(LifeSiteNews) — The Caribbean bishops have issued a pastoral guide designed to equip Catholic parishes, schools, catechists, and families to dismantle the lies of gender ideology and tackle its practical challenges.
The bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference recently published a “Pastoral Letter on Sexual and Gender Identity“ in response to gender ideology’s permeation of the culture, including its creep into Catholic families with children who identify as a “gender” other than their own.
“The dignity of the human person is too sacred and the stakes for our children too high for silence or ambiguity,” the bishops wrote. “In the face of confusion, we speak with conviction. In the face of false compassion, we offer real hope.”
The prelates defended the truth that “identity is received, not invented,” and that “the body has meaning, it is not malleable.”
“Sex is not a spectrum. It is a binary reality, inscribed in our nature, affirmed by biology, and upheld by faith,” the bishops affirmed.
This is evidenced by the fact that “there is no third gamete nor a spectrum of possible gametes,” and even intersex conditions “do not constitute a third sex.”
The truth is declared in Genesis, the bishops pointed out. “God created man in his own image … male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) Men and women are “body-soul unities.”
The differences between men and women are reflected even in the brain, which differs in its “structure, organisation, neurotransmitters, and processing” according to sex.
The bishops went on to offer practical guidelines to parents, teachers, and anyone “involved in public life in the Caribbean Church.”
Schools and catechists are advised to “always use language that affirms biological truth” and never use terms that suggest gender is “detached from sex,” chosen, or “assigned at birth.”
Nevertheless, “Those struggling with gender dysphoria or identity confusion must never be excluded” but “must be met with welcome, respect, and understanding,” the guidelines advise.
“In a hyper-sexualised world, we must recover the language of chastity, virtue, and vocation. Teach young people that the path to fulfilment lies not in the indulgence of every desire but in the integration of the whole person, where body, mind, and spirit work in harmony,” the bishops wrote.
They also advised educators to “offer robust formation on the call to marriage and celibacy, showing that both are expressions of love as self-gift.”
The prelates insisted that it is not enough to teach the truth within the Catholic sphere; he called upon the faithful to engage these issues within the civic sphere as well.
“Our voice must not remain within the sanctuary. It must reach the corridors of power. Engage governments, education ministries, and civil authorities respectfully but firmly to advocate for laws and policies that uphold the dignity of the human person,” the bishops wrote.
The document concluded with suggested ways for teachers to address scenarios in which students confront them with their gender dysphoria, ask questions about the Church’s teaching on gender, or ask the teacher to use their “preferred pronouns.”