Learning to minister to transgender people is the subject of a new Zoom series created for priests. A transgender Catholic, James Pignatella is one of the speakers in the three-part Zoom series which began last month. The next sessions are on 18 November and 15 December. The series aims to educate Catholic priests on how Read more
Pope Francis has promised to pray for a nun and the transgender women the nun is helping. Discalced Carmelite nun Mónica Astorga Cremona wrote to Pope Francis telling him about the inauguration of a new housing complex she has established to help transgender women living in poverty. The new 12-studio apartment complex in Neuquén, Argentina, Read more
The man who helped write guidelines on transgender players in women’s rugby says he hates that his work has created a platform for people to attack transgender people as cheats. “That’s not the case,” says sports scientist Ross Tucker. “I wish that society would be accepting.” The report was leaked a couple of weeks ago Read more
Minnesota’s Catholic bishops have published guidelines regarding gender identity for Catholic schools. The guidelines stress the schools’ Catholic mission and the Church’s doctrinal teaching on sexuality and identity. “The Catholic school is committed to providing a safe environment that allows students to flourish academically, physically, and spiritually.” “Catholic schools are obliged to provide an education Read more
Clinicians are calling for an urgent national inquiry into the safety and ethics of giving unproven hormone drug treatment to ever younger children who are confused about sex and gender. A detailed submission, arguing that risks including infertility and lifelong regret outweigh the benefits to trans children and teenagers, was sent yesterday to Health Minister Read more
When Colleen Fay of Mount Rainier, Maryland, came out as transgender 12 years ago to her parish music director, she was fired from her position on the choir. She later described feeling like she was in “doctrinal limbo” because there is no universal teaching on gender from the church. “I’m hurt by the Catholic Church Read more
Using the wrong pronoun on Twitter after a debate on transgender children resulted in a five-month police investigation of a Catholic reporter. The transgender person’s mother, Susie Green – who has since dropped the charges – informed the Police of the pronoun offence. The reporter, Caroline Farrow, then became the subject of a police investigation Read more
The term “LGBT” was recently used for the first time in a Vatican document. The working document setting the agenda for the Synod on the Youth taking place next Fall notes, “Some LGBT youth…wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church.” Sister Monica Astorga, an Argentinian Discalced Carmelite Nun, has Read more
Fifty years ago this year, the church restored the permanent diaconate, opening the doors to married clergy who brought and continue to bring with them all the joys, sorrows, and complexities of family life to ordained ministry. In the case of my family, that included first-hand experience with LGBT people. In the fall of 2013, Read more
The earliest written record from the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony is from 1384. It states simply, “It is 100 years since our children left.” Historical accounts indicate that sometime in the 13th century, a large number of the town’s children disappeared or perished, though the details of the event remain a mystery. “The Read more