Gender Ideology and Pastoral Practice: A Handbook for Catholic Clergy, Counselors, and Ministerial Leaders

Editors — Theresa Farnan, Susan Selner-Wright, and Robert L. Fastiggi

TESTIMONIALS

TBA

Theresa Farnan, Ph.D.

is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center focusing on the challenges of gender ideology as part of EPPC’s Person and Identity Project. She is the co-author of two books, Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late and Where Did I Come From? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There? She has taught at St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and has worked with the diaconate formation program for the Dioceses of Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. She served as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth and is a member of the Catholic Women’s Forum Advisory Council. She serves on the Ethics and Public Policy Committee of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability. She has lectured widely on gender ideology, Catholic education, theology of the body, the personalism of Pope John Paul II, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the vocation and dignity of women. She hosted St. Thomas Aquinas in Today’s World on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). She received her master’s degree and her doctorate in Medieval Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Susan Selner-Wright, Ph.D.

having taught philosophy to undergraduates and Catholic seminarians since 1985, recently retired from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary where she held the Archbishop Chaput Chair in Philosophy. In 2017, Dr. Selner-Wright organized the first national conference for diocesan personnel on the Catholic response to gender ideology and she has worked with the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Person and Identity Project (PIP) since its inception. Several of her presentations concerning the Catholic vision of the human person and the current debates about “gender identity” are freely available on the PIP website: personandidentity.com.

Robert L. Fastiggi, Ph.D.

is a professor of dogmatic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit where he has taught since 1999. Previously, he taught at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas (1985–1999). He has authored 3 books; co-authored 2 others; and edited or co-edited 12 others. He is a member of the Mariological Society of America, the International Marian Association, and the Pontifical International Marian Academy.

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Dr. Jane Adolphe – Ave Maria Law School
is a Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law (AMSL), in Naples, Florida (2001 – present), and an Adjunct Professor of the University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney. Adolphe is a civil lawyer holding degrees in common law and civil law (B.C.L./LL.B) from McGill University and is qualified to practice law in the State of New York and the Province of Alberta. She holds a doctorate in canon law (J.C.L./J.C.D.) from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, in Rome, Italy. She has worked as an external and internal legal advisor for the Holy See, Secretariat, Section for Relations with States, and writes in the area of international law and the Holy See.

Fr. Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R. (D.Min., Th.D., S.T.D.) – St. Mary’s Seminary & University
holds The Robert F. Leavitt Distinguished Service Chair in Theology and is Professor of Moral Theology and Spirituality at St. Mary’s Seminary & University. Father Billy has authored more than 50 books and published over 400 articles in a variety of scholarly and popular journals. He is also very active in retreat work and in the ministry of spiritual direction. Fr. Billy is an advisor to the Board of Directors at Notre Dame Retreat House in Canandaigua, NY. In 2017, he was awarded a three-year grant by the Templeton World Charity Foundation to develop a program on the topic “Spiritual Direction and the Moral Life.”

John Bursch, J.D. – Alliance Defending Freedom
is a senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1997 from the University of Minnesota Law School. Prior to that, he attended Western Michigan University, where he received degrees in mathematics and music performance summa cum laude. Bursch has argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases and three dozen state Supreme Court cases, and he has successfully litigated six matters with at least $1 billion at stake. A recent study concluded that among all frequent Supreme Court advocates who did not work for the federal government, he had the 3rd highest success rate for persuading justices to adopt his legal position.

Perry J. Cahall, Ph.D. – Pontifical College Josephinum
is a professor of Historical Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH, where he has been teaching since 2005. Since 2011, he has also served as Academic Dean of the School of Theology at the Josephinum. Dr. Cahall has published articles, essays, and reviews in numerous scholarly journals and publications as well as two books on the theology of marriage: The Mystery of Marriage: A Theology of the Body and the Sacrament (2016) and Living the Mystery of Marriage: Building Your Sacramental Life Together (2020).

Dr. Emily Dowdell, Psy.D. – Ruah Woods Institute
practices psychology at Ruah Woods Institute, a Theology of the Body ministry in Cincinnati, OH. She earned her Masters and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Divine Mercy University. She previously studied theology and philosophy while obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Communications from Franciscan University. Dr. Dowdell specializes in depth-oriented, exploratory psychotherapy and in psychological evaluation, especially for individuals applying for entrance to seminary or religious life. She is an active member of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and its Special Interest Group for Seminary Assessment and Therapy and is a member of Therapy First.

Fr. Scott Giuliani – Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan
a member of the Society of our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (S.O.L.T.), studied theology in Rome at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). He has served Belize for over 10 years and currently serves at Divine Mercy Catholic Church in Belize City. He was the chair of the Diocese Catholic Synod Team for the local consultations and is currently the chair of the Roman Catholic Constitution Commission (RCCC). As an appointed representative member of an ecumenical organization, known as the Belize Council of Churches, he helps to coordinate the Belize Chaplin Services. He is a consultant for the Minister of Religious Affairs in Belize, among other Church Leaders.

Fr. Carter Griffin, S.T.D. – St. John Paul II Seminary
is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. In 2011 he was appointed Director of Priest Vocations for the Archdiocese of Washington and Vice-Rector of St. John Paul II Seminary, where he now serves as Rector. He is the author of Why Celibacy: Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest, Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World’s Questions, and Forming Fathers: Seminary Wisdom for Every Priest, all published by Emmaus Road Publishing.

