Rhoades: Prayer, truth and love are needed to heal the confusion about human sexuality

(OSV News) – Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, on September 12 issued mandatory diocesan guidelines for “training young people in Catholic Christian anthropology and pastoral care for those who experience gender incongruence or same-sex sexual intercourse.” . Attraction.”

The guidelines, which apply to diocesan parishes, schools and institutions, are preceded by a detailed overview of the Church’s teaching on human dignity, identity and sexuality, which affirms the difference and complementarity of men and women and is based on the goods of marriage and marriage the flourishing of family life. The 11-page document lays out the way these teachings should be applied in ministry to young people, while also calling for compassion and charity for those struggling with their sexual identity.

“As we teach, guide, and serve our young people, we have a duty and responsibility to uphold the truths of our faith. … We also have the duty and responsibility to lovingly accompany our young people and respect their dignity as beloved children of God,” the document says.

For example, the document specifies that “only pronouns that accurately reflect a person’s God-given sexual identity may be used when addressing or referring to that person.” Another says: “All persons must use the restroom or locker room use that corresponds to their sexual identity, i.e. their biological gender.” The document prohibits “the public advocacy or celebration of sexual or ideologies that contradict the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

OSV News spoke at length with Bishop Rhoades about the issues presented in the document.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

OSV news: How would you place the current cultural debate about human sexuality, particularly sexual identity, within a broad historical context?

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades: It is clear that many – at least a significant number of people – reject Catholic Christian anthropology. It’s a challenge because what we have now just didn’t happen overnight. We are talking about decades of philosophical and cultural movements away from Christian and biblical understandings of human nature. I would say that many things today also result from the sexual revolution, which itself had philosophical prerequisites.

We live in a culture today that is in many ways post-Christian. And so I think we can look to the example of the early church, which lived in a culture that was sometimes hostile to the Christian faith. Today there can be some hostility or simply a rejection of the vision of the human person – or the vision of human sexuality and its meaning and purpose – that we have.

The same (challenge) was true in the early centuries of the Church, where there were varying understandings (in surrounding cultures) of the meaning and purpose of human sexuality and even marriage. Some of what we see today is a kind of regression of things that were acceptable in the culture of those early centuries. Abortion was acceptable back then, although the church never permitted it. We are faced with the same situation today when it comes to the issue of abortion. So there are (historically) different parallels.

OSV news: Given these challenges, do you ever feel discouraged about the Church’s ability to effectively communicate to young people God’s plan for human sexuality, particularly as it relates to sexual identity?

Bishop Rhoades: I see signs of hope. I know many young people who struggle with the Church’s teachings, but come to faith and acceptance of those teachings through their own disillusionment with their experiences in today’s culture. And I think that some of the lessons that may seem difficult to implement are ultimately liberating. Everyone is called to chastity (defined in Catholic teaching as the integration of sexuality into the person, including self-control).

There are many stories of people who have fallen into a lifestyle that is contrary to Church teaching and are feeling very unhappy and unfulfilled. And so the message of the gospel is something that they will then reflect on and experience conversion and find happiness. That’s why I’m always hopeful.

OSV news: In your guidelines you emphasize the need, often expressed by Pope Francis, to pass on God’s truth through charity. However, our pastoral work often leads to truth and charity facing each other. Why is it important to integrate both?

Bishop Rhoades: Pope Francis and Pope Benedict (XVI) have spoken about how it can never be one or the other. If it’s just truth without love, that’s something very cold – and frankly, it’s not even the truth, because God is love and so telling truth without love is cold and impersonal, and (actually) not the whole truth .

And love without truth is mere sentimentality, as Pope Benedict said (in the 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate). It doesn’t really have a foundation. It may simply be sentimentality, and we truly cannot express or convey God’s love if we are not faithful to the truth. It is not loving to ignore the harm of sin.

Some behaviors or behaviors (required) in the norms we proclaim may seem a little harsh, but it is truly done out of love, and this is because harm can come to us if we do not follow the truth.

OSV news: In the document you talk about the need to listen to and accompany young people on this issue. What does this look like in everyday pastoral life when church and culture literally speak two different languages ​​and popular terms such as “gender” and “gender identification” contradict church teaching?

Bishop Rhoades: I wouldn’t find it helpful to correct their language in this situation – but I wouldn’t use it. Because when I’m counseling someone, I don’t want to scare them off by saying, “Well, you know, don’t use that language.”

But I wouldn’t use that language myself because I think it discourages people from expressing their identity as if it were primarily about “sexual orientation.” We shouldn’t define ourselves by it.

Our fundamental identity and dignity lies in being adopted children of God. And I emphasize that quite a lot in the document.

OSV news: How can prayer and community life help address these issues?

Bishop Rhoades: I think prayer is really important. There is an epidemic of anxiety and depression among young people, many wounds and negative feelings about themselves. These deeper wounds are particularly evident in gender issues. I think that sometimes there are other wounds underneath, and when they do chemical or hormonal interventions or even surgery, they often don’t really deal with what lies beneath the struggle they’re facing.

I’ve talked to a lot of people about this, doctors and clinicians, and… when you talk about medical and scientific data on this topic, there really aren’t (many) longitudinal studies (on such interventions) and the harm that is being done. We know stories of people who have deeply regretted undergoing gender reassignment surgery. But we don’t even know what the long-term health effects of the chemicals involved here are.

So a lot of healing is needed. And I think that the prayer and the advice that we give can be in many ways the confirmation of God’s love, and I hope that they can experience that through us – but also, and more importantly, in their friendship with Christ through prayer.

So many young people I know love Eucharistic Adoration. You’re in this noisy world and so much of social media culture that it becomes overwhelming. They long for peace, for calm.

And that’s why I think we need to give our young people these prayer experiences so that they can rest with God and with Jesus and experience the peace that he desires for them, the healing that he desires for them. This should always be a really important part of our youth and young adult work.

I don’t believe that youth and youth work should be exclusively social activities. I really believe that prayer should be the focus and then offering experiences where we can talk and discuss so we can hear what’s on their mind and so they can ask questions.

There are some really strong campus ministry programs in our diocese, such as the University of Notre Dame, the University of St. Francis, and Holy Cross College. I see the happiness of many of these children when this is a part of their life because they have good friends, community and prayer meetings. If someone is struggling with issues related to their sexual identity or same-sex attraction, they are welcome to experience the love of friends, the support of the Church, and common prayer, and (we) will help them overcome these issues Cover topics in a truthful manner.

I am a big fan of Eden Invitation (a ministry based in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul that promotes community and discipleship for those who want to live the Church’s teaching on human sexuality while experiencing same-sex attraction and other sexual identity issues) . I think they model this approach. They are excellent and I hope they continue to grow because we need that so much.

I think of some of the young teenagers or young adults who find validation, support or love in the communities that promote gender transition, etc. My question would be, “Why isn’t this found in our parishes?” I think that’s a call to the church.

From my own experience with a young adult who (deviates) from Church teaching in this area and who may have difficulty…I will never reject him. I hope they know…that I really care about them and that even if they don’t agree with the Church on this, they know that we still love them. And I see that conversion can take place in situations like this.

I think there comes a time when you are dissatisfied with what you hear from the culture and live that way but don’t find real happiness or peace. I think that opens you up to a different message, and the other message is what the church has – the gospel message.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @GinaJesseReina.