Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Freethinker

Home
Nonreligious
Catholic Church stunned by trans woman yearning to be a nun

Catholic Church stunned by trans woman yearning to be a nun

Last updated on: April 10, 2021 at 3:19 pm by Barry Duke

Catholic Church stunned by trans woman yearning to be a nun 2021-04-10T15:19:22+02:00 Barry Duke

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image via Landor Theatre, London

A FEW years back a rollicking musical – Nunsense A-men! – crossed the pond from America and opened at London’s Landor Theatre. Its main character was actor Tim McArthur, above, who played Mother Superior Mary McArthur.

Conservative Catholics were less than enchanted with the deliciously camp comedy created in 1985 by Dan Goggin, not least because one of the characters was Sister Mary Amnesia, who went doolally after she was hit on the head by a crucifix.

I was reminded of the show by a Belgian report this week about a trans woman called Eefje Spreuters from Nijlen who stunned the Catholic diocese of Antwerp into silence by announcing that she intends becoming a nun.

Although Spreuters, who has been openly living as a woman for 15 months, claims that some Belgian nuns responded with “interest and enthusiasm” when she informed them of her desire to take up the habit, the diocese had flatly refused to comment on the issue.

Image via Facebook

She is reported as saying in a Radio 2 Antwerp interview:

Wherever I sign up, the sisters are enthusiastic, but it’s not allowed according to the rules.

I have always felt like a woman and I was raised very religiously, especially by my mother. I have wanted to go to a monastery all my life. As a man I have had a tough life, now I want peace.

But one church spokeperson, lawyer Rik Torfs bluntly told the station that transgender people are not welcome in monastic orders.

Rome maintains the anthropological view that the biological sex in which you were born is unchangeable. For the Catholic Church, Eefje remains a man and is not welcome in a women’s monastery.

If Eefje wants, she can take an active role in the religious community as a parish assistant or as chaplain in a prison or hospital. These positions are open to lay people of any gender.

Torfs added:

Current canon law dates back to 1983 when these social questions were much less common. Which is not to say that there is no debate about the role of transgender persons within the Church. that question.

In the meantime there are Catholics who have separated themselves from Rome with transgender men and women as priests. I remember that in the 80s or 90s in Italy there was a Franciscan who entered as a man, but decided to go through life as a woman. It is not clear to me how it ended with ‘him’.

Spreuters said she’d approached the nuns of the Order of the Poor Clares and Trappist nuns in Brecht.

They could not answer me because they did not know whether I could enter as a trans woman. I thought I would start a monastic order. To which the nuns responded with interest and enthusiasm.

If necessary, I will go to the Pope in the Vatican. My calling is stronger than ever.

Writing for far-right Christian website LifeSiteNews, Pete Baklinski said:

If Spreuters ever makes his plea known to Pope Francis, it’s anyone’s guess how the Pope might respond. Last year, the Pope praised a nun for opening a ‘trans home’ for men who claim to be women, even calling the men ‘girls.’

In 2016, Pope Francis referred to a woman as a ‘man’ who had undergone a sex-change operation. He also referred to her as having ‘married’ another woman and admitted to receiving them in the Vatican. ‘He got married,’ said the Pope, referring to the woman who now identifies as male.

According to the Landor Theatre’s blurb, Nunsense A-men! begins when the Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned 52 of the sisters, and they are in dire need of funds for the burials.

The sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety show, so they take over the school auditorium. Here we meet Reverend Mother Regina, a former circus performer; Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices; a streetwise nun from Brooklyn called Sister Robert Anne; Sister Mary Leo, a novice who is a wannabe ballerina; and the delightfully wacky Sister Mary Amnesia, the nun who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head.

• Please report any typos/errors to [email protected]

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

I’d love a cup of coffee

Previous Post

April 9, 2021

Op-ed: There is nothing new about cartoons which mock religion

Next Post

April 10, 2021 Distant tribe thought Philip was a 'god'. Media inflates the myth.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Archive My Atheism News Opinion Reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 March 2007 April 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What sound did God send to confuse Philistines when Israel was under attack?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Singing Thunder Earthquake Horses

Books by This Author Books by The Freethinker

See All Titles »