Pope Francis recently invited Catholics and all people of good will to step into hope, announcing 2025 as a Jubilee Year, borrowing these words from the great evangelist St. Paul: “Hope does not disappoint.”
Jubilee years are celebrated every 25 years by the Catholic Church worldwide, and the timing seems perfect. After all, who couldn’t use a little hope about now?
As 2024 came to an end, I read about a woman lit on fire in a subway in New York City on Dec. 22 while bystanders took videos of her enflamed body.
The perpetrator — an illegal alien who was later convicted — fanned the flames as police searched for a fire extinguisher. Identifying the victim has been difficult due to the severity of the burns.
In another story, two men who’d adopted two young boys were sentenced to 100 years each in prison without parole after being convicted of raping their sons and allowing others to sexually abuse them. Heart-shattering stuff.
We’re falling gravely short of understanding that we’re all made in God’s image and likeness.
Travesties are not confined to the wider world. We have plenty in our own backyard. Some have been dealt with, while others need further attention. Too many of these have to do with young people, such as the “transing” of children.
Thankfully, North Dakota has begun addressing that, but we need to keep holding it up to the light.
I was glad to hear that North Dakota State University recently hosted Chloe Cole, a “de-transitioner” who was lured into transitioning as a child but is now speaking out. Though I couldn’t attend the event, one social-media post announcing it referred to the visit as a “hate fest.” Hopefully, this kind of nonsense will be squelched as more of these important stories from courageous individuals emerge.
A recent interview with Christian YouTuber Allie Beth Stuckey and guest Jamie Reed, a former proponent of the medical “transing” movement, provides helpful insight: “Former Gender Clinic Employee Blows the Whistle on Medical Abuse”.
Similarly, look up the story of de-transitioner Prisha Mosley, whose anguish of bearing a child after years of taking hormones to become a man starting at age 17 should cause any proponent of the practice to shudder.
True gender dysphoria deserves a compassionate response, but bending to a lie that has irrevocably harmed countless individuals needs to end.
Though my addressing this topic will likely draw its own scrutiny, I value truth far more than worldly judgment. We owe thoughtful discourse and firm actions to the children and adults who have suffered. This includes Rynn Willgohs, the former Fargoan and trans activist who fled to Finland seeking safe harbor but ultimately died of suicide.
As John Stuart Mill once said, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
“Hope” is a nice word that sometimes requires courage. But in the end, it’s worth it, because, thanks be to God, real hope never disappoints.
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on Jan. 5, 2025.]
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