Recent Scandal and Controversy in the Church - Weighing In

As I write this today, we have just commemorated the Feast of the Assumption, which commemorates Mary's reception into heaven upon her passing as a sort of preview of what all of us as Christians will be looking forward to.  I know many of my fellow Catholics are a bit intimidated by the word "Rapture," due to its associations with the premillenial dispensationalist tradition among Evangelical Protestants, but in the correct context the Assumption was indeed a type of "rapture" in that Mary was "caught up" (and that is what the word means, right?) to heaven, and it has only happened a couple of other times that are actually recorded in Scripture - Enoch in Genesis, Moses in Deuteronomy, Elijah, and of course the Ascension of Jesus Himself.  We also profess it in the creeds of the Church, when we talk about a "resurrection of the quick and the dead," which is to happen at Christ's return.  So, contrary to what some priests even say at times in their homilies, the Church does believe in a Rapture, but not quite in the same way as our Evangelical brethren do.  However, that is not the focus of this writing today, but just a quick mention about the Feast of the Assumption and why we celebrate and commemorate it. 

The real purpose of this article is something even more grave and serious, as it is a crisis that threatens the Church and its witness.   Back around 2001 or so, there were a number of scandals of priests who had committed sexually deviant acts against others, and this made the news at that time.  It was a shameful and embarrassing thing, and the unfortunate truth of the accusations even cost the Church some of her people, who became so disillusioned with her that they left.  It also provided fodder to both the secularists and Protestant Fundamentalists, who in lieu of the controversy were like "Aha!" and preyed upon the opportunity to see some of their own claims all of a sudden appear true.  At that time, a traditionalist Catholic journalist published a book entitled Goodbye Good Men which dealt with the scandals and the reasoning behind them, one of which he points out was the rise of a new militant gay subculture in certain seminaries.  Another factor Rose cites less often but others have noted is the Vatican II Council.   Vatican II has been blamed for a lot of things, and it is important from the outset to clear something up about that.   First, Vatican II was meant to be a pastoral Council rather than a doctrinal Council, and what that essentially means is that the Magisterium was still affirmed by the Council Fathers and doctrinal orthodoxy was still maintained. Second, the first point leads to this one:  the problem with innovations since Vatican II, I strongly believe, is not due to Vatican II itself but rather to faulty implementation of some things the Council proposed.  In reading the Vatican II documents myself, as I did for many courses I had in my Master's program at Steubenville over the past four years, there is actually a lot of good stuff in them, and some of the documents such as Lumen Gentium are actually very orthodox in content.  As my good friend, Catholic traditionalist and fellow Monarchist Charles Coulombe stated on a broadcast of his weekly program some months back, at least 80-85% of the documents of Vatican II are very sound and affirm prior Councils and the Magisterium, and the 15% that doesn't is not worth really quibbling over - the answer, as Coulombe notes, is simple on that, mainly just reject what doesn't line up with the Deposit of Faith.  As I have examined the evidence, the current sex crisis in the Church has little, if anything at all, to do with anything related to Vatican II, and therefore that would need to be ruled out.  As we examine this further, I want to first rehash some of the news about what is going on at present to shed some light on what we are talking about here, and then I have some insights I want to share from a book I use extensively for reference, that book being Desmond Birch's Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph (Santa Barbara, CA:  Queenship Publishing, 1996).  Birch's volume is an encyclopedia of various prophetic insights that many saints and visionaries of the Church have received over the years, and many of them have a lot to say about this current crisis.   After that, I want to then offer some reflections and encouragement to disillusioned Catholics who may be contemplating leaving the Church, as at this point in time those are needed.

