And I thought it was only the Southern Baptists who said their women should “submit graciously” to men …

Seems the good folks at St. Mary’s Academy near Topeka, Kan., told a woman she couldn’t referee a boy’s basketball game because putting a woman in a position of authority over men violated the school’s beliefs.

But it gets better. School officials asked a male referee (who had just finished up two junior-varsity games) to stay on because there had been an “emergency” and they needed a last-minute ref. When the ref found out what the real “emergency” was, he walked off the court. Good for him.

“When I found out what the emergency was, I said there was no way I was going to work those games,” said Fred Shockey, who spent 12 years in the Army and became a ref about three years ago. “I have been led by some of the finest women this nation has to offer, and there was no way I was going to go along with that.”

Seriously, people … is this really the way you want to make news?

One more thing: I found the website for St. Mary’s and this all makes a lot more sense now. It’s run by the Society of St. Pius X, better known as the Lefebvrites, who broke with the Vatican in the 1970s. Now it all becomes clear.