“There’s a lot of pain around this issue, no matter where someone stands on it … and we need to have real love in our hearts,” said Mary Rice Hasson, a top voice in the Catholic response to the gender identity crisis. “This is really hitting home for us as Catholics.”
Gender ideology is a movement that has gained traction in secular society, permeating pop culture, public schools and government agencies – a false belief system that one’s sex is self-created regardless of biology. It denies human nature and says the human body has no meaning.
Hasson was the guest speaker at a number of training sessions throughout the diocese for parish staff and parents, to help them understand Catholic teaching on the matter, so they can support those experiencing an identity crisis.
“People are desperate for this information,” said Andrew Waring, director of the diocesan Office for Evangelization, which hosted the sessions. “It’s so hard to know how to respond; so many people have told us they want to be able to show compassion in these situations and still follow Catholic teaching.”
Training sessions were held at St. Michael, Glen Allen (March 5); Church of the Incarnation, Charlottesville (March 7); and Our Lady of Mount Carmel (OLMC), Newport News (March 8).
Who am I?
The current clash of anthropologies comes with the basic question “Who am I?” Hasson said during one session at OLMC.
As Christians, it is a fundamental belief that we are created by God, in his image and likeness, she explained. God gave each of us a gift in making us male or female. Our physical body is united with our eternal soul. The differences in our sexes and our personalities are all special and should be celebrated.
“We have an inherent dignity,” she said, “and no matter what we do, God loves us as he made us and we cannot lose our human dignity. He made us to be sons and daughters of God. That is who we are.”
However, there is no Creator for those who believe in gender ideology, Hasson further explained, because one’s identity is “self-defined, nebulous and fluid. You create yourself, you choose your sex. You are who you say you are. Who you are is how you feel.” Unity of body and soul is not assumed, nor required, she added.
Hasson said Catholics need to be kind, yet firm that gender ideology is a false set of beliefs – it is simply not true that a person can choose their sex. She said it is important to stay grounded in reality and send this message: “Respect goes both ways. I respect who you are, but don’t ask me to violate what I know is true.”
‘Failed by modern medicine’
Gender ideology has given way to something labeled “gender-affirming care,” Hasson said, which causes irreversible harm to a young person’s body and mind as they try to transition from one sex to another.
Gender-affirming care, Hasson said, takes an otherwise healthy body and damages it, destroying the function of a person’s reproductive organs. It provides an unnecessary medical treatment for someone who is actually experiencing mental health problems, such as depression.
Hasson said anyone who has a loved one undergoing this type of crisis needs to make it clear: “I love you, but I love you too much to let you go down this path of harming yourself.”
She explained the steps in the process: it usually starts with psychological and social changes, such as changing one’s hair, clothes, name and pronouns. For young children, the next step can be puberty blockers, which disrupt naturally puberty, but also bone, brain and emotional development.
Cross-sex hormones follow, Hasson said, which, if combined with puberty blockers, will sterilize a teenager and permanently take away their chances of having their own children. Lastly, doctors can perform surgeries including double mastectomies and castration.
Gender ideology denies a fundamental fact that humans cannot choose, or change, their sex, Hasson emphasized. At conception, God is the one who chooses to make us male or female and that is part of our DNA.
The National Institutes of Health notes that our sex marks every cell in our body, she said. Surgery can change outward appearance, but it cannot change one’s cells. A woman who has taken cross-sex hormones is still a woman, even if she looks like a man.
Hasson shared the story of Chloe Cole, a teenage girl who medically transitioned between the ages of 13 and 16, receiving puberty blockers, testosterone and a double mastectomy.
According to Cole, she realized nearly a year later that she had made a terrible mistake, learning she would never be able to breastfeed her future children, if she were able to have any.
Cole now testifies before lawmakers and shares her story in the hopes of saving others, saying “I was failed by modern medicine.”
She says she did not understand the ramifications of the medical decisions she was making; she did not know the long-term health effects; she was not told how traumatic the recovery would be from the surgery; and that she could face complications for the rest of her life.
As an attorney, Hasson said she is seeing a rise in lawsuits from transgender people suing the doctors who failed to treat their mental health issues and instead performed high-risk surgeries.
Rise of social media influence
Hasson said the normalization of transgenderism in secular culture is linked to the rise in social media influence, and is particularly toxic for girls.
Social media is curating a false reality for teens, she said, encouraging users to post false images of themselves through the use of filters that distort reality.
Hasson described a TikTok filter that takes away all imperfections from a person’s picture: “when the filter comes off, the girl feels depressed at what she really looks like.” Depression is linked to social media use, Hasson noted.
