catholicherald.com
2023-09-05
What the church proposes in the public square is not uniquely or
exclusively Catholic. It is the truth of the human person accessible to all
people. In this regard, the church simply bears witness to what is true.
It is important for the church to be involved in this discussion because
"gender identity" is not ultimately a legal and political matter. It is a
fundamental question about the human person -- about man and woman, the human
body, human sexuality, etc. Central to the church's Gospel message is the full
truth of the human person. So the church has a great deal to contribute to
the discussion about the human person and human sexuality.
Now, the church has no teaching on "gender identity" per se.
She articulates the truth about the human person and within that we find
authoritative guidance on this particular issue. Although confirmed, deepened,
and defended by divine revelation, this teaching is nonetheless entirely accessible
to human reason. We can identify three principal points of this teaching.
Created
First, the human person is created. "Man does not create
himself," Pope Benedict XVI bluntly stated. To be created means to accept
ourselves as having a certain nature and design -- those defining features that
make us human. Shortly before his resignation, Pope Benedict described our culture's current misunderstanding:
"The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our
environment is concerned, now becomes man's fundamental choice where he himself
is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses
for himself what his nature is to be."
"The Truth Behind Transgenderism" by Mary Hasson
My Loved One and Same-Sex Marriage by Philip Bochanski