By now you will have read something about a new document, responses to dubia that were submitted by a Brazilian bishops about “trans”, etc. This is not just theological curiosity stuff, but rather practical problems that parish priests must deal with.
LifeSite has a summary of the dubia (questions official submitted to the appropriate authority of the Roman Curia needing official responses to bring greater clarity):
The questions are as follows, although the original July 14, 2023 request from Bishop Negri was not published:
Can a transgender person be baptized?
Can a transgender person be a godfather or godmother at baptism?
Can a transgender person be a witness at a wedding?
Can two homo-affective persons be counted as parents of a child, who must be baptized, and who was adopted or gained by other methods such as surrogacy?
Can a person who is homo-affective and cohabiting be godfather to a baptized person?
Can a person who is homo-affective and cohabiting be a witness at a wedding?
The answers from Card. Fernandez at the DDF? There are vague aspects which do not resolve the dubia in their practical ramifications. These are things that parish priests will have to deal with. I suspect that now parishes will be targeted with test cases. Perhaps the parish priests should just refer the question to the local bishop and refuse personally to deal with it immediately.
I will ask a couple questions about the question (#2) concerning godparents.
Fernandez said that, yes, transgender individuals could act as godparents at Baptism.
The Code of Canon Law 872 says that “a sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.” Canon 874 speaks to the qualities of a sponsor, such as being “a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on.”
So, does an unrepentant trans person (that is, being unrepentant about having undergone the process) fulfill these points of law?
There may be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each (canon 873), but if there are two sponsors, they should not be of the same sex. If there are two sponsors, one must be Catholic.
QUAERITUR: How can a transgendered person be a godparent since the Church doesn’t recognize a difference between biological sex and gender?
QUAERITUR: How can the Church recognize the suitability of a homosexual couple living more uxorio (committing same-sex acts together regularly) as witnesses to a sacramental matrimony without de facto admitting the moral good of homosexual acts?
About “gender”. This word is misused. It is not interchangeable with “sex”.
For priests in parishes… this is going to be hard. Don’t feel that you must, on the spot, make a decision or give an answer. Refer it “upstairs”. Tread carefully. You decision might have wider consequences.
Loading ...
Okay, fine, but what to do if Bishop McB./the chancery then sends the priest a letter commanding him to approve the god(less)parents as sponsors and proceed with the baptism? What then? The priest will be the one to get the axe if he refuses.
At a certain point, pulling the “above my pay grade” rip cord doesn’t cut it.
I might be overly cynical, but…
Are these dubia staged ? Documents seem to be flying out of the Vatican in a harried pace.
Also. – Are not Godparents expected to be able to raise the baptized child if the parents die ?
With the high suicide rate and mental instability associated with these conditions ( esp gender diaspora) ?
(Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk….“This isn’t Spain, you know. This is England.” St. Sir Thomas More, “I show you the times.”—Man for All Seasons). Sir Thomas was being persecuted, even though he was second after the King, as Chancellor of England. What was his “crime”, he wouldn’t go along with the Bishops of England for King Henry VIII to divorce and then “marry” Anne Boleyn.
I show you the times. Pope Francis has been moving his men into places and has now come out with his planned “paradigm shift” in theology. He gutted the Pope John Paul II Institute and shifted their mission which now matches his new Moto Proprio which formally tasks Roman Theologians to make the shift too. In short, the shift is from an objective morality based on the Natural Law and Scripture to one where we have to diagnose everyone’s subjective state of self identity—straight, trans, gay, pro-abortion, etc. and I suppose Furries too. (Furries are people who think they are animals. Hmmm. I didn’t see that one in the Dubia. Can an animal be a godparent?). Back before Amoris Laetitia came out, I saw where the Pope was going and said that the opening preface should be an apology to St. John the Baptist, St. John Fisher, and St. Sir Thomas More. With the next synod in Oct. 2024, it should have a preface apologizing to all the saints of the old paradigm. I have been telling my priest friends that we are ten years into a hundred year heresy of philosophical Modernism.
This is curious…..may someone who holds an animus against the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church be a Godparent?
May a bishop who is a Mason, or a worshipper of Satan, confer the sacraments like Ordinations?
May a Cardinal who goes into a Conclave with the intent to “make a mess” become the Pope?
In short, does Intent, play a part in keeping the Catholic Church catholic?
I show you the times.
I don’t know. Is there any point in kicking it upstairs? In Ratzinger’s 2004 CDF letter to McCarick and Gregory, he was clear that denying the Eucharist was the responsibility of the minister. If the trans couple has not publicly renounced their trans identity, I don’t care at all what my archdiocese thinks. This is demonic.
Well stated, stdaniel. Bravo!
