feminine-genius

Women's retreats

The last retreat I offered was recorded, and the two talks can be found here. We had a beautiful day near the ocean in Westerly, RI--a day that included Holy Mass, Confession, the Rosary, and a luncheon. I am now setting up the calendar for the coming year (Sept 2013-May 2014) and would love to come and talk to your parish, your diocesan women's guild, your school, or your book club. For more information, see my site and see if this would be a good fit for the women you know!

Reconfiguring motherhood (and fatherhood)

I'll reproduce this piece here, because the sidebars of the Daily Mail are vulgar and distracting:

The world's first geneticallymodified humans have been created, it was revealed last night.

The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.

So far, two of the babies have been tested and have been found to contain genes from three 'parents'.

Fifteen of the children were born in the past three years as a result of one experimental programme at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St Barnabas in New Jersey.

The babies were born to women who had problems conceiving. Extra genes from a female donor were inserted into their eggs before they were fertilised in an attempt to enable them to conceive.

Genetic fingerprint tests on two one-year- old children confirm that they have inherited DNA from three adults --two women and one man.

The fact that the children have inherited the extra genes and incorporated them into their 'germline' means that they will, in turn, be able to pass them on to their own offspring.

Altering the human germline - in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species - is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world's scientists.

Geneticists fear that one day this method could be used to create new races of humans with extra, desired characteristics such as strength or high intelligence.

Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers, led by fertility pioneer Professor Jacques Cohen, say that this 'is the first case of human germline genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children'.

Some experts severely criticised the experiments. Lord Winston, of the Hammersmith Hospital in West London, told the BBC yesterday: 'Regarding the treat-ment of the infertile, there is no evidence that this technique is worth doing . . . I am very surprised that it was even carried out at this stage. It would certainly not be allowed in Britain.'

John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: 'One has tremendous sympathy for couples who suffer infertility problems. But this seems to be a further illustration of the fact that the whole process of in vitro fertilisation as a means of conceiving babies leads to babies being regarded as objects on a production line.

'It is a further and very worrying step down the wrong road for humanity.' Professor Cohen and his colleagues diagnosed that the women were infertile because they had defects in tiny structures in their egg cells, called mitochondria.

They took eggs from donors and, using a fine needle, sucked some of the internal material - containing 'healthy' mitochondria - and injected it into eggs from the women wanting to conceive.

Because mitochondria contain genes, the babies resulting from the treatment have inherited DNA from both women. These genes can now be passed down the germline along the maternal line.

A spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates 'assisted reproduction' technology in Britain, said that it would not license the technique here because it involved altering the germline.

Jacques Cohen is regarded as a brilliant but controversial scientist who has pushed the boundaries of assisted reproduction technologies.

He developed a technique which allows infertile men to have their own children, by injecting sperm DNA straight into the egg in the lab.

Prior to this, only infertile women were able to conceive using IVF. Last year, Professor Cohen said that his expertise would allow him to clone children --a prospect treated with horror by the mainstream scientific community.

'It would be an afternoon's work for one of my students,' he said, adding that he had been approached by 'at least three' individuals wishing to create a cloned child, but had turned down their requests.

So there we have it, meddling with creation. Just as the Church fathers warned in Humanae Vitae and other documents. Science is noble; playing God isn't.

Singular thoughts on redefining marriage

Noni Darwish, a Christian woman who has written extensively on how Islam harms women based on her experience of growing up in Egypt, has written an interesting piece on how the push for redefining marriage can find in Islam a cautionary tale:

Islam's definition of marriage is one man and up to four women where loyalty in the marriage is required only from the woman towards the man, but not necessarily from the man towards the woman. In the Egyptian Muslim marriage contract, the groom is asked to give name and address of wife number one, two and three, if any. It is as easy for a Muslim man to legally have a second, third or fourth wife as it was for him to have his first. It is true that the majority of Muslim men choose to have one wife, but the mere existence of a law that does not restrict men to one wife has had devastating consequences on the healthy functioning of the family unit, balance of power in the marriage, women's rights and self esteem, children security, gender segregation in the society as a whole and how a man and woman relate to one another.

I lived the first 30 years of my life in a gender-segregated society that allowed polygamy where the concept of marriage was not restricted to one-man and one-woman. One of the consequences of polygamous Islamic society was a gender-segregated society where women dealt with women and men with men and not much communication nor interaction between the sexes except for procreation.

Interesting that male-male or female-female "marriages" could in themselves be a form of segregation, but the idea isn't that farfetched. She points out that men suffer as well as women from the lack of complementarity in their primary relationship, and it only stands to reason that children do as well.

To who's benefit is it if we see Western society segregated by sex? Are we on our way towards a two-female family household neighborhoods or two-male family household neighborhoods?

