Journalists should take notice when four vigorous arguments on the religious aspect appear in the space of just six days, as follows.
March 20: The leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops authorized publication (.pdf here) of an important but little-reported transgender policy. It declares that Catholic health-care agencies “must not” perform or help develop chemical or surgical procedures to transform a person’s bodily characteristics into those of the opposite sex.
The stated reasons are theological and moral. Key quotes: “We did not create human nature; it is a gift from a loving Creator,” so human dignity requires “genuine respect for this created order.” Sexual differentiation is a reality “willed by God” and a “ fundamental aspect of existence as a human being.”
Therefore, surgical and chemical techniques to switch a patient’s sexual characteristics, or puberty blockers to halt youths’ natural development, “are not morally justified.” To the bishops, such interventions are “injurious to the true flourishing of the human person” and violate doctors’ basic moral maxim to “do no harm.”
March 23: Franciscan Father Daniel P. Horan of Saint Mary’s College in Indiana denounced the bishops’ statement as “a disaster” and “theologically irresponsible” in a National Catholic Reporter article. Given the complexity of the issues and ongoing research, he wants the hierarchy to practice “intellectual humility” and shun such “absolute moral claims.” Horan accused the bishops of “gross ignorance” on what medicine and science tell us about “gender-affirming care,” charging that they “are not interested in understanding even the basic facts and reality.”
This attack is particularly noteworthy because the bishops cite beliefs from the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism and decrees not only from Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI but Pope Francis, who is often praised by liberals for flexibility on some LGBTQ issues.