An even bigger problem is the fact that social media influencers glamourize transgender surgery for kids, said Hasson. Influencers and even surgeons post pictures of teens who have undergone double mastectomies with messages saying the kids are “hotter” and “cooler” after they have mutilated their once-healthy bodies.
Hasson warns parents about social media influencers who will try to reach vulnerable teens and then convince the teens to cut off contact with their families; this way, teens will be further disconnected from reality and the people who truly love them.
Being proactive parents
“As a pastor, this is a tough topic, so I can only imagine how difficult it is for parents,” said Father Dan Beeman, pastor of OLMC, during one session.
Hasson said people who promote gender ideology strive to drive a wedge between parents and children. She added that public schools that have adopted a transgender-affirming culture force children to lie by making them accept and participate in affirming someone’s chosen gender identity as their sex.
Schools can permit students to socially transition without notifying the parents. Hasson also said some pediatricians will ask parents to leave the room while they conduct “gender screening” on a child. Pediatricians are not required to share the results of the screening with parents.
Hasson urged parents to be proactive. That means having a good prayer life, teaching their children about their faith, and helping them be healthy. Good sleep habits, exercise and a healthy diet will help strengthen their body and mind. Limiting and monitoring social media use is also key.
Hasson said it is important for parents to teach their children to do physically and mentally hard things; this sense of accomplishment will help build children’s confidence and give them an appreciation for the body that God gave them.
She also stressed the importance of letting kids grow and develop naturally, and not to sexualize them or their relationships at a young age. She mentioned that kids need to know it is natural to feel confused, awkward and unhappy with one’s body around the time of puberty – but to reassure them that it is a temporary phase.
Hasson said just as kids need to be kids, parents also need to be parents – that means guiding their children, helping them understand how to deal with their emotions, and helping them make sense of the world – not affirm their confusion.
“They need to know that we care about them – not just in dealing with gender ideology, but also their salvation,” said Waring.
He said the Office for Evangelization plans to bring Hasson back for more training sessions to cover other areas of the diocese.
Pope Francis on gender ideology
(OSV News) – In recent interviews with Argentinian newspapers La Nacion and Perfil, Pope Francis called gender ideology “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations.”
“Why is it dangerous? Because it dilutes differences, and the richness of men and women and of all humanity is the tension of differences,” the pope said.
A gender theory that sees being male or female as a social construct or choice rather than a fact related to biological identity “is diluting the differences and making the world the same, all blunt, all equal,” said Pope Francis. “And that goes against the human vocation.”
The pope says when we encounter someone who is struggling, we must not abandon them. We must accompany them and lead them closer to God.
Editor’s note: Mary Rice Hasson is an attorney and policy expert at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She co-founded the Person and Identity Project and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth.
Support groups and family resources: Courage/Encourage, Catholic Medical Association, and Eden Invitation are Catholic groups. The others are secular or Christian, but their philosophies may differ with Catholic teaching in some respects. Each family needs to assess the potential helpfulness of an organization, according to their own criteria and judgment.
- EnCourage: family support for parents/families with a family member who identifies as LGBT, a support group for Catholics experiencing same-sex attraction.
- Parents of ROGD kids: parents of teens/young adults who appear to have “rapid onset gender dysphoria.”
- Advocates Protecting Children: advocacy group opposing the gender industry’s medicalization of children who suffer from gender dysphoria.
- Cardinal Support Network: parent network that provides support, information and resources for families with loved ones experiencing gender dysphoria, as well as de-transitioners.
- Catholic Medical Association: association of Catholic healthcare professionals with information for medical students and healthcare professionals.
- Eden Invitation: Catholic outreach that offers community, accompaniment and resources for young adults who experience gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction and seek to follow Catholic teaching.
Therapists and counselors: parents or individuals seeking counseling must assess whether a counselor is a good fit for your needs. The Person and Identity Project cautions you to avoid counselors who take a “gender-affirming stance” or support “gender transition.” The fidelity of Catholic counselors to Church teachings should not be assumed; ask directly about their fidelity to relevant Catholic teachings and ask them to clarify whether they are in support of “gender transitions.”
- CatholicTherapists.com: “offers a referral base of qualified Catholic therapists” who provide mental health care in a manner aligned with Catholic teaching. Individuals must ascertain for themselves the faithfulness, competence, or fit of a particular therapist.
- Catholic Psychotherapy Association: professional association of Catholic psychotherapists who provide psychotherapy in a manner faithful to Catholic teaching. Individuals must ascertain for themselves the faithfulness, competence, or fit of a particular therapist.
- CatholicCounselors.com: group of counselors offers virtual counseling. The founder, Dr. Greg Popcak, is experienced in identity issues.
- Parents of ROGD kids: parent-support group has developed relationships with therapists skilled in counseling individuals and families in relation to identity issues, and can provide referrals to qualified therapists.