CV NEWS FEED // Secular media and LGBT advocates have reacted to the Archbishop of Detroit’s pastoral letter on gender identity, viewing it as an attack on LGBT-identifying individuals rather than a guideline for understanding the challenges of gender identity in light of Church teaching.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, Michigan, released a pastoral letter on February 26, reminding Catholics of Church teaching on human sexuality and calling them to act as advocates of the truth.
“Individuals who face the challenge of gender confusion deserve, first and foremost, to receive our love, compassion, and support,” he wrote, later continuing:
Our response is not to become “cultural warriors” looking for a battle against those with whom we disagree. Neither is it to be bullied into silence or cowered by the volume of voices who propose a disjointed view of reality. Rather, we must steadfastly and lovingly proclaim with conviction the Gospel that each and every person’s body, as created, is made in God’s image and likeness, and therefore possesses an inviolable dignity.
The Detroit Free Press published an article in late March criticizing Vigneron and the language used in the letter. The article also featured several interviews from LGBT advocates claiming to be practicing Catholics, who were concerned and upset by the letter.
Carolyn Shalhoub, vice president of Dignity Detroit, a group for LGBT-identifying Catholics, told the Free Press that “When I first saw … the pastoral letter, I felt sick to my stomach.”
“As a lifelong Catholic, regular churchgoer, and active member of the Dignity Detroit community, I am saddened by the deliberate embrace of inaccurate and harmful policies that affect children, teachers, staff and parents,” she continued. “We have trans persons in our congregation. They have suffered greatly to get where they are today.”
Another LGBT advocate, Linda Karle Nelson, expressed concern that Vigneron did not use the word “transgender” in his letter. The archbishop had instead used the phrase “individuals experiencing gender confusion,” which is how the Catholic Church refers to “transgenderism” without condoning the idea of gender fluidity.
According to Nelson, “although the letter strives to use language that is ‘welcoming’ and empathetic with the struggles of trans people, the tone of the letter is one that demeans and delegitimizes the self-identity of transgender people.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a group that advocates for LGBT ideology to be incorporated into the Catholic Church, told the Free Press that the letter comes from “a dogmatic, rather than an experiential position.”
“It’s … outdated Catholic dogma,” she added.
She also criticized Vigneron for referring to suicide in his letter, calling it “disturbing” and “cruel.”
Vigneron had written that “Not infrequently, parents are subject to manipulative claims that if they do not affirm their child’s gender preferences, they risk driving him or her to suicide.”
Despite claims that the letter was an attack on LGBT-identifying individuals, Vigneron wrote that he meant to condemn no one, but rather instruct the faithful of his diocese how to walk with them in light of Church teaching.
Earlier in the letter, he reminded Catholics that condoning LGBT lifestyles is not permissible.
“In the midst of our compassion, we must remember that it is never compassionate to approve of efforts to identify as other than one’s biological sex. Rather, to respond with true compassion means helping people see that such efforts can cause great harm,” he wrote, later continuing:
The foundation of the policies and this catechesis is this singular truth: Those who struggle with gender confusion are our brothers and sisters. They are sons and daughters of God and beloved members of our communities, never to be condemned nor rejected, but rather welcomed and accompanied on the path to the light of truth.
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