Second bishop opposes transgender guidelines
A second Catholic bishop from Alberta has rejected new educational guidelines to protect transgender students as “flawed from the beginning ” for “reasons of both faith and common sense.”
Bishop Paul Terrio of the St. Paul diocese in northeast Alberta wrote in a Jan. 17 pastoral letter that while people shouldn’t be ostracized or rejected for their sexual orientation or their “difficulty accepting their biological gender,” there can’t be a separation of biology and social gender.
“(F) or the Bible, and therefore for Catholicism and many others, femininity and masculinity are not exchangeable roles, but rather they are gifts and callings from the Creator,” Terrio wrote. He quotes several speeches by Pope Francis where the Pope talks about the “profound falsehood” of gender theory.
“We risk taking a step backward” if we cancel out sexual differences, the Pope said in April 2015. “The removal of difference between the sexes, in fact creates a problem, not a solution.”
Human identity can’t be reduced to individual choice, Terrio wrote in his letter.
Terrio’s letter, which would have been sent to his parishes, follows another from Calgary Bishop Fred Henry last week. The Edmonton Catholic school board sent parents a link to Henry’s letter Friday as information, but didn’t seek guidance from board chairwoman Marilyn Bergstra, who said she wouldn’t have advised them to do so.
Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith is out of the country and not expected back until next week.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen met Wednesday with government-appointed facilitator Don Cummings to discuss possible next steps on the issue. Cummings continues to work with the Catholic board on governance problems. Eggen said dissolution of a clearly dysfunctional board is an option.
Alberta’s 61 school boards have until March 31 to send Eggen policies on how they will create safe learning spaces for all students, including gender-diverse children.