Gender Ideology & Pastoral Practice
Drs. Emily Dowdell and Andrew Sodergren contributed to a chapter of Gender Ideology & Pastoral Practice: A Handbook for Catholic Clergy, Counselors, and Ministerial Leaders now available for purchase through En Route Books & Media.
This book has been designed to assist Catholics doing pastoral work and ministering to children and families caught up in a destructive ideology. Questions the editors of this volume and many of the contributors to it have heard most often and have been fielding for over a decade as they have worked with dioceses, parishes, and families include the following:
- What is a gender transition?
- What does the Church teach on this issue?
- How should we respond when a school child tells us he or she is non-binary?
- What is the appropriate way for the Church to help and support families when their children say they are transgender?
- How do we navigate sacraments and pastoral care?
- How did we get here?
In addressing questions such as these, the contributors seek to prepare clergy and lay pastoral ministers to understand and be responsive to the issues that arise in a parish or parochial school setting when someone asserts a “gender identity” that does not align with his or her bodily sex.
