Since the July 2015 “Call Me Caitlyn” Vanity Fair cover story, questions on gender have become more prominent in law, politics, and social media.

In order for the new evangelization to address these questions, in parishes and in the public sphere, robust theological research needs to take seriously the role of Scripture and cultural experience of the faith in engaging gender theory. By utilizing St. John Paul II’s model in the theology of the body catecheses and drawing upon the commentaries of Thomas Aquinas, Hildegaard of Bingen, and Pope Benedict XVI as well as the groundbreaking work of Sr. Prudence Allen, Fr. Francis Martin, Deborah Savage, and other cutting edge contemporary scholars, I am working to develop a uniquely Catholic vision of gender identity.

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Moreover, in order to critique narrow cultural stereotypes that contribute to gender identify confusion, I will investigate the way that Catholics live out their masculinity and femininity in several diverse cultures, enriching a theology that is firmly rooted in the Scriptural idea of sex with a more universal experience of gender. To this end, I will conduct interviews with scholars and theologians around the world, from May 2019-June 2020, including Native American reservations and Acadiana (the United States); Mexico (Latin America); Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda (Africa); Israel; Italy, France, Poland, and Hungary (Europe); and Vietnam and India (Asia) that will enable me to mine the “treasures hidden in the various forms of human culture, by…which the nature of man himself is more clearly revealed…[to] profit the Church…” (Gaudium et Spes, 44).

First and foremost, I urge you to join me through prayer for my work and the work of all those who are trying to bring clarity to this conversation in service to the mission of the Church. Along with this prayer, I ask you to make any financial contribution you can to the International Institute of Culture and Gender Studies to help develop this theology aimed at transforming the way that we live out our masculinity and femininity within the Church and in our culture. To honor your commitment, I will be accountable to all gifts received, providing financial statements and communicating with benefactors through this website with videos and continuing reports of the work in which I am engaged. The final vision will be published as a book in late 2021.

May Christ, the God-man, and His Blessed Mother, the exemplar of femininity, guide you and your families as we work together for this new evangelization!