The Diocese of Marquette, Michigan is making history as possibly the first diocese in America to issue sweeping new guidelines concerning transgender, non-binary, and other members of the LGBT community who identify with a gender other than their birth sex. The Michigan Catholic diocese requires pastors to deny sacraments such as baptism, confirmation, and others unless the LGBT individual has "repented."
According to the Washington Post, the new guidelines mandates that transgender individuals may not receive Communion, which is representative of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The guidelines also deny transgender individuals from receiving the anointing of the sick, which is meant for physical or spiritual healing of the seriously ill. The Michigan Catholic diocese issued the guidance back in July, but gained criticism recently after a prominent priest and Catholic LGBT advocate shared it on social media.
"The experience of incongruence in one's sexual identity is not sinful if it does not arise from the person's free will, nor would it stand in the way of Christian Initiation," the guidance from the Michigan Catholic diocese read. "However, deliberate, freely chosen and manifest behaviors to redefine one's sex do constitute such an obstacle."
Other dioceses in the U.S. have released guidance concerning transgender indivioduals, but several experts believe that the Diocese of Marquette is the first to deny baptism and confirmation to members of the LGBT community. It also comes at a time when more same-sex couples are deciding to have children. The guidelines are believed to impact non-Catcholic adults who wish to be baptised in the Catholic Church, transgender teenagers who are seeking confirmation, and more.
The new guidelines also come at a time when "at least 20 million adults in the United States could be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender - nearly 8% of the total adult population," according to a just-released report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), which analyzed recent results from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. Data showed that more than 1% of the population in the U.S. identified as transgender, higher than any previous estimates. Meanwhile, the report confirmed prior research that showed that bisexual people are the largest single contingent of LGBT individuals, making up 4% of the respondents.
The new guidance from the Michigan Catholic diocese also appears to come amidst a lack of guidance from the Vatican or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. New Ways Ministry executive director Francis DeBernardo said that the new guidelines may lead to the "decimation of the Catholic community" as it may further divide the faithful who will reject it and those who are welcoming of members of the LGBT community in the church community.
DeBernardo added that other dioceses may not follow suit with the Michigan Catholic diocese because it will upset many of its faithful. In addition, Jennifer Haselberger, a former chancellor for canonical affairs in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis argued that the Michigan Catholic diocese's new guidelines may be in conflict with canon law that orders any person who has not yet been baptized is eligible to receive the sacrament.
