feminine-genius

Entering Lent with Our Lady

From Romano Guardini:

Mary believed blindly. Again and again she had to confirm that belief, and each time with more difficulty. Her faith was greater, more heroic than that of any other human being. Involuntarily we call to mind Abraham and the sudden, terrible sublimity of his faith; but more was demanded of Mary than Abraham. For years she had to combat an only too natural confusion. Who was this "Holy One" whom she, a mere girl, had borne? This "great" one she had suckled and known in all his helplessness? Later she had to struggle against the pain of seeing him steadily outgrow her love, even purposely flee it to that realm of ineffable remoteness which she could not enter. Not only did she have to accept this, but to rejoice in it as in the fulfillment of God's will. Not understanding, never was she to lose heart, never to fall behind. Inwardly she accompanied the incomprehensible figure of her son every step of his journey, however dark. Perseverance in faith even on Calvary—this was Mary's inimitable greatness.

And literally, every step that the Lord took towards fulfillment of his godly destiny Mary followed—in bare faith. Comprehension came only with Pentecost. Then she understood all that she had so long reverently stored in her heart. It is this heroic faith which places her irrevocably at Christ's side in the work of redemption, not the miracles of Marianic legend. Legend may delight us with deep and gracious images, but we cannot build our lives on imagery, least of all when the very foundations of our belief begin to totter. What is demanded of us, as of her, is a constant wrestling in fide with the mystery of God and with the evil resistance of the world. Our obligation is not delightful poetry but granite faith—more than ever in this age of absolutes in which the mitigating spell is falling from all things and naked opposites clash everywhere. The purer we see and understand the figure of the Mother of God as she is recorded in the New Testament, the greater the gain for our Christian lives.

Let's accompany Mary closely in the coming weeks, begging for the graces to understand her motherly heart and her perfect submission to the plan of God -- for therein lies the feminine-genius.

Feminine genius -- not

This story indicates how far a woman can go from understanding her vocation. A 21-year-old woman, Al-Bas, was stopped en route to blowing herself up in the hopes of killing a large number of Jews.

The PA TV interview with Al-Bas' parents, which aired on February 20th, features her mother saying the event was hard for her - not because her daughter was on a suicide mission, but because she was arrested on her way to carry it out.

Al-Bas intended to bomb Be'er Sheva's Soroka Hospital outpatient clinic, where she had been receiving regular treatments for serious burns on 45 percent of her body resulting from a gas stove explosion in her home.

The failed bomber later told Israeli television that her greatest wish was to kill 30 to 50 Israelis, including children. The hospital attack would likely have killed or maimed the very Israeli doctor who had saved her life.

While the mother managed to give life to this child, she also gave her warped values, a sense of ingratitude, and the desire to destroy others -- even those who had helped her in her own need. Rather than building a civilisation of life and love, they each are intent on adding to the culture of hatred and death. What sort of environment creates families that nurture such thoughts? How can we bring the truth to those who prefer darkness -- who revel in it? Oremus.

Where's the violence?

A tremendous 8-0 decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, dismissing the application of RICO against protesters who gather around abortion clinics. This long struggle applied organised crime laws to those exercising their free speech and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the litigants.

Eleanor Smeal responded to the setback in this way:

“I initiated this case almost 20 years ago as the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) to stop the reign of terror perpetrated by anti-abortion extremists at clinics across the country. I believe that this lawsuit and its resulting nationwide injunction significantly contributed to reducing the level of violence at clinics. I only hope that the loss of the injunction does not embolden anti-abortion extremists to escalate domestic terrorism towards women’s reproductive health clinics,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

“Anti-abortion extremists, however, should not look at this as a great legal victory. State, local, and federal laws are now in place, such as the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, that have helped to dramatically reduce the level of violence against clinics. Law enforcement officials have made it clear that violence will not be tolerated at our nation’s clinics and that domestic terrorists will be arrested and prosecuted,” Smeal continued.

“We did all we could over the years to reduce violence at clinics. We used every legal tool available. Pursuing this case did reduce violence at clinics, and we cannot allow anti-abortion extremists to take this decision as a signal to once again increase violent activity aimed at clinics and clinic staff,” said Susan Hill, president of the National Women’s Health Organization, the owner of the two named clinics in the lawsuit.

No, dear. You're looking in the wrong place. Most of the violence is inside -- perpetrated against women and children. The only violence outside is created by the culture of death you are promoting, in which women are shredded and used as objects rather than treated with the dignity they deserve.

This was no 5-3 or even 6-2 decision, but a unanimous conclusion that the abortion industry misrepresented the pro-lifers actions and intentions. Praise God for this one!

The last line of defense

The UN is a vicious bully, and Pakistani tribes have teamed up with this bully at the expense of those entrusted to their care.