Social media (particularly Facebook) is right now buzzing about this issue - I have been monitoring the Archdiocese of Baltimore's Facebook page for the past couple of days, and there is a lot of feedback on this issue there.   To kind of give a little background on what happened, a Grand Jury in Pennsylvania recently released a report documenting that approximately 300 priests in several dioceses primarily in Pennsylvania had been involved in sexual abuse scandals in which over 1,000 victims were identified.  These incidents took place over an extended period of time going back several decades, and some of the offending priests have actually passed on, and there were cardinals and bishops even involved in the mess.  It seems that this is also connected to the events of the early 2000's too, when a similar scandal that necessitated Michael Rose's book created a media feeding frenzy.  Add to that this whole recent #MeToo movement, and what we see is disturbing -  it indicates a culture which as a whole has lost its way, and sex has become a tool of abuse, intimidation, and manipulation.   Of course, when you have a society that has been in moral terpitude for at least 50 years if not longer (note some of that in my article tackling the transgender issue yesterday), it is inevitable that the Church would be affected as well.  When you have sin, and you also have a Christian witness which has been weakened (this involves the faulty implementation of Vatican II reforms in this case), the unfortunate consequence is that you will have churches who are adversely affected.  And, it is not only Roman Catholics - Protestants have had their share of these scandals too (the most recent and high-profile one has been former NAE head Ted Haggard) and there are even statistics that note that pornography usage has been unnaturally high among married Protestant pastors of all denominations.  This indicates that these bad fruits have a bad root somewhere, and until the root is dealt with, the fruit will continue to manifest.  Fortunately for us, many great visionaries of previous generations were given a special charism by the Holy Spirit to warn about these things coming, and I want to document some of that now here to give an idea that what we have seen is not something we were not warned would happen.  

From the outset, I want to mention Pope St. Leo XIII, who at the turn of the previous century was grieved with great concern about this.  Reminiscent of the Book of Job in Scripture, it is reported that Leo had a vision in which Satan asked God for a time to tempt the Church, and God told him specifically the end of the 20th century.  For the faithful Remnant, St. Michael the Archangel would be a protector, and the Holy Spirit gave to St. Leo a prayer to entreat St. Michael's help during those trying moments.   The prayer went something like this:

Pope St. Leo XIII (1810-1903)

It certainly seems that Pope Leo was on-point regarding what he saw, as the recent crises illustrate.  Another important visionary, Jacinta of Fatima, also had some insights given to her by the apparitions at Fatima in the early 1900's when it is recorded as this:  "'The devil knows that when religious and priests fail in their beautiful vocations they carry along with them many souls into hell.'" (Birch, p. 393).   Think about that for a moment - when a trusted individual, a shepherd of the Church no less, violates that trust by taking immoral liberties with a vulnerable child, it has devastating consequences.  For one, it causes the child to turn their backs on Christ and His Church, and many a militant atheist has been created from those situations.  But then, think of when the scandal becomes public - it disillusions other faithful, and they leave the Church.  That is what this revelation Jacinta had at Fatima is telling us.  The untold havoc wreaked by wayward clergy also becomes the fodder of secular comedians and media, who now ridicule and make sport of the Church due to scandals like this - one, an otherwise humorous comedian and ventriloquist by the name of Jeff Dunham, has now even incorporated such ridicule into his comedy acts.  That is something to think about.   Another visionary, Sister Elena Aiello, was visited by a vision of the Lord on April 16, 1954, and the Lord spoke to her saying this:   "'So ungrateful have they become towards My Sacred Heart and abusing My graces they have converted the world into a scene of crimes.  Innumerable scandals carry souls to their ruin, especially the souls of the youth.  They have given themselves, without restraint, to the pleasures of the world which have degenerated into perversions.'" (Birch, p. 389).  Another visionary, Sister Marianne de Jesus Torres (who is associated with the prophecies entailed in Our Lady of Good Success) had this to say based on what Our Lady revealed to her:  "'The Demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way, and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them.  These {corrupted priests} who will thus scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all the priests.  This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good pastors of the Church, to the great majority of good priests, and to the Supreme Pastor and Vicar of Christ on earth {meaning the current Pope}, who...will shed secret and bitter tears in the presence of his God and Lord, beseeching light, sanctity, and perfection for all the Clergy of the world, of which he is the King and Father.'" (Birch, p. 327).  There is much truth in this statement, but it also begs a question - as Pope Francis, the current Pontiff, is also somewhat controversial in some of his positions (thankfully not in matters of Magisterial authority!), does this mean that perhaps Francis may have a sort of revelation of his own and maybe will be the Pope to address and correct some of this mess?  One can only hope.   Sister Marianne then elaborates further these revelations, and this is quite eerie in its accuracy:  "'Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for sins of the people but for those of Priests and religious persons.  For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt and light of the earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of the Divine Ire.  Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they are the ones who quicken the rigor of the punishments.  Because, detaching themselves from me, they end up living only a superficial life of the soul, maintaining a distance from Me that is unworthy of my Ministers.  With their frigidity and lack of confidence, they act as if I were a stranger to them.'" (Birch, pp. 398-399).   Apparently, due to this crisis in the priesthood foreseen by Sister Marianne, the Holy Spirit will then raise up faithful laypeople to be the intercessors for both the wayward priests to pray for their conversion and salvation, as Sr. Marianne continues:  "'I am greatly pleased by religious souls that take upon themselves the sublime task of sanctifying the Clergy by means of their prayers, sacrifices, and penances.  Throughout time I will choose for Myself such souls so that, uniting themselves to Me, they will labor, pray, and suffer for the attaining of this noblest end, with a special glory awaiting them in heaven.'" (Birch, p. 399).   Interesting - the laity being called to intercede on behalf of the clergy!   I see this as being twofold - first, the prayer for the salvation and conversion of the wayward clergy, but also for encouragement and protection of dedicated faithful clergy who may face a lot of opposition from corrupt Church leadership, some of whom warrant a conversion and repentance as well.   That kind of relates to this current crisis in that some Cardinals and bishops have been covering up the misdeeds of their priests for decades, and some of them are so apostate themselves that they actually punish committed orthodox clergy who take their vocations seriously.  Michael Rose notes several instances of this happening in Goodbye Good Men, where often orthodox candidates for Holy Orders are blackballed from certain seminaries.  Conspiracy theorists and circulated rumor aside, it does seem as if some of this activity does go on, and if it is as prevalent as some say it is, then there needs to maybe be a pruning of the vine to trim off the "dead wood" of apostate clergy who are unrepentant of their sins.  It also seems that there may be some merit to these allegations anyway, as a former communist, Bella Dodd, who later converted to the Catholic faith revealed something very disturbing, as is seen from her quote in the illustration below:

