Dear Editor:

It is impossible to give a "statement of policy" in answer to your question about the attitude of the Catholic Church toward FP. The Church does make official statements on moral questions when she considers it recessary to do so, but, for the most part, indiv- iduals are expected to form their own consciences and to solve their own problems by the application of general moral principles. When advice is needed, one can obtain it from his confessor or some other priest in whom he may wish to confide.

It seems to me that some men actually do practice FP without serious moral danger to themselves or anyone else. These people do not have a moral problem, since there is nothing intrinsically evil in adopting one manner of dress in preference to another. The fact that a man may assume the dress and general appearance of a woman is not in itself and by itself a seriously immoral act.

In contrast to these FPs, who do not have a moral problem, others will be troubled in conscience on account of various diff- iculties. Sexual acts incidental to or actually connected with FP are the most obvious problem, but many others can be a source of trouble.

A father may worry about what his conduct may mean in terms of his responsibility as a father: What effect will his FP have on his children? Does the time taken up by FP and the deception which goes with it, if his children are not to know, represent a serious neglect of his duty? If his children do find out, how will it affect their lives? Is it possible that his FP might be the occasion of moral disaster for his children?

A husband may have similar preoccupations about the moral strain imposed on his wife by FP: Do his activities cause her to have moral problems which she would not have otherwise? How much guilt must he assume for quarrelling, resentment and even hatred engendered by FP? If the marriage goes on the rocks, won't it be his fault?

Besides these fairly obvious problems others a little more subtle suggest themselves: In view of the serious financial burdens imposed on the ordinary family man by the daily needs of his family, to say nothing of provision for the future, how can he justify the expense of FP? Or another: Since in our civilization one's manner of dress amounts to an open declaration of one's sex with all that

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