Gender Identity - Father Zack Jones

            Understanding The Human Person: Gender Identity and Sexuality was presented Jan. 22 by Father Zach Jones at St. Ceceilia Church in Algona.

            “It’s clear that this is something on the public minds and social consciousness right now and there are many questions about it,” said Father Jones, parochial vicar of Divine Mercy Parish and chaplain of Bishop Garrigan Schools of Algona. “When it comes to things like transgenderism, gender identity, nonbinary and human sexuality in general, there are lots of questions from the secular world and lots of questions from the Catholic world.”

            He mentioned there has been good information distributed by the Catholic Church, but the resources are not always well known. With that in mind, he laid out church teaching and the Catholic understanding of the subject based on pastoral documents written by church leaders.

            The speaker cited Scripture, the first chapter of Genesis as the basis for the church’s position on transgenderism: “Male and female he created them and it was very good.”

            “The church has always fallen back on this. Human beings are sexually differentiated into male and female. God didn’t confuse them or mix them up,” said Father Jones, who noted that some people want to separate body and soul. “But the truth is we are body and soul in unity.”

            To help dispel some of the confusion, the priest began his talk by offering definitions. He explained that gender is more of the social constructs around maleness and femaleness based on understanding social roles that usually involve clothing, behavior, how a person presents themselves by way of names, pronouns and so forth.

            “Whereas sex is the biological realities – XX chromosomes are for women and XY chromosomes for men as well as gonads, genitalia and physical features that are different between men and women,” said Father Jones.

            While the terms gender and sex were previously used more interchangeably, he noted, to be more precise in an age when transgenderism has gained in popularity using the specific terms helps provide clarity.

            Father Jones gave some background on the history and development of what has been called gender ideology / gender theory to know where “these thoughts came from – the idea that we can change our gender, change our sex – the separation. How was that idea understood and developed over time?”

            How did we get here?

            He presented the philosophy of some modern thinkers who have helped shape current day trends and beliefs.

            The speaker cited Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, philosopher and feminist activist known for writings from the late 1940s to 1970s on women’s oppression.

            “She saw the degradation of women and wanted to fight against it, but instead of uplifting feminine virtue and qualities, she wanted to suppress them. Basically, make women into men,” said Father Jones, who referred to de Beauvoir as a prominent figure in the gender movement. “She said the only way for women to succeed was for them to become more masculine.”

            Father Jones said de Beauvoir was influential in helping blur the lines between genders of men and women – an impact felt in today’s society.

            Dr. John Money, a psychologist at John Hopkins who backed the concept of gender neutrality, theorized that gender was primarily learned and not innate. In the 1960s, the John Money Experiment was based on David Reimer, a twin boy raised as a girl after a botched circumcision.

            “Dr. Money was the first one to theorize the idea that our gender is a fully social construct – no matter what we are born or our physical or our physical characteristics, we can transition children especially at a young age and it would be totally fine. They would live a fulfilling life,” explained the priest.

            The transitioned girl and the twin brother were observed throughout the years and the psychologist touted the experiment as a great success, but over time reality did not support Money’s theory. The girl lived with great anxiety and depression. Upon learning the truth of her gender at age 15, Reimer transitioned back to male. Eventually he committed suicide. His twin brother also tragically died by drug overdose.

            Much of today’s gender ideology is based upon Money’s experiment, but most people do not know the full story.

            “The thought that gender and sex are completely separate, the idea of transgenderism that how we live in society is completely separate from our genetic makeup - our physical characteristics, our maleness and femaleness – that is what they (de Beauvoir and Money) would argue,” said Father Jones.

            Gender realism

            The speaker also spoke about Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, a current-day philosopher who is a proponent of gender realism.

            “She basically says our gender is based off of our sexual characteristics. Yes, there are social aspects to it but – very much in line with John Paul II – she would say our masculinity is tied to our physical being, our femininity is tied to our physical being and these should not be denied or suppressed but very much accepted as a gift,” said Father Jones, who noted Sister Prudence gives talks around the country and has written many books.

            He also discussed writings on men and women by Aristotle, which were very influential both positively and negatively. Father Jones did acknowledge that many of Aristotle’s theories sounded very negative in relation to women, however, they were written thousands of years ago prior to the benefit of modern biology.

Can you actually change?

            Ultimately, the speaker said he wanted to present the background information in order to evaluate the idea of transgenderism and try to conclude if changing genders was even possible.

            “Can someone legitimately change their physical nature to fit what they believe to be their gender? When people struggle with gender identity and transgenderism, they believe their physical being and spiritual being are not in line,” explained Father Jones. ‘Their goal is to change their physical being to be in line with what they may view as a female soul with a male body (or vice versa).”

The speaker stressed that the church and science are both very clear that you cannot change your sex.

          “The physical understanding, the physical reality is who you are,” he said.

Oftentimes, the argument is presented that people who are struggling with gender identity must be supported.

           “We would agree they are struggling and need support,” stressed Father Jones. “But support should not be an approval of misguided identity but rather helping them come to an acceptance of who they truly are. Born as man and woman.”

         Blurring of the lines as to who men are and who women are, he added, has led to this confusion.

              “We see more and more people, especially children, who are confused about it,” said the speaker, who noted that the vast majority of individuals who struggle with gender identity are minors.

             Given that many of today’s youth struggle with depression and anxiety, some begin to wonder if it’s because they are in the wrong body.

When it comes to medicine, Father Jones pointed out it is always important to treat an ailment in the proper way. A physical ailment should be treated with something physical such as a cut may need stitches. A psychological issue is dealt with by counseling and guidance. Those dealing with sin or other spiritual matters go to priests for confession and prayer.

           “We want to see the cure in the same mode as the sickness. When it comes to transgenderism, ultimately they try to put a physical cure on something psychological,” he explained, noting treatments include such things as hormone replacement and surgery. “Gender dysphoria, the broad category that transgenderism falls under, is a psychological issue. They see their body different than it is.”

            He compared it to a person with anorexia seeing themselves as obese but in reality they are skinny and starving.

Father Jones said long-term studies have shown that levels of depression and suicidal ideation do not diminish after surgery, affirming the need for psychological treatment.

The church on subject

         Physical treatments, he stressed, are merely masking, not treating the issue and that is the biggest concern the church has.

        “These people are not getting the help they need and they still live in a state of confusion and still live with anxiety and depression,” said Father Jones. “The church would offer a more wholistic approach to these things. How can we help them understand who they are as a person? How can we help them see their identity as a gift?”

               One’s identity, he affirmed, is a gift from God – “it’s who you are. Until you can accept that you will live with a lot of anxiety and fear.”

          Father Jones pointed out the church has been focused on offering a positive understanding of who men are and who women are – but not with strict gender roles as some would promote. He tied in teachings of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and his thoughts of men being prone to fatherhood and women to motherhood.

        The church can sometimes come off as being harsh because it says people should not try to change genders, but the speaker said the church is trying to prevent people from hurting themselves.

       “I would argue that our approach, accompanying them along the way with acceptance of who they are, is a lot more charitable than throwing someone on hormones, having them get a sex-change operation and leaving them be,” said Father Jones. “Our approach, accompaniment and pastoral care is much more hands on and long-term, ordered toward their truth and happiness. At first it might seem harsh, but it’s the loving care that most of these people need.”

A video of Father Jones’ presentation on available on the Divine Mercy Parish Facebook page.