These ideas may sound outlandish, but so did the spectre of societal approval of incest and pedophilia, both of which are making gains in the "enlightened" West. Food for thought.

The feminist cult

Bruce Thornton has written an excellent [biting!] summary of modern feminism, including this nugget:

 

The feminism that has burrowed into the women’s studies caves in colleges and universities is something else: a species of progressive identity politics predicated on perpetual victimhood as a means for extorting more social and political clout. As such it represents a narrow spectrum of women across the world, those privileged enough to take for granted the improvements in science and technology, the economic growth created by capitalism, and the access to education that have liberated women from the tyranny of nature and the oppression of illiberal cultures. These so-called feminists, the richest and most comfortable women who ever walked the earth, have created a new-age cult focused on wacky fads like Wicca or romantic environmentalism, issues of concern only to the well-fed who have the luxury of taking seriously such claptrap. And like most cults, it is humorless, intolerant, conformist, illiberal, and lustful for the power needed to indulge the totalitarian impulse to silence the infidels and impose orthodoxy. In their gospel, the only “choices” women have are to abort babies, hate men, despise conservative or religious women, and incessantly bite the liberal-capitalist hand that feeds them.

What is missing is an analysis of the waves of feminism that appeared over the years -- the equality feminism morphing into the radical feminism, that culminated in the gender feminism that is poisoning so many today, but that would be beyond the scope of the piece.

What is evident is that there is a slippery slope that accrues when one steps away from one's interinsic nature, and that's what's happened when women rejected their call to spiritual and physical motherhood. Unfortunately, motherhood is so essential to the human race that when women went AWOL, the whole family unravelled.

If nothing else, the current death spiral should prove -- not the irrelevance of the feminine vocation -- but rather its essential qualtities. And that means that its absence is a death warrant for the wider culture.

"Quintessential matron"

According to Wikileaks, that is how American diplomats assessed the "Iron Lady" back in the mid-1970's (as well as "frightfully British"), but she proved to be so much more. The family announced that she has just gone on to her eternal reward:

• Margaret Thatcher dies: coverage in full

Margaret Thatcher's journey from Grantham grocer’s daughter to 10 Downing Street was not quite without parallel — her predecessor, Ted Heath, started from if anything more humble origins — but her achievement over 11 years once she reached the highest office left most of her fellow prime ministers way behind.

After winning a scholarship to Oxford, where she read chemistry, Margaret Roberts became fascinated by politics. Her father, who had been a councillor in Grantham, had certainly inspired her, and she determined to try to secure a candidacy to be a Conservative MP.

Her two attempts in the safe Labour seat of Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 elections were unsuccessful, though she made a name for herself as a doughty fighter with a bright future. The other bonus of her time in Dartford was that she met and married her future husband, Denis Thatcher, who had taken over and was greatly reviving a family chemicals business. They married in 1951, when she was 26 and he 36, and two years later she gave birth to twins, Carol and Mark.

Motherhood meant that she did not fight the 1955 election, but instead concentrated on a new career at the Bar. In 1959 she was adopted for the Conservative seat of Finchley, and was returned to parliament for the first time at the election of that year. She held the seat until her retirement from the Commons in 1992.

Prayers and for her soul and for her family. May she rest in peace.

Program note

I'll be on Relevant Radio Monday at 2pm EST (1pm Central) talking to Wendy Wiese about forgiveness.

Link here (and they have an app for smart people/phones, etc.)

Women and the resurrection

In his Wednesday audience this week, the catechesis of Pope Frances focused on the women who went to the tomb that first Easter:

“He rose again on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures.” Our belief in Christ’s Resurrection is the very heart of our faith, the basis of our hope in God’s promises and our trust in his victory over sin and death.

The first witnesses of the Resurrection were women: moved by love to go to the tomb, they accept with joy the message of the Resurrection and then tell the good news to the Apostles. So it must be with us; we need to share the joy born of our faith in the Resurrection!

First, we note that the first witnesses to this event were the women. At dawn, they go to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, and find the first sign: the empty tomb (Mk 16:1). This is followed by an encounter with a Messenger of God who proclaims: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, he is not here, he is risen (cf. vv. 5-6). The women are driven by love and know how to accept this proclamation with faith: they believe, and immediately transmit it, they do not keep it for themselves. They cannot contain the joy of knowing that Jesus is alive, the hope that fills their heart. This should also be the same in our lives. Let us feel the joy of being Christian! We believe in the Risen One who has conquered evil and death! Let us also have the courage to “go out” to bring this joy and light to all the places of our lives! The Resurrection of Christ is our greatest certainty, it is our most precious treasure! How can we not share this treasure, this beautiful certainty with others! It’s not just for us it’s to be transmitted, shared with others this is our testimony!

