male nor female.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reading prompted concerns from locals, who wondered how a Catholic charity could be promoting a book encouraging gender confusion. The book\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/My-Shadow-Purple-Scott-Stuart\/dp\/1922503819\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amazon page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  says that it is an \u201cinspiring book about being true to yourself and moving beyond the gender binary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMy dad has a shadow that\u2019s blue as a berry and my mom\u2019s is as pink as a blossoming cherry. There\u2019s only those choices, a two or a one. But mine is quite different. It\u2019s both and it\u2019s none. If theirs are straight then mine is a circle,\u201d the child says in the book.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The picture book features photos of the child wearing both masculine and feminine clothing, including a skirt\/suit hybrid made for the school dance.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_753059\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-753059\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screen shot of book from Reading Rocket YouTube reading.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the dance, one student says, \u201cThere\u2019s more than two colors our shadows can be,\u201d after the child does not want to go to the male or female part of the dance floor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tom, a local parent and Catholic, said that he was shocked by the sponsorship of the reading.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs devout Catholics and parents to children 4 and 1 1\/2, this book event really hit home for my wife and me,\u201d he told The Daily Wire. \u201cWe are in a state of complete disbelief that our Diocese would align itself with something so clearly in opposition to the teachings of our faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe seriously question how this sponsorship is anything other than a sad example of secularized virtue signaling,\u201d he added. \u201cI would also like the Diocese of Trenton to explain how moving children \u2018beyond the gender binary\u2019 will move them closer to God?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a statement to The Daily Wire, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Trenton said that the reading was part of the charity\u2019s educational mission and indicated it was done as part of its contract with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families under the NJ Statewide Student Support Services Network (NJ4S).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cTo that end, our NJ4S Mercer Hub team offers a wide variety of educational and prevention programs for students, families and educators to ensure the children in the county have access to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-budget-breakdown-how-the-big-government-binge-overtaxes-overspends-and-overborrows\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Budget Breakdown: How The Big Government Binge Overtaxes, Overspends, And Overborrows\">behavioral health care<\/a> as well as information about numerous issues that can impact a student\u2019s mental health,\u201d Hollis Painting, head of communications for the charity, told The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Painting added that the reading was one of the free events put on by the team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe event you reference included a reading of Scott Stuart\u2019s \u2018My Shadow is Purple\u2019 and a discussion and activity about ways children can express their individuality,\u201d Painting told The Daily Wire. \u201cThrough this variety of programs, it is our aim to address the diverse scope of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-teachers-union-activist-has-history-of-anti-semitic-posts\/\" title=\"California Teachers\u2019 Union Activist Has History of Anti-Semitic Posts\">issues facing students<\/a> in Mercer County.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hamilton Township Public Library Director Scott Chianese told The Daily Wire that the charity reached out to the library to host the event and that it was the first event the charity had done at the library.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1712932862202000&#038;usg=AOvVaw0plT8RRdMy9XUpIhocnjQS\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bishop of Trenton David O\u2019Connell, who is the president of the charity board, did not respond to request for comment on whether the book was in line with Catholic beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The charity says that it \u201coffers mental health, poverty-reduction, and social and crisis services to individuals and families, particularly those impacted by trauma and adversity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The charity also offers immigration-related services and advises them to \u201cnot open the door to U.S. immigration agents or police unless they have a legal document with your name on it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Catholic charity in New Jersey hosted a children&#8217;s book reading at Hamilton Township Public Library to teach about moving beyond the gender binary. The event, sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Trenton, aimed to promote understanding of gender ideology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2271760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/MixCollage-19-Jun-2024-01-27-PM-6782-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/MixCollage-19-Jun-2024-01-27-PM-6782-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}