The Catholic Archbishop for the Military Services issued a statement this week defending President Trump’s reinstatement of a policy disqualifying transgender individuals from military service, noting that “gender ideology undermines basic Christian anthropology.” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio cited the President’s reasons for the ban including “a detriment to military readiness and the cost associated with gender reassignment surgeries and therapies,” but suggested that the underlying issue goes even deeper than those real but pragmatic concerns. While “military readiness is of utmost importance to our servicemen and women who selflessly risk personal safety to defend the values and freedoms of our Nation,” Broglio wrote, the “essence of the issue” goes to the heart of the dignity of the human person. “The dignity of the human person is rooted in the fact that people are created in the image and likeness of God – God who in the fullness of his divinity assumed humanity to redeem the world,” Broglio said. The Military Archbishop, in charge of all Catholic military chaplaincies, quoted from a recent conference, titled “Framing a Catholic Response to Gender Ideology,” which declared that “gender ideology undermines basic Christian anthropology by defining the person as a disembodied mind and the