Male and Female He Created Them: Toward a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education is a document of the Congregation for Catholic Education, published on June 10, 2019, under the prefect Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, during the pontificate of Pope Francis, that instructs Catholic schools to teach their students on how to dialogue with others about gender identity.[1]

Summary

The document builds on the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia (On Love in the Family), where Pope Francis says, "No one can think that the weakening of the family as that natural society founded on marriage will prove beneficial to society as a whole."[2] It rejects the idea that transgender people can be any gender beside what they are born as. Further it argues that allowing gender norms to change destabilizes the family and society, and that "gender theory" is contrary to the Catholic faith.[3]

"Gender theory", according to the Congregation, "speaks of" a "denaturalisation, that is a move away from nature and towards an absolute option for the decision of [...] feelings".[4]: 11 (italics in original). The document alleges that "such theories" can be "traced back to"

dualistic anthropology, separating body (reduced to the status of inert matter) from human will, which itself becomes an absolute that can manipulate the body as it pleases. [...]physicalism and voluntarism gives rise to relativism, in which everything that exists is of equal value and at the same time undifferentiated, without any real order or purpose. In all such theories,[...] one’s gender ends up being viewed as more important than being of male or female sex. The effect of this move is chiefly to create a cultural and ideological revolution driven by relativism, and secondarily a juridical revolution, since such beliefs claim specific rights for the individual and across society.[4]

The Congregation states that "gender theory" is "strictly sociological".[5][4]: 7  The Congregation asserted a "distinction" between "the whole field of research on gender that the human sciences have undertaken" and "the ideology of gender".[5][4]: 5 

The document further states that "the ideas of “intersex” or “transgender” [...] [are] self-contradictory", and is associated with "only ‘provocative’ display against so-called ‘traditional frameworks’".[4][lower-alpha 1][5]

The Congregation states that "only [...] reproductive technology", which is not a "replacement" of "natural conception"[lower-alpha 2] can "allow one of the partners in a relationship of two persons of the same sex to generate offspring",[4]: 15  and cannot "assure[...] the necessary conditions" for reproduction.[4]: 14 

Responses

The document was welcomed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as clarity on the issue of gender identity.[6] Some transgender Catholics have described the document as discriminatory.[7] Cindy Bourgeois, minister of Wesley United Church in Regina, Saskatchewan, wrote on CBC News that the document "denies the humanity of trans people, summarily dismisses entire academic fields and misrepresents science to fit its desired outcome."[8] Daniel Horan OFM stated that "the document at once claims a good-faith interest in conversation, while portending a dismissive monologue instead."[9]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Efforts to go beyond the constitutive male-female sexual difference, such as the ideas of “intersex” or “transgender”, lead to a masculinity or feminity that is ambiguous, even though (in a self-contradictory way), these concepts themselves actually presuppose the very sexual difference that they propose to negate or supersede. This oscillation between male and female becomes [...] only a ‘provocative’ display against so-called ‘traditional frameworks’, and one which, in fact, ignores the suffering of those who have to live situations of sexual indeterminacy. Similar theories aim to annihilate the concept of ‘nature’, (that is, everything we have been given as a pre-existing foundation of our being and action in the world), while at the same time implicitly reaffirming its existence."
  2. ↑ "‘in vitro’ [sic] fertilization and a surrogate mother [...] [are] [...] not a replacement for natural conception, since it involves the manipulation of human embryos, the fragmentation of parenthood, the instrumentalization [sic] and/or commercialization of the human body as well as the reduction of a baby to an object in the hands of science and technology"[4]: 15 

References

  1. ↑ Donnini, Debora (June 10, 2019). "Vatican document on gender: Yes to dialogue, no to ideology". Vatican News. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  2. ↑ Pope Francis. Amoris laetitia, §52, March 19, 2016, Vatican Press
  3. ↑ Bote, Joshua. "Catholic Church rejects transgender identity, calls gender change a 'trend' in statement". USA Today. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ""MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM": TOWARDS A PATH OF DIALOGUE ON THE QUESTION OF GENDER THEORY IN EDUCATION" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "A response to the Vatican document 'Male and Female He Created Them'". www.ncronline.org. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  6. ↑ "U.S. Bishops' Chairman for Catholic Education Welcomes the Release of Male and Female He Created Them". usccb.org. June 11, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  7. ↑ Blondiau, Eloise (June 12, 2019). "5 trans Catholics on the Vatican's rejection of their gender identity". Vox. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  8. ↑ Bourgeois, Cindy (June 15, 2019). "'If your god discredits the humanity of a group of people there is a problem with your god'". CBC News. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  9. ↑ Horan, Daniel P. (June 26, 2019). "What's the path to true dialogue about gender in the church?". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved June 18, 2023.


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