Diocese Called Kentucky Grads' Speeches Too Political: Read Them

COVINGTON, KY — Both the valedictorian and student council president were barred from giving speeches at their private school’s graduation ceremony Friday because they contained content that was “political and inconsistent with the teaching to the Catholic Church.”

The Holy Cross High School students, valedictorian Christian Bales and student council president Katherine Frantz, used bullhorns and delivered their speeches outside the Connor Convocation Center at Thomas More College auditorium. They had been told 10 hours earlier that the Diocese of Covington had labeled the speeches “aggressive, angry [and] confrontational,” according to news reports.

In his speech, Bales said young people are “finished being complacent” about the issues that affect them. He called attention to the fight for stronger gun laws led by students who survived the Parkland school shooting, and his own classmates’ participation in the March For Life anti-abortion rally.

“The young people will win,” Bales said, adding students should “continue to utilize our voices,” he said in the speech that has been shared in a Google document.

“We are dynamic, we are intelligent, we have a voice, and we're capable of using it in all communities," he said. "We must take what we've learned in this community and apply it to the world we are about to encounter.”

Frantz said she’s still confused about why the diocese rejected her speech, which is published at the bottom of her op-ed published by the River City Times. She said she followed the guidance from teachers and highlighted examples of how she and other students have grown at Holy Cross High School.

“To have my faith and my beliefs put into question by the diocese was extremely insulting,” she said, adding that she was “shocked and upset when that honor was taken away from us on the morning of graduation.”

“My speech is about trust in God, hope, and confidence in the future. Those are the lessons that the staff and faculty of Holy Cross gifted me with,” she wrote. “It is still unclear to me why the diocese rejected my speech with no opportunity for revision and showed no consideration for taking my speech away from me, my family, and my classmates.”

In a statement, the diocese said:

“School officials and representatives of the Diocese of Covington reserve the right to review and approve all student speeches to be presented in public at high school graduations. All speeches must be submitted in a timely manner.The student speeches for the Holy Cross High School graduation were not submitted for review before the deadline.When the proposed speeches were received, they were found to contain elements that were political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”

Bales’ mother, Gillian Marksberry, told television station WCPO that her son and Frantz believed their speeches had been approved, but got a call “out of the blue” Friday morning from the school principal, Mike Holtz, who said the Diocese of Covington did not think the speeches were appropriate for the graduation stage.

Bales told television WLWT he thinks he and Frantz were targeted because of their advocacy on social justice issues.

“The president is my best friend,” he said of Frantz,” and we’ve been two huge advocates for social justice in our community, which has likely put us on the radar for the diocese.”

His sexual orientation may also have played a role, Marksberry told WCPO. Her son describes himself as “very gender-nonconforming,” she told the television station, and Holtz called her before the speeches were banned to tell her that Bales should wear slacks, formal shoes, a conservative hairstyle and no makeup.

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