VATICAN CITY — Catholic schools must help parents teach young
people that biological sex and gender are naturally fixed at birth and part of
God's plan for creation, said the Congregation for Catholic Education.
In a document published June 10, the congregation said the
Catholic Church and those proposing a looser definition of gender can find
common ground in "a laudable desire to combat all expressions of unjust
discrimination," in educating children to respect all people "in
their peculiarity and difference," in respecting the "equal dignity
of men and women" and in promoting respect for "the values of
femininity."
And while great care must be taken to respect and provide care
for persons who "live situations of sexual indeterminacy," those who
teach in the name of the Catholic Church must help young people understand that
being created male and masculine or female and feminine is part of God's plan
for them.
The document, "Male and Female He Created Them: Toward a
Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education," was
signed by Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the education congregation,
and Archbishop Angelo Zani, congregation secretary.
The document recognized a distinction between "the ideology
of gender," which it said tries to present its theories as "absolute
and unquestionable," and the whole field of scientific research on gender,
which attempts to understand the ways sexual difference is lived out in
different cultures.
While claiming to promote individual freedom and respect for the
rights of each person, the document said, those who see gender as a personal
choice or discovery unconnected to biological sex are, in fact, promoting a
vision of the human person that is "opposed to faith and right
reason."
"The Christian vision of anthropology sees sexuality as a
fundamental component of one's personhood," the document said. "It is
one of its modes of being, of manifesting itself, communicating with others,
and of feeling, expressing and living human love."
The document insisted that modern gender ideology and the idea
that one chooses or discovers his or her gender go against nature by arguing
that "the only thing that matters in personal relationships is the
affection between the individuals involved, irrespective of sexual difference
or procreation, which would be seen as irrelevant in the formation of
families."
The theories, it said, deny "the reciprocity and
complementarity of male-female relations" as well as "the procreative
end of sexuality."
"This has led to calls for public recognition of the right
to choose one's gender, and of a plurality of new types of unions, in direct
contradiction of the model of marriage as being between one man and one woman,
which is portrayed as a vestige of patriarchal societies," it said.
When the "physiological complementarity of male-female
sexual difference" is removed, it said, procreation is no longer a natural
process. Instead, recourse must be taken to in vitro fertilization or surrogacy
with the risk of "the reduction of the baby to an object in the hands of
science and technology."
The education congregation insisted that "Catholic educators
need to be sufficiently prepared regarding the intricacies of the various
questions that gender theory brings up and be fully informed about both current
and proposed legislation in their respective jurisdictions, aided by persons
who are qualified in this area, in a way that is balanced and
dialogue-orientated."