A young woman was raped by three men in retribution for refusing to perform illegal abortions in a rural community in the western Punjab last Wednesday.

Rubina Kousar, 26, worked as a nurse in the Mattrai health center. She refused to carry out abortions on two women, reported the Telegraph, despite six months of constant pressure from the women’s families.

“In the past our staff have been subjected to this type of victimization for refusing to carry out illegal abortions, but they have not raised their voices for fear of retribution,” said Riaz Hussein, of the Punjab Healthworkers’ Association.

Abortion is illegal in Pakistan after the fourth month of pregnancy, unless the woman’s life is in danger. Under the tribal system operating in isolated districts of the country, village leaders sometimes order gang rapes as a punishment against women for various social “transgressions”.

The "transgression" in this case involved endangering the country's development money -- blood money -- that came from the UN at the price of implementing stingent controls on birth rates.

The UN has targeted Pakistan with aggressive population control measures over the past five years. In November 2000, the UNFPA threatened to withdraw US$250 million in health programs if the country refused to accept an additional $35 million in funding for birth control and abortion. Pakistan succumbed to pressure and agreed to make population control a “national priority” in the country.

These men are no better than pimps, doing the bidding of this Boss in exchange for their own skins. Smacking around the motherly soul who wouldn't sacrifice the child. Shame, shame, shame. Prayers for the defenseless women and children. Where is chivalry, Pakistan?

(From LifeSite)

Avante garde is so ho-hum

Nothing is surprising (or new) in the Anglican communion.

A Church of England bishop has urged Christians to recognise the "motherhood" of God.

The Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Rev David Gillett, said God's motherly role was an established element in Christian belief and should be emphasised to counter masculine images.

In the latest issue of Crux (p. 11), the Manchester diocesan magazine, the bishop said that Mothering Sunday, which falls on March 26, was a good time to explore the theme.

"Some dismiss the idea as a modern heresy linked with the rise of feminism," he said.

"But recognising the motherly role of God has an honoured place within Christian spirituality and is an important corrective to overlie dominant masculine images."

The bishop ends his comments with this:

Our human mother, the Church as mother, and God as mother -- all three merit our response on Mothering Sunday.

Well, my response would be, "Whither fathers? And who, good sir, are you? What is your role?" Given the growing numbers of women priests in his communion and the decline in church attendance, I think the single-parent family model they're promoting is suffering.

A maternal god devolves into pantheism because of the difference in the way that men and women create. (Think about it.)

God asked us to call Him Father, and He created a feminine Church to complete the celestial union with His creatures. God is spark, men (ordained and otherwise) carry on His work by planting seeds, women in image of the Church nourish the new life with their very flesh. Anything else ends up being a sterile same-sex union -- and hence, the CofE decline before our very eyes.

(Btw, the quote by Julian of Norwich that he uses doesn't bolster his argument. Note how carefully she refers to God as masculine. "Wisdom," as the first-born of God, danced with Him as He created the world. She is the forerunner of the Incarnate Bride, described in detail in the Book To Come -- another shameless, self-serving plug!)

Stellar synopsis

Robin Shea, mother and lawyer, has posted a brilliant little summary of the root causes of feminism. Showing cool analysis and excellent grasp of the myriad factors playing into this, she offers something we should all think about when digging ourselves out of the sexual utilitarian mess we're in.

One thought:

You can see two strains of feminism from around 1960 to 2000:  one emphasizes women's mental and professional equality with men and decries the use of women as "sex objects"; the other emphasizes women's sexual equality with men - in other words, we can be just as lusty, promiscuous, and "free" as a man. Whereas the first strain would have been appalled at women dressing like prostitutes and displaying their bodies in public, the second strain embraced such. In the 1960's and 1970's, the first strain was predominant. But beginning in the 1980's (after Roe v. Wade) and continuing, the second strain has predominated, and by now has just about obliterated the first.

This is important when remembering the diversity of backgrounds that comprise the feminists -- or all women who reject authentic femininity. It's complex and we have to respect that.

On a similar note, Atlantic Monthly has an article referenced here which I'm looking forward to reading. It slices and dices the different "tribes" in the US which express the diversity of thought at home here. According to Terry Mattingly:

In their article, Green and Waldman produce mini-profiles of what they believe are the 12 religious (or non-religious or even anti-religious) tribes in American politics. The goal is to prove that America is more complex than the old Religious Right vs. Everybody Else matrix. [snip] Anyone who has read GetReligion very long will recognize this theory right away: There is the true Religious Right on one side (about 12 percent) and the true-blue secularists on the other side (10 percent or so) and, in between, there is OprahAmerica.

If we -- as authentic Catholic women -- are to be all things to all people, we have to know who they are. Wise motherhood demands it.

