How Many Bishops Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?

How Many Bishops Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?

Modern technology…produces possibilities not only for helpful interventions, but also for interventions that are injurious to the true flourishing of the human person…. 

Just as bodiliness is a fundamental aspect of human existence, so is either ‘being a man’ or ‘being a woman’ a fundamental aspect of existence as a human being, expressing a person’s unitive and procreative finality…. 

There are essentially two scenarios recognized by the Church’s moral tradition in which technological interventions on the human body may be morally justified: 

1) when such interventions aim to repair a defect in the body; 

2) when the sacrifice of a part of the body is necessary for the welfare of the whole body. 

These kinds of technological interventions respect the fundamental order and finality inherent in the human person. However, there are other technological interventions that aim neither to repair some defect in the body nor to sacrifice a part for the sake of the whole but, rather, aim to alter the fundamental order of the body. Such interventions do not respect the order and finality inscribed in the human person…. 

Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures.

For any bishop to PRETEND that there is any lack of clarity as to whether Catholic health care should be in any way involved with sex change operations strikes me as depraved. If a bishop is unwilling to proclaim God’s truth, he should do all of us a favor and step aside, so that God’s will can be clearly proclaimed.(cf, Are the Bishops Being Faithful to Their Own Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services; World Day of the Sick: A Reflection)