In other words, what St. Leo XIII saw was true, and Bella Dodd's confession of it is a confirmation.  Thankfully, Dodd repented (via the ministry of Bishop Fulton Sheen) and was received back into the Church, and her story should be an encouragement, which we will get into shortly.  However, first we need to see also where Scripture stands on this whole issue. 

It is the Apostle St. Paul who instructed extensively, especially in the Thessalonian epistles, about the coming apostasy in the Church.  One thing he notes is about a "great falling away" that would happen in the latter times, in which many would apostatize and the "son of perdition" would be revealed (II Thessalonians 2:3).   That passage has been traditionally understood as referring to the Church specifically, and it also notes that this apostasy would precede the coming of an Antichrist.  It also lines up with several of Jesus's own parables in the Gospels, in particular those which talk about sheep/goats, wheat/tares, good fish/bad fish, etc.  The implication here, and as traditionally understood by the Church, is that the good and bad would exist together within the Church until a time when God would separate His faithful Remnant from the apostates.  I have said in past things I have written about this that "Laodicea is on the broad road to Babylon," and what I meant by that is that complacency in spirituality inevitably leads to apostasy of faith.  It combines and synthesizes several key areas of Scripture - Jesus's teaching about the "narrow way" of righteousness, as well as His rebuke through the Apostle St. John of the lukewarmness of the Laodicean church in the opening chapters of Revelation, followed by a discourse later in Revelation 17 I believe on the "whore that rides the Beast," as representing an apostate religious system called "Mystery Babylon."  I may have understandably taken some eisogetic liberty with that, but it does concur with the context of the whole discussion in that it only takes compromise on a small area to lead to abandonment of faith on a large scale.  Many Protestant Fundamentalists have capitalized on the "whore of Babylon" imagery to villify the entire Roman Catholic Church, and although of course they are wrong for the most part, there are actually some warnings to maybe take seriously.  The Catholic Church, at least the Church embodied in the Magisterial teaching, is the Body of Christ, and therefore it is not the "whore of Babylon" described in Revelation.  Rather, that allegorical imagery refers to an apostate religious system that may have the facade of the true Church externally, but it is at its core corrupt.  No doubt many of its adherents will be apostate former Roman Catholics, but I also guarantee a number of equally apostate Protestants will also be part of it too - although the current crisis focuses on the Catholic Church, Protestants are by no means immune from this scandal either, as there have been many indiscretions committed by Protestant ministers over the years who have lost their way - I have seen it myself actually, being a former Protestant myself, and I grieve at some people I went to undergraduate studies with who at one time were passionate about their Christian faith but now have completely turned their back on it.  Some of these former classmates of mine have turned to substance abuse, some have divorced their wives, and even a couple of them have embraced the homosexual lifestyle, which in itself is tragic - one in particular, a former classmate named Lance, even broke up his marriage to a beautiful lady who really loved him in order to pursue his own selfish lusts as a "gay" man, and he still masquerades as a minister today.  People like these need prayers on a major scale.  And, that leads to my concluding thoughts of encouragement and a challenge for us who are faithful Catholics to do the right thing in these trying times.

