The LGBTQ community and our allies are not gripped by a dangerous, death-dealing “gender theory” debunked by scientists. The Vatican actually is, in their insistence that gender identity be limited to these rigid, binary labels we impose on one another as fallible human beings. Transgender Catholics show us that gender identity is a beautiful part of the human experience that each of us personally co-creates with God.
Transgender rights are a life issue. Without acknowledging transgender people’s humanity, without protecting their place in civil society, without providing gender affirming care, we expose them to violence. Without welcoming transgender people in the Church, without celebrating their gifts, we compromise their ability to flourish as the full selves God created them to be. Let us pray that the leaders of the Church and we who are church may have the wisdom to engage with transgender people as their full selves – their humanity, their pain, and their resurrection. Here with us, in body, in flesh. Let us heed the call of Jesus and be transformed – “look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see.”
CTA Metro NY stands with the transgender community and "nontraditional" families
For those that missed our March 19, 2024 webinar
Transcendent Faith: Embracing Diversity in Gender and Spirituality
Here is the link to our youTube channel.
CTA Metro NY stands with the transgender community and "nontraditional" families in hurt and frustration over Dignitas Infinita
CTA Metro NY strives to fulfill the call to "be the church". As such, we cannot allow the uncompassionate and inaccurate ideas about gender, reproduction, and the human body published by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on April 9th 2024 in its document Dignitas Infinita to go unchallenged.
The document shows a profound lack of engagement with the lived experiences and the spiritual journeys of transgender people. It makes the claim that the veracity of "gender theory" has significant debate within the scientific community, without providing any substantive evidence. Instead of celebrating the diversity of humanity as created by God in God's image, Dum Diversitas would have gender identity be limited to the labels we impose on one another as fallible human beings. As our recent webinar speaker (we could provide the link to the webinar here) Max Kuzma questions, "how do Catholics believe in a trinity of three, yet cling to a binary of two?"
In attempting to protect the dignity of women who face exploitation by some unscrupulous surrogacy organizations, Dignitas Infinita has ignored the value of a woman's choice - the choice to become a surrogate, as well as the choice to have a child via surrogacy. It fails to engage with the full complexity of the lives of women and LGBTQ+ people, including women who seek out surrogacy because medical issues prevent them from carrying their own pregnancies and LGBTQ+ couples where neither partner has the physical ability to be pregnant. For a church that calls to promote a consistent ethic of life, it is confusing to understand why additional barriers should be imposed upon loving people who desire to create children and become parents.
For more reactions to Dignitas Infinita, we recommend Dignity USA's press release and Sojourner's February article about Pope Francis' views on surrogacy, which includes comments from CTA Executive Director Lauren Barbato.