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WHEELING -- The Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, the Most Rev. Mark Brennan, has come forward to voice his concerns on behalf of the Catholic Church about a proposed ordinance that would ban conversion therapy in the city of Wheeling.
Tim Bishop, spokesman for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, appeared before Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night after a first reading was heard on an ordinance to amend the city code and insert language that deems conversion therapy unlawful. Bishop said Brennan wanted to attend the council meeting in person to speak on the matter, but unfortunately had other pastoral commitments.
Bishop noted that Brennan has spoken and has written articles about the church's position on issues such as conversion therapy in the past. Yet he confirmed that this is the first occasion in which the bishop has come forward to speak on legislation being proposed about the issue.
"The Catholic Church has long taught that parents and others with the moral and legal obligation to raise children are the primary educators of their children," Brennan stated. "The Human Rights Commission and the City Council of Wheeling do not have the right to interfere with this parental role. Parents have the right, and indeed the obligation, to counsel their children with respect to sexual identity and behavior, as they do in other areas of life."
Brennan initiated his statement to Wheeling City Council by stressing that "the Catholic Church affirms the fundamental dignity of every human person who enjoys basic rights to bodily integrity, work, education, housing, among others, as members of a human community, whose communal rights must also be respected."
The bishop went on to state that the Catholic Church has not officially endorsed or promoted "so-called 'conversion therapy,'" noting that the church teaches that men and women who conclude that they have a significant same-sex attraction "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity" and "every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."
That does not mean, however, that the city of Wheeling's proposed amendment is free of problems from the church's point of view and experience, Brennan noted.
"Serious changes are needed in this proposed amendment, if it is adopted at all," he stated. "I would be happy to discuss this matter with any of you, should you be interested in speaking with me."
According to the proposed amendment, the city would change language in its ordinance under the Human Rights Commission's sections on discrimination. By definition in the proposed ordinance, conversion therapy means "any practices or treatments that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender."
The Human Rights Commission and a local student from The Linsly School have been outspoken on the issue during past Wheeling City Council meetings, urging city leaders to ban the practice of conversion therapy. Those efforts have been met by voices in opposition of such a measure from equally outspoken conservative citizens in Wheeling.
A handful of speakers addressed council about their concerns with the legislation Tuesday night, but it was the unexpected letter from Brennan that anchored the voices among those in opposition and raised eyebrows among many in a packed council chambers.
Brennan outlined what he described as several flaws in Wheeling's proposed code amendment, noting that the language contains no reference to licensed professional practice in the definition of the prohibited behavior and that "behavior is distinct from identity," yet the proposal states that "efforts to change behaviors" are to be considered conversion therapy.
If read at face value, the proposal may "infringe upon the right of parents to teach and guide their children," Brennan said. "The prosed amendment is flawed in its endorsement of transgender ideology. Persons who are biologically of one sex but present themselves as belonging to the other sex deserve respect and the recognition by society of their fundamental rights. However, neither they nor a city council nor its Human Rights Commission have the right to insist that everyone else must accept that transgender ideology."
The bishop said personal rights are held within a communal contact, not in isolation.
"No one can be compelled to agree - in speech or behavior - to what he or she considers to be false," he said. "Compelled conformity to a mistaken view of reality is unjust."
Existing city code language reads as if it protects religious groups' right to teach what they believe is also flawed, Brennan added.
"It is unfair for a governmental body to implicitly point the finger at religious groups as opponents of human rights and to endorse an isolationist view of human rights that ignores their community context," Brennan said.
The bishop also reiterated the churches stance on the "biological reality" of basic sexual function.
"While my church affirms the value of homosexual persons, it also affirms the biological reality that sexual relations are ordered, at the most basic level, to the procreation of the human species," Brennan stated. "That makes sexual activity inappropriate between members of the same sex, who are structurally incapable of fulfilling this goal."
The ordinance regarding the proposed ban on conversion therapy is expected to receive a second reading and a final vote, with an opportunity for public input, during the May 3 meeting of Wheeling City Council.