feminine-genius

Does Our Lady support veiling?

Although we've discussed veils in the past concerning Catholic women in the pews, now a Muslim convert in France is enlisting the Virgin Mary in her defense of the burqa -- as France debates a proposed ban on veils for all women. While I stand by all the arguments I made here (on a secular blog) I find it even more offensive from a religious standpoint that Muslims are allowed to pick and choose from Christianity what will bolster their arguments for their faith. We don't like that "cafeteria" mentality in our own pews, much less from folks outside the fold. Furthermore, to follow the thread of "what Mary did/wore/said" leaves out the bulk of who she really was and what we owe to her in terms of our salvation (and one doesn't even want to peek into the Islamic view of Jesus' conception, which is too vulgar for words).

As a convert myself, I understand the zealousness involved in embracing a new world view, but unfortunately the Muslima interviewed by the Beeb managed to throw most of the French under the bus along with any coherent Mariology. And sadly, no Christians in Europe have responded with a defense of the faith.

Too late for this generation

This blog has pointed out the grievousness of the one-child policy in China, which even now China is beginning to regret. Not that the policy is changing (other than in a few details) but they are aware that some horrific consequences are in store for the 24 million men who will never marry. Likewise, China's neighbours are suffering from this disastrous program:

But other problems – such as a rising incidence of prostitution and violent crime - are on the horizon, judging by some current trends.

For example, while the number of baby girls being born has declined, the number of kidnappings and trafficking of young girls has risen. According to the National Population and Family Planning Commission – that’s right, the very organization responsible for the one child family policy --  abductions and trafficking of women and girls has become “rampant”.

Young girls are being kidnapped within China and also from neighboring countries (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand) by organized gangs who sell them to families with boys of a similar age. The girls will be raised by the families and given as brides to their sons as soon as they reach marriageable age. Others are shipped to brothels within China for a life as sex slaves.

Needless to say China’s neighbours are not enamored of the growing practice. Diplomatic tensions have risen over the issue and China has had to establish a special police unit to help its neighbours combat the very crime its policy has created.

Even more bizarre crimes have been reported in this patriarchal society where it is believed that a wife is necessary to tend to her husband even after death. A rising practice in some remote areas of China is to dig up the corpses of single women to sell to families whose sons may have recently perished. Posthumous wedding ceremonies are held to ensure the deceased son does not have to endure the next life alone. With higher prices commanded by fresh corpses of young women the practice has led to murders of young girls by some crime gangs looking to capitalize on distraught parents enduring the loss of a young son.

It is never a good strategy to put limits on human depravity -- especially when the family itself has been corrupted. The author reminds us that even if the policy changed today, it still wouldn't help the situation for decades to come. The region must simply bear the fallout of the premeditated murder of so many. (But repentance couldn't hurt.)

My Sister in Christ (I think)

I didn't have the heart to dig into this, but thankfully Father Z has ably parsed the silliness in Sister Joan Chittister's latest column on Mary Daly (RIP).

I had my fill a couple years back in reviewing one of Sister Joan's books, which she wrote as a primer on embracing the beauty of old age. 

What is "aging well," according to Sister Joan? Examples are sprinkled throughout almost every chapter, as she reminds the elderly of their responsibility to be "funny, silly and irresponsible," to stroll and "explore small boutiques, meet new people." Old age, she confides, brings with it a "giddy sense of possibility," and after having "suppressed" our thoughts for so long (she wrote that, evidently, with all seriousness), we are now obliged to do one "outrageous" thing a week, to live impetuously, "with an edge, with strength, and with abandon."

As Rush would say, I read this stuff so you don't have to. Mature Christians would wince at the adolescent hubris of such a view. That she can compare Mary Daly to the Virgin Mary is only icing on the cake.

"ten days later..." ?!

From Jihad Watch:

(ANSAmed) - ANKARA - A 12-year-old girl from Corum, a village in central Anatolia not far from Ankara, has been sold twice by her father: the first time in exchange for four cows, and the second time for 10,000 Turkish lire (around 4,800 euros). Just yesterday the police discovered the crime and arrested the girl's father and the second buyer, while the first is still being sought.

The story was reported by daily paper Vatan, which writes that Sukru A. (this is the name of the father) sold his daughter K.A last summer when she was just 12 years old to 29-year-old bricklayer Kamber Bostan in exchange for four cows, who married the girl in a religious ceremony in front of the imam. After several months however, the girl - who became pregnant in the meantime - went back home because she didn't get on with her husband.