In reading the famed Parable of the Prodigal Son as found in Luke 15:11-32, one thing that sticks out is that unconditional love fosters a grace that can forgive anyone of anything.  Despite how heinous one's sins are, what Jesus looks for is a contrite heart that seeks Him, and when someone displays that, Jesus can then extend His supernatural grace to elevate, heal, and perfect them.  In noting the conversations I have seen on social media, a couple of things concern me.  First, although many are understandably disillusioned with what has happened, I am distressed to hear professed Catholics saying that offending priests are not entitled to forgiveness.  I am sorry, but that is NOT what the Church teaches nor is it what Scripture tells us - the Scriptural record actually says "seek, and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you..." (Matthew 7:7).  We are also taught about forgiveness, and although that can be hard at times, there is a way that we can extend forgiveness.  For one thing, it starts inwardly with prayers for those who come against us - we say that in one of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, remember?   As we pray that, we also pray for the grace to heal our own hurt, and as we do, we begin to have an attitude of forgiveness which must precede the action.  No one logically expects someone to run out and shout to the top of their lungs "I forgive you!" as forgiveness must be received as well as forgiven.  The person who is to receive forgiveness must want it and must accept it in other words, and it's up to the Holy Spirit to transform that person.   Our duty is to work on ourselves, and we need to engender a culture of forgiveness that is first manifested in attitude, and then in action.  A second thing that concerns me is the level of rumor and speculation you hear from professed Catholics - now, conspiracies are being bandied about that every bishop is somehow corrupt, and that every priest is a child molester, etc.  That does a serious disservice to the thousands of faithful clergy who are sincerely carrying out their vocations, and we need to be careful not to break the Commandment that says "don't bear false witness."  Our longsuffering faithful clergy are catching enough persecution from the secular press and a skeptical and increasingly anti-religious public, and they don't need people in the Church adding to that nonsense.  Therefore, if you are one of those reading this who are giving into speculation and gossip, stop it, in Jesus' name!!   By engaging in that, you are as guilty as the pedophile priests who are abusing others, and if you don't have a change, you too will face eternal damnation, especially if you partake of the Eucharist with that mentality.  Instead of wasting time gossiping and speculating about priests and victims, you should be praying for both.  That was a sharp kick in the groin I know, but it's necessary at this point.  It is OK to be angry, and indeed justice must be done both to vindicate the innocent victims of these atrocities, but also there needs to be a level of grace and mercy we communicate to both perpetrators and victims in that they need to know Jesus loves them, and what has happened grieves Him as well.  Mostly though, let's stick to facts and dismiss speculations and gossip, as it will do the most good to view these issues as objectively as possible.  That being said, if one of the offending priests or bishops does have a conversion experience and expresses sincere contrition for what they have done, the Blood Christ shed is sufficient to cover all sins, and forgiveness is always given by Him to all who seek it.  Although it also means that said offender must undergo a rehabilitation process - for instance, they should not be performing the duties of a priest or any other activities that may pose a potential problem - at the same time this will be a time of healing for them as well, and they must have our prayers too.  As for the victims, they need to be reached out to in compassion and understanding, as there are many wounds that need healing.  Some may be bitter against the Church, and in their condition, it is perfectly understandable.  However, this is where our vocation as laity, in particular, comes into play, in that it is up to us to represent the true witness of the Church to such people in order to assure them that the Church itself is not the enemy and that she is there to embrace and heal the hurting as well.   

I hope that my insights will help people have more clarity in these trying times for our Church, and also will both aid in straightening out speculation while at the same time encouraging a Christlike attitude toward both perpetrators and victims in this whole mess.  I have my indignation as well at what has happened, and we are all working through this together as a Church, and it is our responsibility as faithful Catholics to support each other in these times, even when there are frank and uncomfortable discussions concerning events that have taken place.  God bless until next time.  

