WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — A prominent Catholic doctor has warned the U.S. bishops of the “ideology-based” harms inflicted on children who are subjected to surgical mutilation and chemical sterilization in so-called “gender-transitioning” surgeries and drugs that attempt impossibly to “change” a child’s natural biological sex.
In a letter dated March 18, 2024, addressed to Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the Catholic Bishops of the United States, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, former President of the American College of Pediatricians – who has given numerous testimonies before legislatures and medical boards on the harms of transgender procedures – expressed his “concern over the ideology-based treatments for children who believe they are born in the body of the opposite sex.”
“The sad truth is that there is no scientific proof that such interventions bring any long-term benefits and there is proof that there is serious harm,” the Catholic doctor warned.
READ: Transgender ideology violates the primary duty of doctors to ‘do no harm’
Citing the prohibitions of numerous European countries against so-called transgender surgeries and drugs for minors, he praised the return to “the time-proven method of in-depth counseling as the only means to provide compassionate care to these children.”
Van Meter confirmed that the resolution of a child’s “incongruence” between their biological sex and “gender identity” is “upwards of 90% if social, medical, and surgical interventions are avoided completely and the children are allowed to proceed, uninhibited, through natural puberty.”
The Catholic doctor offered his professional medical expertise and services to the U.S. bishops “to provide the scientific, validated studies which should be the basis of any policies that may be developed by the Catholic Church” on transgender issues.
Van Meter’s letter was sent to Archbishop Broglio as head of the USCCB and to all the bishops of the U.S. The full text of the letter, which LifeSiteNews has obtained, states:
To the Most Reverend Timothy Broglio and the Catholic Bishops of the United States,
I am a board-certified Pediatric Endocrinologist, having actively practiced as such for the past 44 years. I am writing to you expressing my concern over the ideology-based treatments for children who believe they are born in the body of the opposite sex. I have testified in state legislative hearings and state medical board hearings on the harm done to children who are caught up in the treatment protocols from social, medical, and surgical procedures that ostensibly improve their lives. The sad truth is that there is no scientific proof that such interventions bring any long-term benefits and there is proof that there is serious harm.
European countries have realized this and have ceased treating minor children with these modalities and have returned to the time-proven method of in-depth counseling as the only means to provide compassionate care to these children. The resolution of the incongruence between biologic sex (determined at the moment of fusion of sperm and egg) and a ‘gender identity’ is upwards of 90% if social, medical and surgical interventions are avoided completely and the children are allowed to proceed, uninhibited, through natural puberty.
I am offering my services to the Catholic Bishops to provide the scientific, validated studies which should be the basis of any policies that may be developed by the Catholic Church moving forward.
READ: Leaked messages show top pro-LGBT doctors know transgender hormones cause cancer, death
Van Meter was involved in the Biological Integrity initiative of American College of Pediatricians, which seeks to “protect minors from the harms of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries.”
In a video explaining the initiative, Van Meter pointed out the confusion that has arisen in society from the use of the term “gender.” “The biologic sex of the child, which is determined at the moment of fertilization… is the sex of the child. And there is not [the] capability of changing that, no matter what the wishes or dreams of the patient are,” Van Metter affirmed.
“We’re maintaining biologic integrity by respecting the biologic sex,” he said.
The initiative offers many resources from medical studies on transgender issues, including fact sheets on the Risks of Puberty Blockers and the Top Studies on the Science Against Transgender Interventions, as well as a study on how Transgender Interventions Harm Children. The college has also published a detailed report titled, Mental Health in Adolescents with Incongruence of Gender Identity and Biological Sex.
Van Meter’s letter to the American bishops comes as the USCCB is working on formalizing a universal policy in line with an instruction published by the doctrinal committee of the bishops’ conference last year. The document condemned and forbade transgender surgeries and drugs as gravely immoral acts of mutilation and chemical sterilization. Such acts, the document declared, are contrary to the natural order inherent in the human body, an order intended by God as Creator of human nature.
READ: US Catholic bishops condemn genetic engineering, transgender surgeries and drugs
The document, published in March 2023 and titled, “Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” was written by the bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, chaired by Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas. While the text was directed especially to Catholic medical institutions, it lays out the principles of a Catholic approach to the issue in a way that is instructive for all the faithful.
Resistance to the implementation of the document, however, has been mounting among a small contingent of pro-LGBT American bishops. At the USCCB plenary session last June, two prominent pro-LGBT cardinals attempted to stall the proposed formal revision to the bishops’ directives to Catholic hospitals and healthcare institutions – revisions that would ban so-called “gender transitioning” surgical mutilations and the hormonal chemical castration of children, in keeping with the doctrinal note.
READ: Pro-LGBT Cdls. McElroy, Tobin challenge formalization of US bishops’ decree against trans surgeries
At the time, Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego called for greater “pastoral outreach” to homosexual and gender-confused individuals, claiming the instruction did not address “the existential question of those who are suffering from dysphoria.”
McElroy joined Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark in calling for consultations with “transgender” persons to be part of the revision process of the bishops’ directives. Tobin criticized the instruction for its “limited consultation” with gender-confused individuals.
The push to garner support for transgender ideology within the U.S. episcopate saw more than a dozen Catholic bishops meet earlier this month for a closed door pro-transgender conference at Jesuit-run St. Louis University, organized by the heretical, pro-LGBT New Ways Ministry.
The pro-transgender conference hosted by New Ways Ministry appeared to be an attempt on the part of liberal heterodox bishops to engage in “consultation” with “transgender” persons, albeit in the absence of such bishops as may oppose the ideological agenda in favor of Catholic teaching and authentic pastoral practice, such as Bishop Flores, who penned the condemnation last March.
Van Meter’s offer to assist the U.S. bishops with his medical expertise on transgender issues thus comes in the midst of a fight within the American episcopacy surrounding fidelity to Catholic doctrine in a matter of sexual morality.
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