It seems clear that sexual depravity and any other form of sexual perversion is no longer considered sinful by the higher ups at the Vatican. Could you imagine if a dubia was submitted asking if a confirmed and unrepentant serial killer could be a godparent? Or, even worse, a racist who was a grand wizard in the KKK? How much we wanna bet the answer wouldn’t be “so long as it doesn’t create scandal” and “do what is pastoral but prudent”?
How long until there’s a motu propio removing the destruction of Sodom from Holy Scripture?
Regarding Godparents, I’m vexed that a priest or Bishop would be put in the position to begin with. I have more concern with the biological parents and their own intention to raise the child in the faith than the godparents at that point.
I am only one of many in the pew; however, Cardinal Fernandez’s endorsement of homosexuals godparents only supports his “How to Kiss” message. Now we know to whom he is beholden. Pope Francis only encouraged these questions with opaque answers in hopes of shifting Catholic teaching away from solid Catholic teaching; that, women don’t sleep with women and men don’t sleep with men. Introducing the Sacrament of Baptism to save a soul is one thing; but, to propagandize it by embracing the homosexual lifestyle as “OK” for Godparents is heresy in-&-of-itself. Human nature being what it is–WHO is going to police the Homosexuals in determining that they are living a “chase” life?? The local Parish Priest??
Are we at the begining of the Church Militant separating? What would we lose? Yes, our beautiful churches that were built with our money for generations. A clear separation of the good Shepherds from the bad. No more complaining about the Nervous Disorder. Let us remember the Apostle’s Creed.. I believe….” One” Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
One Lord, One Faith One Baptism.
A Pope who is a Heretical, is still the Pope. That we leave to the Holy Ghost.
The Bishop of Rome said he doesn’t fear schism
Pretty clear now he does not fear schism at all.
It is also clear why he has “cleansed” the parishes of Latin Masses; can’t have the people in the pews be evangelized in his “New Church” with a counter weight right there.
If you can find it, there is a dark Martin Sheen movie about a visitation to a community not living up to “Vatican III.” It’s called “Catholics .” I wish I had bought the DVD
Prescient.
Is attending a SSPX mass the new Swimming of the Tiber?
The moment we conceded the use of gender as meaningful when applied to a human being, the ground was ceded. But Eternal things have a way of making Their presence felt.
Response to NB:
If a priest prefers the notion of committing the mortal sin of scandal to “getting the axe”, then the priest needs to reexamine his priorities. Suffering injustice is not a sin, it unites us to Christ on the Cross.
The notion that we should be able to get through life without serious suffering is nonsense. The notion that the choice between sinning and suffering is complex, confusing, or difficult to discern is nonsense.
The priest certainly can (and should) look for an escape from suffering that doesn’t involve sin. But if it comes down to a strict choice, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out.
This is where the issue of “moral injury” starts to be a serious factor: when priests are being pressured by higher ups to do things that they know are wrong.
A problem shared by laity in a slightly altered form: for us the problem is generally the boss OR the religious superior, not both simultaneously. I suggest St. John of the Cross and St. Perpetua as unofficial patrons of just disobedience to superiors.
I fear that we’re slowly heading toward “Can a trans-male be ordained?”
(It will largely be moot as the communities who are pro-transgender rarely have any vocations, but there is always one. Luckily for me, the shock of seeing the first sequined biretta will almost certainly cause a worse stroke than my first, and I will be safely in the ground before seeing the following catastrophe.)
The “libs” keep on telling us that Vatican II taught us that one could not be compelled to act against one’s conscience.
We will soon see another example of the modern belief that the only people not permitted to have a conscience are clergy.
Excellent and vital questions, Father.
I am the unofficial Godmother to a young girl who was sent to the US from Mexico when she was 5 years old to live with her aunt and uncle. Flor’s father had died and her mother could not afford to keep her. And the water was laden with lead, which caused her to lose some of her permanent teeth (and, thank God, did not affect her brain).
In Mexican culture, Godparents do not check out after Baptism. They are expected to follow the child spiritually for their entire life, helping them with their religious studies, offering spiritual and moral support, and generally being second parents to the child. Since Flor would never see her real Godparents, her aunt asked my husband and me to fill the role. Being non-Mexicans and fellow parishioners, we are especially honored to do so.
Due to the diligent and faithful care of her aunt, Flor was leading our parishioners in the Rosary and DM Chaplet from the age of 7 in both English and espanol. She also earned a 4-year scholarship to a Catholic high school in May and is involved in campus ministry and earning good grades. I could not be more pleased.
I do not see how a transgender person could possibly fulfill this very important role for a child. Godparents must be strong, faithful, and practicing Catholics, who do not live in defiance of Church teaching.
I am afraid you are right. The grief and difficult conversations – and subsequent bile – will fall to the overworked parish priests, sadly.
Pingback: FRIDAY MID-MORNING EDITION • BigPulpit.com