Another element. In the professions of faith of the New Testament, only men are remembered as witnesses of the Resurrection, the Apostles, but not the women. This is because, according to the Jewish Law of the time, women and children were not considered reliable, credible witnesses. In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. Here we can see an argument in favor of the historicity of the Resurrection: if it were a invented, in the context of that time it would not have been linked to the testimony of women. Instead, the evangelists simply narrate what happened: the women were the first witnesses. This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria: the first witnesses of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds,  simple and humble people, the first witnesses of the Resurrection are women.

This is beautiful and this is the mission of women, of mothers and women, to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ is Risen! Mothers go forward with this witness! What matters to God is our heart, if we are open to Him, if we are like trusting children. But this also leads us to reflect on how in the Church and in the journey of faith, women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord, in following him and communicating his face, because the eyes of faith always need the simple and profound look of love.

His words remind us of the importance of faith, and how women transmit that faith: through their motherhood -- which is both spiritual and physical. The "eyes of faith," in particular, draw on one of the special gifts of mothers, which is their prescient ability to read the other -- especially the children who have been entrusted to their care. From nursing infants to more distant relations, it is a particularly feminine trait to be able to intuit the needs of others. Through this maternal gift, women are able to fit words and deeds to the moment and the personalities involved, which can transmit the very truths of God is they are so inclined.

Let us rejoice in the holy women, whose love of Christ led them to perform the corporal work of mercy that allowed them to discover the empty tomb! Likewise, using the gift of our own spiritual motherhood for which the wolrd thirsts, we can use each encounter in our own lives to carry the saving message of Easter to those who haven't found the Risen Lord.

For the Lord is truly risen!

Rejoice, Mary!

Rejoice, Mary, rejoice, Mother!

You bore his body in your virginal womb, you bore within you the God-man. And then you brought him forth on the night of Bethlehem, you bore him in your arms as a child. You bore him into the temple on the on the day of his presentation. Your eyes – more than the eyes of anyone else – saw the Incarnate Word. Your ears heard him, from his very first words.

Your hands touched the Word of life (cf. John 1:1). Regina caeli laetare! "He whom you bore has risen." You bore him, even more than in your arms, in your heart. Particularly during those last hours, when you had to stand beneath the cross, at the feet of the divine condemned One. Your heart was pierced by the sword of sorrow, in accordance with the words of the aged Simeon.

And you shared the sorrow as you associated yourself, with your maternal soul, in the sacrifice of your son. O Mother! You consented to the immolation of the victim whom you had borne (cf. Lumen Gentium, 58). You lovingly consented, with that love which he planted in your heart, with that love which is stronger than death and stronger than sin, in the whole history of man on earth.

And then, when he had breathed his last and they had taken him down from the cross, he rested once more in your arms as he rested so many times before as a child ... And then, they laid him in the tomb.

Christ, whom you bore is risen! Pray for us!You who were present in the deepest possible way in the mystery of Christ, behold. The whole church today looks to you, O Mary. Even through we do not see you among the people about whom the Easter accounts tell, we all look to you. We look to your heart.

They took him from your maternal arms and gave him back to the earth; they closed the tomb with a stone ... And behold, now the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty... "Christ, whom you bore, is risen, alleluia!" "Regina caeli laetare." This is the day of the Church's Easter joy. We all share in your glory, O Mother... Everyone, the whole church of your son, the whole church of the Incarnate Word.

Could any narrative record the moment of the resurrection of the son in the heart of his Mother? Yet we fix our gaze on you. The whole church shares in your Easter joy; the whole church knows that on this day the Lord has made you "go before" in a singular way the pilgrimage of faith in the paschal mystery. Pray for us! ... Be present along all the paths of the people of God, paths upon which shines the light of Christ. Let this light never leave anyone, this light of the new life which is He himself, the Risen One!

Regina coeli laetare, Alleluia,
Quia quem meruisti portare. Alleluia,
Resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum. Alleluia.

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
Has risen, as He said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.

(An excerpt from a prayer by Pope John Paul II)

The Lily

The sorrow laden heavenly Queen,
Bent, trembling 'neath her grief, is seen
To draw anigh where fell, like foss,
From wounds the blood adown the cross.

The angel voice, which erst addressed
The May, did her with joy invest,
With joy she bore the Savior blest,
And her Son born in swathing dressed,
And dressed with her him ever led,
And led on cross his arms he spread.

Amid her tears the bitter sword
Of sorrow struck her, when the Lord,
Her only Son, on cross was hung,
Thereto with four sharp nails was stung:
From whetted spikes his arms do burn,
With agonies his breast is torn;
Through these dread sufferings must they go
The Holy Twain to heal our woe.

[From a 14th century Icelandic poem by Brother Etsteinn Asgrimsson]