Identity Politics - Why It Is Wrong

Since the passing of the law that legalized "same-sex marriage" in 2015, things have gotten extremely interesting, given the culture's over-emphasis on "political correctness" and other such nonsense.  The issue I am about to talk about here is not one I am exactly comfortable discussing, as it is one of those "hot-button" issues these days that could even cause some controversy by just mentioning it, but a perspective needs to be given on the issue.  The issue I am referring to is this whole "transgender" thing which seems to have taken center-stage.  Many conservative observers have correctly noted that it would be a slippery slope once "same-sex marriage" was legalized, and indeed it has happened as predicted.  Oddly, there are gays and lesbians who are as concerned about the whole transgender issue as many of the rest of us are, but unfortunately I have this to say to them - your demands for "special rights" are what created this monster, so now you have to take responsibility for it.  Sounds a little crass, I know, but fact is fact.  I want to begin this talk by first doing a little Bible study on what "identity" is supposed to be.

As human beings, we are created in the image of God, but at times we don't fully grasp what that means.  It doesn't mean we are cloned copies of God, but rather as a Methodist minister I heard once explained it, we are created in the image He envisioned for us;  that means, He made us exactly as we are, and therefore we are His special creation.  That being established, it is important that we understand that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) even down to the very details of our existence - He even has a record of the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7).   And, as with all His creation, God affirms throughout the Creation narrative in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis that what He made was "good," and in the case of humanity, it was very good (Genesis 1:31).   It also says that God made the distinctions between sexes and both were made in His image (Genesis 1:27) with all the distinctions in place from the start.  One of the attributes of God is also perfection - in Himself, God is perfect, and therefore He doesn't make mistakes.  However, from the start Satan sought to corrupt creation, and while that started in Genesis 3, we see it accelerated in Genesis 6 when fallen angels started messing around with nature (hence, the origin of demonic beings, as many Church Fathers taught), and in doing so Satan sought to defile God's creation to the point that it would destroy itself and thus be stripped of all hope of redemption - however, God had a plan, and that plan culminated in the coming of Jesus Christ.  The "Genesis Six Experiment," as some writers call it, was an attempt to go against nature to corrupt what God had created in perfection, and it in recent years has led to the advent of pseudo-scientific movements such as eugenics and transhumanism, which are the subject of a whole other discussion.    Related to it however is sexual deviancy, which God has always considered sin and unnatural.  The position I take on this in regard to this whole transgender mess is this - if you think you are something else rather than who and what God created you to be, you insult God;  it is heretical in that it attempts to contradict the attribute of perfection God has (in short, one who embraces that position says God makes mistakes, even if they don't believe in God personally), as well as also diminishing what it means to be a person created in His image.  It also goes against basic genetics, biology, and physics - if you are created as one gender, then changing it may have disastrous consequences.  That all being said, it must also be understood that people who struggle with transgender confusion may have a deeper issue that requires healing too, and it is not necessary to beat them over the head about their unnatural desires, but rather to reach out in compassion to such people and hopefully bring them to a place where they can seek healing and restoration.

Here is the thing in dealing with transgender-prone people - we must always do so in love and not in hate or derision.  God still loves these people, and Jesus died for them too, and we as members of Christ's Church need to approach them with compassion.  It is important to know their whole stories as well, and not jump to conclusions.  Transgenderism is a disorder - it is unnatural, and isn't something that is inherent to normal human biology.  However, due to the fallen state of the world we live in, the realities of human limitations - sin, sickness, and death - should lead us to reason that the manifestation of a man dressing and acting like a woman must have an underlying cause to it, and it is that cause that must be identified and addressed in a compassionate way which will lead to that person being restored to what God intended them to be.  A person struggling with addictions, homosexual tendencies, or transgender confusion may have one or many reasons for this happening to them - it could be psychological, emotional, a chemical imbalance in their physiology, or even in some cases demonic oppression.  It is important to understand two things though about this.   First, a person struggling with an issue like this must want to address it and do something about it on their own free will.  No one can be "beaten into submission" to change, and if we resort to that, it violates the personhood of the targeted individual, and that is not in line with God's plan.   Second, it is also important that we get an accurate perception of what is going on - the person struggling with such an issue needs to maybe talk about it with professionals who can help them sort things out, and based on that information, it will be easier to get the "bigger picture" of what such a person is struggling with.  Due to the bizarre nature of things such as homosexuality and transgenderism, many of us as Christians are often scared of what is weird to us (and, those behaviors are weird, let's face it!) and it tends to make us draw quick and uninformed judgments about such people and forget that underneath the bizarre behavior and appearances of such individuals is still a person who may be displaying a cry for help.  In counseling settings, that would be called "acting out," and often self-destructive behavior of any kind has at its root something else, and that is what needs to be addressed, the root issue.  Before we move on, it is also important to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Judeo-Christian perspective on these issues.

