These are not easy days to be a Catholic pastor. In our age of entitlement and mixed messages, pastors are faced with questions that were unthinkable just decades ago—such as whether transsexuals can be baptized. In a 2023 response to a Brazilian bishop, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith answered that those suffering from “problems of a transgender nature” could receive the sacraments “under the same conditions as other believers.” It warned, however, against the particular “risk of generating public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.” The response affirmed the validity of baptisms performed on transsexuals but left myriad pastoral issues unresolved.
The concept of validity concerns only those elements necessary for an action to satisfy the minimal definition of what a given sacrament is. The necessary elements for baptism are simple: water (the matter) and the baptismal formula (the form). The baptismal formula—I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—does not depend upon an accurate description of the person’s gender. So calling a he a “she” or a she a “he” does not alter the sacrament’s validity.
The recipient’s free consent and the minister’s intention affect validity. The intention required for valid administration of the sacraments is fairly minimal: to complete the act the Church defines as baptism. One can have all sorts of mixed motives for wanting to baptize or to receive baptism (to boost the parish census or to appease Grandma), but the necessary intention is simply to complete the act itself. In an emergency, even a non-Christian can validly baptize so long as he intends to do what the Church does.
The minimum necessary for validity, however, is a terrible guide for pastoral action. A wicked priest could validly consecrate the Eucharist because he wished to sell the host on eBay, but his act of sacrilege would only blacken the souls of those involved. In a certain sense, the objective validity of the sacraments reflects the human vulnerability the Lord took on in the Incarnation. Moreover, a general principle of liturgy (and of Christian life in general—see Matthew 5:37) is that our words should correspond to the reality they express. We shouldn’t say things that aren’t true, including calling biological men “women” and vice versa, especially in the liturgy.
This is not to say that those who have undergone sex-change procedures are excluded forever from the Church. We cannot doubt that Jesus wishes to heal the wounds of those who resort to such drastic measures. Hidden in the attempt at “gender transition” is often, I suspect, some longing for a regeneration that only God’s grace can fulfill. At the same time, as St. Thomas Aquinas notes when writing about the Eucharist, medicines that may be life-saving under certain circumstances will be ineffective or deadly if administered to the wrong patient, at the wrong time, or in the wrong circumstances. It is superstitious to imagine the grace of the sacrament working like a love potion, independently of our will and dispositions. The sacraments make the saving action of Christ objectively present, and they work by allowing us to join in that action (to participate, in Vatican II’s vocabulary). They make us Christ-like by allowing us to act in union with Christ.
To administer the sacraments to those who are unprepared or unwilling to live in union with the gospel’s demands may be the path of least resistance for pastors, but it is no great favor to recipients—as the scandalously high rates of Catholic disaffiliation attest. The sacraments are thereby rendered fruitless signs, a counter-testimony to the gospel. Moreover, a validly administered baptism carries with it obligations, and to saddle a person with such responsibilities without the proper preparation is unjust.
These considerations apply broadly—not just to transsexuals—and perhaps should induce pastors to take a more serious look at how all Christians are initiated. The minimalistic practices we inherited from Christendom may not be suitable today. In the case of transsexuals, the most fundamental pastoral guidance comes from the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults: Entrance into the Catechumenate requires renouncing all guides save Christ. One cannot become Christian without conversion.
As the LGBTQ ideology comes increasingly to resemble a rival religious movement, we should recognize that it poses similar obstacles to discipleship. The movement possesses its own symbols, holy seasons, rites of initiation, social teachings, speech and purity codes, and inquisitorial methods. In “gender reassignment,” it promises a new identity, much as baptism does. That promise is ultimately empty—which is why the movement’s goals, like its acronym, are constantly expanding. The ideological presuppositions that guide the movement—about creation and the nature of the human person—are profoundly at odds with Christian revelation.
The effects of adherence to the LGBTQ ideology are not, however, indelible, even for those who have experienced permanent physical harm due to surgery or hormone “therapy.” In the eyes of the Church, transsexuals are as free as anyone else to embrace the gospel in all its radicality. But the decision to be baptized means new commitments and a new way of life—as it would, for instance, for a Muslim who becomes a Christian. Those who are disoriented by the example of a neophyte who continues to embrace the lifestyle and symbols of transsexualism are not bigoted. They merely perceive the same incoherence that would obtain if a convert from Islam slipped references to Mohammed into the Sign of the Cross.
Though baptism is occasionally called the “door” to the other sacraments, it is much more than an access point. The fundamental biblical images for baptism are those of rebirth (John 3:5) and participation in the death of Jesus (Rom. 6:3–5). Both images point to the newness of life that is the sacrament’s promise and gift. A new life always necessitates letting go of one’s old life. Baptism provides a new identity—as the adopted children of God—that is far more profound than a change in pronouns. If the recipients of baptism are to benefit from this new life, imitations must be washed away.