Mary Rice Hasson, J.D. – Ethics and Public Policy Center
is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project, an initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person and counter gender ideology. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education, women and work, caregiving, and gender ideology, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth. She speaks frequently at national conferences, universities, and in dioceses across the country, and has testified before the U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and the Australian parliament on parents’ rights and transgender issues. The co-author of several books on education, Mary’s writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Review, First Things, the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor, among others. She was honored by the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in 2023, and the Napa Institute in 2024, for promoting the truth with charity and courage. Mary is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School.

Paul W. Hruz, M.D., Ph.D. – Archdiocese of St. Louis
is an academic pediatric endocrinologist (hormone specialist) and tenured physician scientist with faculty appointments in both Pediatrics and Cellular Biology and Physiology. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle and fellowship training in pediatric endocrinology at Washington University in St Louis. He has served as a consultant for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. He has authored over 65 peer-reviewed manuscripts, scientific reviews, and book chapters.

Dcn. Patrick W. Lappert, M.D. – Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama
is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon who has been in practice for over 30 years. He was the Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and the Reconstructive Surgery Specialty Leader for the Surgeon General, USN. He founded the Pediatric Cranio-facial Reconstructive Surgery Unit, and the Wound Care Center for the largest military hospital in the world. Dr. Lappert grew up in a Jewish home, but spent most of his life as an atheist. At the age of 40 he converted, and has gone on to be ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church, serving and preaching at his church in Decatur, Alabama.

Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz – Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University
is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, a professor of political science and Catholic social teaching, Head of the Chair of Political Theory and Political Thought at the Institute of Political Science and Public Administration of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He is the Former Secretary General of the Commission of Bishops of the European Community COMECE. His main research topics are philosophy of politics, political ethics, Catholic social teaching, European integration, religious freedom, and religion in public life.

Frank J. Moncher, Ph.D. – Diocese of Arlington
received his Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 1992 and was on faculty at the Medical College of Georgia from 1993-1999. From 2000-2010 he taught at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences/Divine Mercy University, before becoming employed at the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, where he consults with Catholic Charities, the Tribunal, the Victim Assistance office, the Office of Catholic Schools, among other ministries. Over the past 20 years, he has also provided psychological evaluations for candidates for the priesthood and religious life for several Orders. He is licensed as a clinical psychologist in Virginia and Washington D.C.

Fr. Peter F. Ryan, S.J., S.T.D. – Sacred Heart Major Seminary
is the Blessed Michael J. McGivney Chair in Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit, where he teaches moral theology and eschatology and gives spiritual direction. He is also the chaplain of Courage Detroit. A priest of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Ryan was ordained in 1987 and holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He previously served as executive director of the Secretariat of Doctrine and Canonical Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is presently working on a book on eschatology.

Fr. Kyle Schnippel – Courage International
was ordained to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2004 and served as a high school religion teacher and Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese. Upon leaving the Vocation Office to assume the role of Pastor, Father was asked to begin a chapter of Courage in the Archdiocese, a position which fundamentally changed his priesthood. He is blessed to serve on the Executive Board for Courage and to continue to work in this ministry. He is also a pastor of the St. Gabriel the Archangel Family of Parishes.

Andrew Sodergren, Psy.D. – Ruah Woods Institute
is a Catholic psychologist and Director of Psychological Services for Ruah Woods Institute, a Theology of the Body ministry in Cincinnati, OH. Dr. Sodergren earned his Masters and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Divine Mercy University. Dr. Sodergren also holds a Masters degree in theology from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family where he went on to teach as an Adjunct Professor for 13 years. He is an active member of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association from which he received the Our Lady of Good Counsel Clinical Excellence Award in 2023.

Fr. Francis Tiso, Ph.D. – Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, Italy
holds a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. He served as Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2004 to 2009. Father Tiso is a priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, Italy, where he now serves as chaplain to the migrant communities in the Province of Isernia and, as canon in the cathedral, and as Diocesan Delegate for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs.

Michael Trueman, M.Div., J.C.L. – Archdiocese of Detroit
began working with the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2000, first as a Defender of the Bond and then as Ecclesiastical Judge. Since 2009, he has served as Chancellor and Director of Canonical Services of the Archdiocese of Detroit. He is an adjunct professor of canon law for Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, and has co-authored two books Surprised by Canon Law, Vols. 1 and 2. Likening himself as a “blue-collar canonist,” most of his canon law work is in executive governance, which demands a broad knowledge and application of the canonical system.

Joe Zalot, Ph.D. – National Catholic Bioethics Center
joined The National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2017 and was named Director of Education in 2023. He oversees the NCBC Certification Program, and other educational offerings, produces and hosts the NCBC’s Bioethics on Air podcast, and responds to approximately four hundred ethics consultations per year. He also lectures for the NCBC and has authored multiple statements, guides, and book chapters for NCBC publications. Joe earned a Ph.D. from Marquette University in 2002, an MEd from Boston College in 1997, an M.Ed. from Springfield College in 1991, and a BA from St. Anselm College in 1989.

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