preview

Sister Monica And Religion

Decent Essays

In a world context of ever-growing LGBT rights, since Pope Francis's election in 2013 there has been renewed hope that the Catholic Church is evolving towards greater tolerance of sexual minorities. Huffington Post published a story in August 2015 featuring a unique nun, known pseudonymously as Sister Monica, who claims that her God-ordained purpose is to provide religious guidance for transgender people (Gadoua). Although this article seemingly indicates a major shift within religious institutions, a Marxian analysis shows that fails to demonstrate a real divergence. Sister Monica's story simply repackages the familiar notions of martyrdom, the malleability of the Church, and religion's conformity to societal norms. Marx claimed that history …show more content…

Sister Monica asserts in defense of transgender people that “God made day and night. There was also dusk and dawn and twilight. There’s no light switch ... can't [there] be more than two kinds of people?” (Gadoua). This argument complements the increasing rejection of the binary model of sex and gender. As society becomes more egalitarian and accepting of minority groups, religion must likewise adapt to show that it “does not contradict the perfection of the state” (Marx 49). Marx describes his time as one of widespread rebellion against the traditional power of the Church. (189) This trend of anti-religion continues today, and perhaps religion must become more inclusive so that there remains a congregation to preach to. Sister Monica claims to be motivated largely by the stigma and exclusion that transgender people face within the Church, and she insists that her duty to spiritually guide them was communicated plainly to her by God (Gadoua). Consequently, Sister Monica's story relays the message that religion is compatible with modern social justice values, which advocate for the rights and inclusion of transgender people and other

Get Access