Category: Religious Liberty

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Doctrinal Note On The Moral Limits To Technological Manipulation Of The Human Body

From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Issued this week.

Regarding treatments for what is termed ‘gender dysphoria‘ or ‘gender incongruence.’”

“These interventions involve the use of surgical or chemical techniques that aim to exchange the sex characteristics of a patient’s body for those of the opposite sex or for simulations thereof,” they wrote. “In the case of children, the exchange of sex characteristics is prepared by the administration of chemical puberty blockers, which arrest the natural course of puberty and prevent the development of some sex characteristics in the first place.”

The bishops explained that these interventions ARE NOT morally justified. The two situations where it’s okay to use technology on the human body is:

1) to fix something that’s not working right, or
2) to sacrifice a part of the body for the benefit of the whole body.

“Instead … these interventions are intended to transform the body so as to make it take on as much as possible the form of the opposite sex, contrary to the natural form of the body,” the bishops said. “They are attempts to alter the fundamental order and finality of the body and to replace it with something else.”

“Such interventions, thus, do not respect the fundamental order of the human person as an intrinsic unity of body and soul, with a body that is sexually differentiated….Bodiliness is a fundamental aspect of human existence, and so is the sexual differentiation of the body.”

Also they offered guidance for Catholic health care.

“Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedure,” they said. “They must employ all appropriate resources to mitigate the suffering of those who struggle with gender incongruence, but the means used must respect the fundamental order of the human body.”

“Only by using morally appropriate means do healthcare providers show full respect for the dignity of each human person.”

Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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Defend True Love

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Fr. Kirby Speaks Loving Truth

Love and Transgenderism

Sunday Mass – Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Indian Land SC – April 16, 2023

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Companion Post

Embrace, Don’t Affirm – Podcast

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Love Refuses To Affirm Confusion

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UK Prevent: Radicalization Could Occur From Reading C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Huxley or Conrad. I Kid You Not

An article in The Spectator by Douglas Murray is a critique of the UK government’s Prevent program, which was set up to counter radicalization and extremism.

Murray argues that the program has expanded its scope beyond Islamist extremism to include right-wing extremism, which is defined very broadly and arbitrarily by left-wing activist groups.

Murray cites a report by Prevent’s own research unit, which claimed that people who follow pro-Brexit and centre-right commentators on social media are at risk of being radicalized. He mocks this claim and suggests that it is an attempt to stigmatize and silence opinions that are shared by many British people. (And beyond)

He mentions Lewis, Tolkien and Orwell as examples of authors whose works could be seen as potential sources of radicalization by Prevent. Because according to Prevent’s logic, radicalization could occur from reading C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Huxley or Conrad. Murray adds that he is not kidding and that this is based on a document by Prevent’s education team that was leaked in 2019. The document listed these authors as examples of ‘challenging texts’ that could be used to ‘stimulate discussion’ with students who might be at risk of extremism.

This is absurd and shows how Prevent has lost its focus and credibility.

FULL STORY

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