Transgenderism and the Catholic Church
When I sat to write this blog today, I had a very different idea as to what I was going to write about. But then before doing so I decided to go to Facebook and have a look at my newsfeed and came across a posting from Life Teen entitled “What the Catholic Church Wants the Transgender Community to Know”. As a former Roman Catholic, I am well versed on the church and how it sees sexual identity. I decided to read the article, aimed at teenagers, and was appalled. Not simply appalled as a psychotherapist, but appalled as a human being.
The article starts out fine enough things like the church should be a home to all, and that no one be turned away. All good I thought, perhaps a liberal minded Catholic decided that it is time to stop shaming people for who they are. However, then the wheels fell off. This writer begins to talk about gender dysmorphia, which I can only assume by the tacit statement that this is a real condition and that people suffer from it, has no real concept of what it is, continues by saying that “God doesn’t make mistakes”. This statement completely undermines any discussion about a real condition that a person may be suffering with. And indeed, by following it up with God doesn’t make mistakes, implies to the reader that basically God wants you to suffer.
This article goes on to say that “When someone is having a transgender experience, it may feel like sex reassignment surgery, or hormone therapy will heal your body to be more in line with your perceived gender identity. In reality it is hurting the dignity of who you are, body and soul.” How absolutely monstrous, I’m sorry but that is what this statement is, monstrous. Where a person may find peace with gender reassignment, this author goes on to say that basically you are destroying your soul by doing so. In other words, if you feel out out of alignment with your body, too bad lump it.
I am sure that the person who posted this on my timeline thought that this was an article that showed that the Catholic Church was moving towards more tolerance of transgendered persons, but what it is actually the same old line, spoken more softly. It is disgraceful that teens, who are at the height of discovering who they are being fed this pap. If a person feels out of alignment with their sexuality, it is important that they speak to a professional and NOT A PRIEST. If we are all made in the image of God, then God must have all of the traits of being straight, gay, lesbian, transgendered, bi-sexual, and queer. After all, if God is everything, then surely he/she should not be defined so narrowly as being a straight God who only created straight people.
I promise normal hypnotherapy and psychotherapy articles will resume from tomorrow, but I felt that having worked with people in real despair about their sexuality, that I would bring this into the light as a way for people to see that often people have “help” in feeling bad about themselves.