One of the trigger terms of today's society is calling something that disagrees with someone's words or actions "hate speech."  Christians, because of our stand for traditional morality, are often unjustly accused of "hate speech" when we differ with the groupthink that "gay is OK" or that someone who has male "tackle" is actually a woman in a man's body.  In reality we don't hate anyone, and to be honest we don't even try to dictate our convictions upon others (or at least we shouldn't), but we are stating that based on our convictions, such behavior is not morally right.   Homosexual behavior has been around probably since the events in Genesis 3, and there have always been a rare number of people who have engaged in behaviors associated with it.   No one is saying they can't, honestly - what the Christian would say however is that choices have consequences, and while anyone is free to do what they want how they want it, in time if that action or choice is wrong, they will have to face the consequences of their actions.   That being said, no one is saying that a gay person cannot live their lives, and no true Christian would deny a gay person the right to basic human needs - a gay person can own a house, have a good-paying job, and go about their daily business, and no one disputes that.  What Christians do dispute though is when certain militants among the homosexual community and their allies among other progressive/liberal sectors don't return the courtesy to us - the most recent example was the Christian baker who refused to bake a "gay wedding" cake based on his convictions.  Did the baker refuse them business?  No!  And, if the gay couple in question just wanted a plain cake they could decorate themselves, would he have refused to sell it to them?  I doubt he would have.   And, if the same gay couple came in for a dozen doughnuts or chocolate chip cookies, I doubt seriously that they would have been denied service.   Yet, for some reason the poor baker was deemed "hateful" and censured because he refused to make a specific item for the lesbian couple, that's all.   It would be the same situation if a neo-Nazi wanted a Jewish tailor to embroider a swastika on a t-shirt, or a Black dry-cleaner was asked by the local Grand Wizard of the KKK to clean his Klucker robes - both the tailor and the dry cleaner would be in the right for refusing service in those instances.  Also, if a gay baker were to be asked by a Christian couple to decorate a traditional wedding cake with the phrase "Marriage = One Man + One Woman," I am sure he would have the right to refuse that too (no traditional Christian would do this anyway though).  So, if all these people have that right, then why is it only the Christian baker who is punished.   A "gay marriage" being catered by a Christian baker is equivalent to a Muslim being asked to cater a pig roast for a party, in other words.  And, the gay couple could have just went somewhere else instead of trying to force a private businessman to violate his convictions.  It is situations like this which make the subject more a topic of discussions these days. 

It is also important to keep in mind that from the Christian perspective, homosexual practice is sin, just like any other sin - Jesus died to save humanity from all sin.  And, as Romans 3:23 reminds us, we have all sinned at some point and fallen short, so in that regard homosexuality is no different from other sins such as murder, adultery, or theft.   What makes it - as well as transgenderism, which is closely connected to homosexuality although not the same thing - a more prominent sin is probably the fact that it is unnatural in practice - for instance, if a man runs around on his wife with the pretty young secretary at his office, it is still bad, still sinful, but at least it is normal sexual drives he is giving into, albeit perverted ones.  However, homosexuality is viewed differently in that it goes against nature - two males or two females were not meant to copulate with each other, as for one thing the parts don't line up.  So, as far as merit is concerned, homosexual behavior is just as sinful as anything else, but what does set it apart on another level is that it is a disordered behavior.  And, so is transgenderism.   That being said, let's examine these things in a little more depth.