Last December, in her sixth month of pregnancy, she lost the child. Ten days later the father sold her again, this time to a 20-year-old unemployed man, Gokhan Turk, who paid 3,000 out of the 10,000 lire agreed upfront, and took the girl home. Yesterday, when Turk refused to pay the balance - claiming that the girl he bought was not a virgin - Sukru A. turned to the police and reported him for insolvency but without mentioning the reason.

After a short investigation the truth came out and both the father and Turk were arrested, while Bostan is still being sought.(ANSAmed).

A religious ceremony with an Imam speaks volumes, ladies. This must stop -- and if they wanted to, they could do it. People in a village know what goes on (note: "short investigation"). As to the baby, it could have been a stillbirth or an abortion --I suppose we'll never know. This is child abuse of the highest order.

UPDATE: and those who speak out can expect this. (In France, no less.) Bottom line -- "If you say anything bad about Muslim men, we will kill you." Bless her for her courage.

No enforcement -- yet

Bangladesh is following China's lead on how to limit population, with a new policy that encourages limiting families to one child (best) or two (at most). There are no signs of sticks, yet, only carrots:

Couples with only one child will be favored in acceptance by state schools and in receiving financial grants.

The down-side of China's heavy-handed policy (in place since 1979) is coming to light, with many side-effects beyond the body count (of tens of millions of dead babies):

China's low birth rate means an age and gender crisis loom within the next two decades. More than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age are likely to be unable to find wives in the year 2020, partly because of the frequency of sex-selection abortions.

Chinese demographers predict that in 2025 there will be a generation of only children in China. These children will have no siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins. It is believed it will be the first such generation ever in the world.

On the surface, it is possible to limit a population in morally neutral ways -- discouraging marriage, encouraging NFP, asking for personal sacrifice. There is no indication that Bangledesh will take this path, since China is their model and contraception and abortion were their standard tools in promoting this policy. If those are indeed the preferred means, then once again children will pay the price, women's bodies will become a battle ground, and the family will suffer for generations to come. Very sad.

Lay woman as superiori in Rome

As John Allen carefully explains, each dicastery in the Vatican is headed by a prefect (usually a cardinal or archbishop), assisted by a secretary (usually an archbishop or bishop) and an under-secretary (usually a monsignor or cleric). For the second time ever, a woman has been named as under-secretary, and for the first time a lay woman (the other was a Salesian nun). Flaminia Giovanelli, 61, a longtime official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has just been appointed as the new under-secretary of that dicastery, which has as one of its upcoming tasks to promote the beautiful message of Benedict's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. This assignment is a beautiful recognition of her aptitude, and is a move for which she is herself very grateful (and a little nervous).

As to the statement it makes about the Church's recognition of the talents of women, she reminds us of this fact:

"Maybe it’s growing in what I might call a visible way, but it’s always been there, and  anyone who knows the life of the church and its mechanisms, including its institutions, knows that women have always had a very important role. Now, I would say, that’s becoming more visible."

Indeed, the faith is not about titles and power grabs, which is what some confused souls believe in their push for women's ordination. She is absolutely right that women have always been extremely important, beginning with the foundational fact that all of our joy rests in the Fiat of Our Lady. Priests are icons of the Bridegroom, which explains the proscription against women priests, and yet women as icons of Holy Mother Church -- the Bride -- allows them tremendous latitude in their own feminine service.

Our heartiest congratulations to this faithful woman for this honour, and our prayers for her effective service for years to come!

UPDATE: stumbled across another extraordinary lay woman here!

Little treasures

I found an intriguing set of titles here, which is a press run by a home-steading family in South Carolina. If enough of you bump up their sales, maybe I'll get a surprise package of that wonderful pork that folks are raving about. Do give them a look. Many of the books look perfect for Lenten reading.

What put Scott Brown over the top?

A little of that feminine genius:

The [Brown] family worships at New England Chapel in Franklin, a member of the Christian Reformed Church of America, a Protestant denomination, but has developed a special relationship with an order of Cistercian Catholic nuns at Mt. St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham.

Many of the 48 nuns are from other countries, and Brown’s first contact was in response to their request for help on an immigration matter.

“It has turned into a beautiful friendship,’’ said Sister Katie McNamara, the monastery’s nurse.

