{"id":145440,"date":"2023-01-17T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-could-brain-scans-prove-the-case-for-transgenderism\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T11:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T15:41:46","slug":"ask-a-priest-could-brain-scans-prove-the-case-for-transgenderism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-could-brain-scans-prove-the-case-for-transgenderism\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ask a Priest: Could Brain Scans Prove the Case for Transgenderism?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Q: What are the Church’s thoughts on transgenderism? I ask because I read an article in a scientific publication about how, apparently, brain scans have revealed that the brain of a transwoman (a male who identifies as a woman) is structurally more like the brain of an average woman than it is of an average man, meaning that such a person is indeed a woman born in a man’s body. Does the Church recognize the existence of such a neurobiological anomaly? And if so, how does that work when it comes to doctrines pertaining to, say, marriage and family? For example, is it wrong for such a transwoman to pursue romantic relationships with men? Or are the article’s findings, in fact, nonsense, and if so, how do we know? Thank you and God bless. \u2013 T.<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Your questions touch on a big area, far beyond what could be thoroughly dealt with in this forum.<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say that it sounds like a stretch to imply that brain scans are required to detect the sex of a person. That simply flies in the face of common sense.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t rely on brain scans to tell the sex of a baby or anyone else. It\u2019s the visible body that counts.<\/p>\n

As for the veracity of what that report said about the brain scans, that is for scientists to discern.<\/p>\n

But to claim that a few brain scans prove that a woman can be born in a man\u2019s body is, yes, nonsense. Here, the burden of proof is on the claimants; it\u2019s not up to the rest of us to disprove it.<\/p>\n

The Church understands that we are a unity of body and soul. And it’s the complementarity of male and female that can lead to the generation of new life. This is part of God’s plan from the start (see Genesis 1:26-28).<\/p>\n

Pope Francis touched on this general theme in his encyclical Laudato Si\u2019<\/em>. He wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cPope Benedict XVI spoke of an \u2018ecology of man,\u2019 based on the fact that \u2018man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will.\u2019 It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe acceptance of our bodies as God\u2019s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one\u2019s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different\u201d (No. 155).<\/p>\n

One upshot of all this: the idea of a \u201ctranswoman\u201d being able to marry a man is baseless.<\/p>\n

In fact, transgenderism has the feel of a fad. So why has it come along now?<\/p>\n

The reasons are varied. Broken families, abuse, a culture of promiscuity and contraception and abortion and pornography, and unhealthy trends in philosophy\u2014all these and more have helped to confuse people about their very identities as human beings.<\/p>\n

For more reading you might turn to the National Catholic Bioethics Center website<\/a>. Also helpful might be a Vatican document on gender theory<\/a>, as well as the film Dysconnected<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I hope that some of this helps. Count on my prayers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Edward McIlmail, LC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC"},"description":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, ordained to the priesthood in 2001, taught theology and Scripture at the then Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island and is now a part-time chaplain at Overbrook Academy in Greenville, R.I. He holds degrees from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut, the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and Northwestern University in Illinois. He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145440"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=145440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}