14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Referendum 101)
As you may know, the Washington State, Senate Bill 5599 recently passed, proposing that if parents oppose their child either to receive medicalized gender-transforming treatments or to procure an abortion, if the child runs away, the state would give harbor to him/her and would then help to provide for, as the bill refers to them, the “protected health care services”. The parents would not be allowed to know their child’s whereabouts nor to intervene on his/her behalf.
The bill would also seek to make Washington a sanctuary state, meaning that children from other states would be able to run away and to seek harbor here. The bill proposes to fund this by using $7.5 million dollars from taxpayers to provide grants to organizations to carry out these programs.
Concerned citizens have begun Referendum 101—also known as Reject 5599—to put this on hold and to put this weighty and challenging decision before voters of state, later in the year, with the hope that it will be overturned. The Washington State Catholic Conference, which functions on behalf of the Catholic bishops of our state, has just recently given us authorization to collect signatures at the parish level. Unfortunately, as I understand it, it’s a tight window of time that we are given, before the signatures would need to be submitted. Therefore, after Mass today, we will have petitions available for you to sign if you wish.
By the way, one might wonder if we are not properly allowing separation of church and state. I remind us that the church really has no interest in delving into matters of politics except when such matters encroach upon realms that the church regards as sacred, which in this case is the importance of parents, rather than the state, having autonomy to make decisions for their children.
This subject is challenging to even discuss because it so easily triggers strong emotions. We’ve lost the ability to talk through challenging issues, to hear one another, and to be okay with differences of opinion—whether they are issues related to race, immigration, sexuality, family and marriage, religion, or even any of the realities we lump together as LGBTQIA+.
On a matter like what’s proposed in the aforementioned referendum, to express concern is too often met with accusations of being a hater, trans-phobic, of being insensitive to the harm that is done to those with gender dysphoria. It seems to give way to easily to being shouted-down and closing any discussion.
We need to be sensitive and to hear, for sure. But we also need to be able to express real concerns and to be heard—especially when it involves children. And in doing so, we’re not helping ourselves or anyone else by using inflammatory and insulting language.
It was in 2015 that we first learned that Bruce Jenner was now Caitlyn Jenner. It raised all sorts of questions. Prior to that, the notion of changing one’s gender seldom crossed our minds. Now it seems to be front and center of most everything we see and hear. It feels like we’ve gone from 0-to-60 in the blink of an eye. I’m among those who believe that we need to tread these matters carefully and patiently, not impulsively.
I’m among those who believe that what’s often at work, down beneath the surface, is not so much a question about gender, but instead a yearning for love and intimacy; to feel secure in our own skin and with the things around us; to belong and to be affirmed; to feel grounded and not powerless or without control.
I’m among those who believe that because most of us struggle in vain with these desires, it remains the unresolved issue within us. We therefore tend to react, seeking anything we can to satisfy these deep human needs, whether it’s actually healthy for us or not—spiritually or physically.
Even as a person of faith, I can understand how it likely sounds dismissive to tell a person that for whatever problem is at work in their life or in their heart, Jesus is the answer. Nonetheless, there is wisdom in it. But it demands truly exploring the questions of who Jesus is, what he desires us to understand about ourselves, what he calls us to and what he seeks to point us toward. These questions and the yearning of our hearts can't be answered immediately or with only surface-level examination; it requires digging-in with patience and persistence.
Whether on the challenging issue that I've raised today or any other matters that trouble our hearts, Jesus implores us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”