Brown raised money to buy a special golf cart to transport elderly sisters, and, with his wife, has assisted efforts to raise $5.5 million needed to replace the order’s 50-year-old candy factory with an environmentally friendly plant, complete with solar panels and a wind turbine. The order is self-sustaining through sale of its candies and fudges.

“We pray for them every day,’’ Sister Katie said of Brown and his family.

“When you have nuns praying for you three times a day and you’re not Catholic, anything that anybody can do or say about me, it’s Teflon,’’ Brown said. “It bounces right off.’’

He's not pro-life and he may not understand Catholic teachings on many things, but with these fine women offering prayer coverage, he stands to do well. Thanks ladies!

[Rob Schenk gives more specific details on the church he attends, including the fact that: "Senator Brown’s pastor, Chris Mitchell, [is] a graduate of the evangelically renowned Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where Billy Graham once chaired the board."

That seminary may sound familiar because of it has many now-famous graduates, and an interesting history:

I knew several of the prominent Protestant ministers who converted to the Catholicism had gone to Gordon-Conwell Seminary in MA-but am amazed at the numbers: Marcus Grodi, Dr. Hahn, Steve Wood, Gerry Matatics, are there others? At one point during Steve Wood's journey home, he talks with a priest who taught at Gordon-Conwell when it was a Carmelite-run school for boys. They used to pray for vocations there before they closed shop and sold it to the seminary folks. Interesting..... "]

Follow-up in Sudan

Readers may remember that this journalist and her twelve companions went to a Khartoum restaurant wearing pants (the picture shows her outfit -- very baggy pants, long full shirt over them, and headscarf overall) and they were arrested for indecency. She says that roughly 43,000 women per year are arrested for the same, depending on the mood of the police, and receive instant punishment: lashing and a fine. Since she was a well-known figure and the case garnered world-wide attention, she alone was given a show trial (no defense allowed) and she alone was not lashed. (Her companions were.) This is part of the shari'a that even the Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested be allowed in Britain. The last minute is telling -- for Christians are subject to Islamic law when applied, despite assurances to the contrary.

ADDENDUM: US ally Saudi Arabia also relies on floggings to keep the order.

 

A 13-yr-old Saudi girl has just been sentenced to 90 lashes for having a cell phone at school. (Sounds like the boys don't have such a rule.) And then two months in jail to think about it. Makes our standard "grounding" for teenagers look like a party.

Word games

I have watched with great interest the brawl in Malaysia concerning the word "Allah." It is most widely understood as the name of the god to which Muhammed directed his prayers and worship, but linguistically it is used by others to actually mean the the one true God. I make the case here that they are not one in the same, which is backed by Saint Augustine, who taught that if your deity asks you to do wretched things, it is not God. The Church presently is following the semantic line that, since there is only one God, whatever misguided paths that others follow will lead to him, so Allah = God. Fair enough. I do believe there's room for academic disagreement on this, since we all want the same thing.

Sadly, the use of "Allah" by Christians has resulted in a rash of fire-bombings, many churches have had to suspend Masses because of threats, and those who have held Masses have suffered many casualties. (I would posit that this supports my contention: if Allah demands killing those who call on his name in this way, then he cannot be the trinitarian God.)

The next chapter, though, becomes more bizarre. 

Kuala Lumpur: Non-Muslims in Malaysia's Selangor state have been asked to refrain from using 35 Islamic terms and references, including the word "Allah", either orally or in writing to propagate their religion.

If a formal complaint is lodged, the violator could be charged in a court under Selangor Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment 1995 and can be fined upto RM3,000 (about 35,000 rupees) or face two years' in jail or both.

The list of terms not to be used by non-Muslims include Allah, Firman Allah (Allah's decree), solat (daily prayers), Rasul (prophet), mubaligh (missionary), mufti, iman (faith), Kaabah (the Holy cubicle), Qiblat (direction in which the Muslims pray), and Haji (Muslims who have done his pilgrimage), Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) director Mohammed Khusrin Munawi said.

"These are listed under the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religious Enactment. They cannot be used to promote religions other than Islam," he noted.

The words for daily prayer, missionary, prophet and faith. Faith? The academic disagreements have their limits, and simple common sense must stand up to this. While I try to limit this blog to matters concerning stricly Things Feminine, we all use language. I could raise the spectre of what this same faith does to women, but there is no need. If we cannot use words, we cannot discuss anything. As I said, bizarre.