Pizza Porn, and the like

Research on a current headline ("Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Blasted by Body Shop Founder for 'Pimp Culture'") led me to this group, CWASU. On their "who we are" page, was found this refreshing intro:

When CWASU was founded an orthodoxy - that feminist research was research with, by and for women, and that only qualitative methods were adequate for feminist research - was widely accepted. Over the years we have broken with virtually all of these assumptions, and moved to a position where we see our feminism as providing the theoretical backdrop to our work, and methods as tools through which we explore specific research questions (see Kelly, Regan and Burton 1992; Kelly, Burton and Regan 1994 for more detailed discussion of some of these issues).

These folks have not left feminism behind, but when reality kicked them in the head, like good researchers they shifted their premise. (How marvelous to not be so entrenched that facts be damned!)

Thus we arrive at the current Deep Thought -- When "cool" undermines "good," challenge "cool." How simple is that!

Such is the theme of the latest piece from Anita Roddick, who knows that the sex slave trade, prostitution, and pornography are extremely harmful to women and children. Then she considers them in relation to the popular culture:

Did you notice the shift in the style and content of music videos a few years ago? That was because pornographers began to direct and produce them. As a result not only do ‘porn stars’ have to simulate sex, but so do Beyonce and Britney, two of the most popular icons for young women and girls today. Some hip hop artists have even made their own porn movies to reflect the sexual material in their songs - the less raunchy ones just present themselves as pimps, blinged out and surrounded by scantily clad women – just like in the recent Selfridges Christmas advertising campaign. The gains in this collaboration have primarily been for the porn industry, which has gained new young audiences and markets.

What we have now is what I call ‘Pimp and Ho chic’, with all aspects of the sex industry presented as hip and cool. Pole dancing as exercise, lap dancing clubs as places to see celebrities, Pimp of the Year Award, Pimp and Ho fancy dress Balls, websites promoting ‘pimp’ culture, and the every day use of the words ‘b**ch’ and ‘ho’ to refer to women, including girlfriends, are just some of the examples I have come across.

Pamela Paul’s recent book ‘Pornified’ asks whether porn has become a safe haven for men where they can still feel they are dominant. The compulsive consumers among the 80 young men interviewed described their girlfriends as boring, and sex with images as more satisfying. What do women and girls gain (or more accurately loose) when liberation and empowerment are reduced to sexual display, consumerism and commodification? How did porn get to be hip, pimps to be cool and feminism become a dirty word?

Obviously, those who are not completely out of the feminist woods cannot see that birth control and abortion turn sex (and thereby women) into just another consumer good that needs to be well-packaged and cutting edge. On the bright side, these researchers are beginning to connect the dots and should be commended. The point about the mainstreaming of porn is essential.

Example: how about the ridiculous pizza commercial shown widely on the Olympic games that has Nicole Simpson slithering into a restaurant to give some "delight on a tray" to a slobbering adolescent boy (with smiling parents looking on). "Where's the remote!!" bellows the husband-unit each time, thankfully.

"But Daaaaaaaaad, it's Jessica Simpson!" pipe the idiot children, as though the seas ought to part. That's the point exactly.

Kudos to the mother-unit!

This young whipper-snapper (a mere college senior) has thrown the book at the V. Monologues and we can settle now that it's all been said.

It’s been said that with enough time and typewriters, monkeys would eventually compose the works of Shakespeare. Experimental trials have yet to give us Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, or anything else from the Bard’s corpus, but they did provide the script for The [V.] Monologues.

Oh wait, that was written by Eve Ensler. My mistake.

Saucy fellow has ripped them to shreds and then woven the pieces into a razzle-dazzle frock to cover their sins if they so wish.

Despite its vulgarity, the play’s greatest offense against my taste was the puerility of its writing. Ensler apparently interviewed women, regurgitated what they said in a putrid, half-digested mess, and didn't edit. As for the rest, she made it up.

For all of it, her truths, half-truths, and fictions, she claimed a mystical inspiration, “I definitely do not remember writing the piece. Simply put, I was taken – used by the [V.] Queens.” Here is the feminist canon, inspired not by the Holy Spirit, but by the Holy Orgasm.

I do not exaggerate.

If our sensibilities are ruffled by his crude references, remember that he's only reacting to the potty-mouths, who themselves delight in shrieking bad words to scads of strangers and calling it art. He brings to light a marvelous quote by Malcolm Muggeridge, who evidently stated:

“Sex is the only mysticism materialism offers.”

Touche -- that explains a lot. And this lad has the added sense to remind us of the wisdom of Jane Austen, who wrote marvelously on women, men, and the human condition in a way that pointed to the heavens, instead of the local gutter.

Would that he is a true harbinger of what we can look for in the next generation of young men -- men who know where to find authentic femininity and give it their undying support. (You know he must have had a marvelous mother to arrive here! Good work, Mrs. Blake!)