Dealing specifically with transgenderism, as mentioned above it is an outward fruit that has a deeper root, and in order to remedy the fruit, the root must be treated.  As Ryan Anderson notes in his book When Harry Became Sally (New York:  Encounter Books, 2018) on page 196, in a conceptual sense gender identity is unlike race or true gender in that it is not an objective and verifiable trait, but is rather expressly subjective.   Transgender activity is expressed in action rather than biology, and those actions are subject to moral evaluation.  Also, unlike discrimination based on race, ethnicity, etc., there is nothing akin in the transgender movement to the type of discriminations faced by, say, Blacks with the oppressive "Jim Crow" laws in our nation, or the way that Jews were treated by Hitler in Nazi Germany or the genocide of Armenians in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks.  People who identify as transgender can vote, hold jobs, etc., but in some situations, their inappropriate behavior has been addressed.  The same holds true in regard to homosexuals too - homosexuals are not discriminated against in regard to their basic human rights, nor should they be, but at the same time flaunting homosexual behavior in a public place is inappropriate just as the same heterosexual behavior is - a couple fawning all over each other in public is not proper decorum no matter who you are.  And, that is the root issue here.  It goes back to a disorder that John Horvat notes on page 17 of his book Return to Order (York, PA:  York Press, 2013) which he calls "frenetic intemperance," which he further defines as constituting two things:

1.  The intention of throwing off legitimate restraints
2.  The gratification of disordered passions

These two traits are endemic to our contemporary society, and when it comes to those who seek to subjectively redefine their identity, there are a few examples I want to share of how ludicrous this can be.

Rachel Dolezal

We are going to start mildly, as today not only is sexual identity now a subjective concept, but you also have people changing their race at whim too.   Although the most high-profile example of this is the Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren now saying she is a "Cherokee Indian," (which earned a lot of derision, including nicknames such as "Fauxahontas" or "Jokahontas"), the most publicized example happened a couple of years back when a young White girl decided to identify as Black, and it caused a major controversy.   Rachel Dolezal (b. 1977) is a native of Washington State who is naturally a blonde-haired, blue-eyed blonde of Czech/Scandinavian/German heritage who, due to her parents adopting and raising some Black children, decided to identify as Black herself.  She says "she was born White but identifies as Black," which in a sane normal person's mind makes no sense.  She even went as far as to join the NAACP and also teach African-American studies at a university, but this all came crashing down in 2015 when for the first time in her life she at least admitted that she was "born White," and that of course led to her dismissal from both the NAACP and the university she taught at.  In recent months, she is back in the news again for welfare fraud and some other controversies, and she potentially could serve up to 15 years in the slammer for that.  (taken from https:en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Dolezal&oldid=854121008 - accessed 8/8/2018).

Much like the more bizarre transgender individuals who subjectively redefine their gender, Dolezal is guilty of the same heresy by denying who God created her to be and instead she labors in a delusional fantasy world that she is a different race - this does violence not only to her own family, but also to the Black community.  

Rodrigo Alves, the "Human Ken Doll"

The next individual of interest is not specifically transgender, but represents what it is to say "God makes mistakes" and thus he too embodies that heresy.  Brazilian-born Rodrigo Alves is popularly known as "the human Ken Doll," due to the fact he has spent thousands of dollars in surgery to alter his appearance to look "perfect."  A recent surgery he underwent even entailed the extraction of four of his ribs in order to give him a more flatter abdominal shape.   At the core of Alves's obsessions there obviously lurks a bigger problem, that being something inherently psychological or emotional.  And, to be honest, he is actually starting to look more like the Joker on the old Batman series, and he is now so plastic in appearance that he not only looks artificial, but even creepy.  Some recent articles I have read about this individual suggests he has now declared himself transgender as well, and is now seeking to be a "Barbie" instead of a "Ken."  Any way you look at it though, the whole thing is bizarre when it comes to an individual like this, and hopefully he comes to his senses before it's too late - in his case, these extensive procedures could even cost him his life.  

