NaPro Ethics on the Road from Memphis to Raleigh

Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Renee Mirkes, director of NaPro Ethics at St Paul VI Institute, shares one of her memorable travels to Memphis, Tennessee and Raleigh, North Carolina.

I’ve just returned from two back-to-back lectures and would like to share some of the graces of those days.

Father Carmen Mele, OP, director of the Martin de Porres National Shrine and Institute in Memphis, TN, invited me to be the keynote speaker for an annual ethics series that he sponsors through his institute. I presented “Light at the End of the Transgender Tunnel” to two extremely receptive audiences in Memphis. I was warmly received with distinctive Southern hospitality at both venues, and the attendees were sincerely appreciative of my research on the issue of radical gender theory. It was heart-breaking to hear some of the real-life consequences of transgenderism. One couple, for example, came up to me afterwards, in tears, and explained their adolescent daughter with gender dysphoria had undergone puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones only to commit suicide in the middle of the so-called transitioning process. So utterly sad. How important it is to help tweens, teens and adults appreciate the beauty of their bodies and their sexuality/gender.

A few days later I flew to Raleigh, NC and gave one of my favorite lectures, Humanae Vitae: Exploring Its Themes. I was absolutely astounded at the Catholic spirit that met me in Cary, a suburb of Raleigh. These folks convinced me that after 54 years, people are now ready—even hungry—for this encyclical’s message. Planning a family—spacing children—by the use of some natural system of family planning rather than by contraception/sterilization is woman-, marriage- and family-friendly. One of the pictures above spotlight the evening’s organizers, Father Michael Burbidge and Deacon Mark Westrick, pastoral leaders in St. Michael the Archangel parish and the diocese of Raleigh. Great people all!