"Stefonknee" Wolscht

One of the oddest and most recent examples of transgenderism is embodied in the above individual, who is a 52-year-old man who now identifies as a 6-year-old girl.  What is tragic about this individual is the sheer selfishness he embodies, as he abandoned his wife and several children of his own to "be herself."  The sheer subjectivism of this individual defies logic, as the idea of frenetic intemperance is embodied in this "Stefonknee" person.  I first heard of this person from a Mark Dice video I watched recently, and then another commentator, Steven Crowder, also did a segment on this person.   The oddness of this individual is that not only is "Stefonknee" transgender as well as "age-fluid," but this person also identifies as homosexual himself.  "Stefonknee" would almost be like a bad Mel Brooks comedy if it wasn't tragically real, and this individual has even been "adopted" by friends and in his mind he doesn't want to age - he says he'll be perpetually 7-years-old.  The adoptive "parents" of this person also have a granddaughter, and they let this individual play with her - that constitutes a possibility for child abuse right there.   Also, despite identifying as a seven-year-old, "Stefonknee" seems to have an affinity for kissing burly bikers as well as even working a job as a snow plow operator.  There are many, many questions that emerge from this entire situation, and Crowder in his segment addresses those more at length on his podcast at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjC3zBKgL3M.   

Then, if this wasn't bizarre enough, there are people who now identify as animals - sex-fetishists are saying they are puppies, ponies, and other such stuff, and there are many others who are trying to alter their appearances to "become" tigers, dragons, etc.   I won't get into a lot of those, as to be honest some of this stuff is just too hard to stomach.  Again, noting John Horvath, these are glaring examples of frenetic intemperance, and at the core of it is selfishness, subjectivism, and a basic denial of fact in favor of how one "feels."  It started with the Fall in Genesis 3, where man decided to have a lust to "become God," and it began to formulate further in the Enlightenment when people like Descartes started proclaiming "I think, therefore I am."  The problem with transgenderism is selfish subjectivism, and it is thoroughly Cartesian in that if one is biologically a man but thinks they are a six-year-old girl, a "Ken Doll," or a tiger, then one really is.  It is also an embodiment of Aleister Crowley's credo, "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law," which is in contradiction to what Jesus taught in the Our Father when He instructed us to pray to the Father, "Thy will be done," which the great theologian Romano Guardini defines as the "gateway petition" to the entire prayer.  This subjectivism, which underlies all segments of this LGBTQ movement, violates what is called the common good, which late Brazilian philosopher Plinio Correa de Oliviera in his seminal book Revolution and Counter-Revolution (Spring Grove, PA:  American Society for the Preservation of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993) addresses when he says on page 77 that "the Revolution constantly turns against a whole legacy of Christian institutions, customs, doctrines, and ways of being, feeling and thinking that we received from our forefathers and that are not yet completely abolished."  The recent postmodernist (and rabidly anti-Christian) trends in LGBTQ rights, "political correctness," and related phenomena embody this characteristic of a revolution, and also the violent aspect of it is embodied in the thuggery of Antifa and other terrorist groups.  And, it does it insidiously - first, take prayer out of public life, especially schools (which happened in 1963), and then define what personhood is and dictate the value of it (Roe v. Wade and the legalization of abortion in 1973), and as a steady diet of bad worldview devoid of absolutes and standards is fed to schoolchildren and others, then a redefinition of standard institutions will be implemented (legalization of "gay marriage" in 2015).   People call this stuff "progressivism," but in reality it is making society regress, and many innocent people will pay the price for it.  It didn't appear out of a vacuum either, as forces have been at work to alter this for at least 500 years, from the Enlightenment-era influences of people like Descartes, Spinoza, and Machiavelli, to the "scientific revolution" of Darwin, Galton, and Malthus, to the engineers of sexual revisionism such as Margaret Sanger, Alfred Kinsey, Simone de Beavior,  and ultimately to an all-out embrace of the "culture of death" by activist Supreme Court judges as well as the Peter Singers and Jack Kevorkians among us.  Many believe that society as we know it is beyond redemption, and perhaps it is, but at the same time we must remember that ultimately God is in control of all things, and as "all things work together for good" for those who follow Him, it is also written at the end of his Revelation to us (Scripture) that He wins.  This hope is what we should hold to as Catholic Christians, and we can enact a renewal of a "culture of life" and return to Godly order at the grassroots level.  With all the talk of "safe spaces" these days, there is a certain logic in the concept in that good, godly, and traditionally-minded households and churches are the "safe spaces" for the life-affirming culture of life, and it is up to us to be the beacons in the darkness that envelopes our decadent society in order to bring about change on a positive basis.  If we do our part then, redemption is possible.  Let's just pray we do before it's too late.