feminine-genius

A most delightful story

Few know that the Anglican Church has nuns, and now they have ten fewer than before:

After seven years of prayer and discernment, a community of Episcopal nuns and their chaplain will be received into the Roman Catholic Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien.

The archbishop will welcome 10 sisters from the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor when he administers the sacrament of confirmation and the sisters renew their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the chapel of their Catonsville convent.

Episcopal Father Warren Tanghe will also be received into the church and is discerning the possibility of becoming a Catholic priest. 

“For us, this is a journey of confirmation,” Mother Christina said. “We felt God was leading us in this direction for a long time.”

When they say a long time, they mean it, for their discernment was the result of tremendous systematic study and investigation:

Mother Christina Christie, superior of the religious community, said the sisters are “very excited” about joining the Catholic Church and have been closely studying the church’s teachings for years... Members of the community range in age from 59 to 94.

Before deciding to enter the Catholic Church, the sisters had explored Episcopal splinter groups and other Christian denominations. Mother Christina noted that the sisters had independently contemplated joining the Catholic Church without the others knowing. When they found out that most of them were considering the same move, they took it as a sign from God and reached out to Archbishop O’Brien.

“This is very much the work of the Holy Spirit,” Mother Christina said.

It is quite fascinating that their faith hasn't changed over the decades (except their understanding of papal infallibility, which was more of a misunderstanding, most likely). They have consistently held to a faith that is substantively Catholic while living in a religious body that has slid out from under them. Heroically, they thought they could hold the line, but eventually the scandal of what their hierarchy was doing undermined their own work and confused the wider world about their mission.

It came down to the Icon they were called to image. While they were each individually faithful, zealous and industrious witnesses, they couldn't attach themselves unreservedly to their church as the perfect model of bridal fidelity. They discovered that their fidelity, even heroically lived, couldn't pull their church back on track, because the Anglican hierarchy has only the most ephemeral ties to its original identity. Ultimately, their personal vocations couldn't echo the deeper reality that the Church must be -- unless they were lived within the authentic relationship to the vicar of Christ, whose authority has been entrusted to him by the Bridegroom.

It's lovely that their priest is completing the journey with them and that so many in the Baltimore archdiocese are waiting with open arms (and liturgical accomodations). God is patient, because He is the perfect Lover. Welcome home, dears!

Wednesday Woes VI

Many Americans have died in Afghanistan to bring democracy to the region. That concept isn't working out any better for women in that country than other forms of government -- it's the indigenous religion that weighs on them and it's being translated into oppressive laws.

An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

The original bill caused outrage earlier this year, forcing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to withdraw it. But critics say the amended version of the law remains highly repressive. They accuse Mr Karzai of selling out Afghan women for the sake of conservative Shia support at next week's presidential election.

"What matters more to Karzai is the support of fundamentalists and hardliners here in Afghanistan whose support he thinks he needs in the elections."

Women's groups say its new wording still violates the principle of equality that is enshrined in their constitution. It allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands; a woman must get her husband's permission to work; and fathers and grandfathers are given exclusive custody of children.

The law seems to apply only to the Shia minority in that country, but it reveals how expendible women's dignity is in that region. To extrapolate further on who, exactly, will be affected by laws about marriage, consider the wider culture and the marriage of children.

No just society can be built on families that do not honour all members.

"All I can do is pray for her"

I found this interview with Jenny Sanford very very good.

For now, the first lady of South Carolina is groping for the high road and trying to keep an open mind. “If you don’t forgive,” she says, “you become angry and bitter. I don’t want to become that. I am not in charge of revenge. That’s not up to me. That’s for the Lord to decide, and it’s important for me to teach that to my boys. All I can do is forgive. Reconciliation is something else, and that is going to be a harder road. I have put my heart and soul into being a good mother and wife. Now I think it’s up to my husband to do the soul-searching to see if he wants to stay married. The ball is in his court.”

I've only followed the saga from a distance, but this tells me all I need to know. She certainly understands the nature of forgiveness, which seems to have provided her with the clarity of judgement that she needs in this difficult situation. (Those who misunderstand it will see that forgiveness doesn't equal doormat.) Bless this family and guide them Lord. And let us all learn as we go forward.

Colouring a dark world

Having seen that one of his prisoners could draw very well, Doctor of Death Joseph Mengele used her consistently to document his work, saving her and her mother from death in exchange. Annemarie Dinah Gottliebova, a Jewish girl from Czechoslovakia, was a talented artist caught up in the horror of Auschwitz, where she spent over three years. Each painting was only a respite for both artist and model:

The work was, in some respects, a welcome relief from the agonies of the camp. "It was an escape for me, you know," she said later. "You don't know what it feels like to be hungry without any chance of appeasing it. It's a physical pain in your stomach. So I was sitting there, painting, and for a moment I could forget about all that."

Mengele provided her with a pad, watercolours and two chairs – one to use as an easel, the other for her subjects to sit on. Among them was a girl called Celine, painted wearing a blue scarf. "She had just lost her baby, it was two months old and it starved to death. She had no milk, there was no way she could feed it. Luckily Mengele sent his orderly, who was bringing me my soup every day, to bring me white bread, which I could share – I gave it to Celine, of course. And therefore I painted her slowly, because I wanted to be with her as long as possible. So I think it took about a week to do Celine."

For Dina Babbitt and her mother, the paintings did indeed prove a lifeline. But the works could not save Celine or any of those painted, all of whom were murdered after they had posed for the artist.

She spent years trying to recover her paintings after discovering that they had been saved and sold to a Holocaust Museum.

Though Dina Babbitt travelled to Auschwitz in 1973, and was presented with photographic reproductions of her work, she was not able to claim ownership of the originals. Before her death, the museum, in a statement, said it "fully understands [her] emotional attitude" but "is profoundly convinced that the watercolours should remain in Oswiecim" for educational purposes.

In her last years, Dina Babbitt's campaign to recover her paintings attracted increasing attention in America, and she received support from politicians and fellow artists. Her daughter said: "The museum's refusal to release the paintings to Dina began her re-incarceration as a spiritual hostage of the Auschwitz Death Camp."

As Our Lady kept all things in her heart, this woman saved the imprint of the image and likeness of so many in another way. May she see the vibrancy of that truth for the ages. RIP.

That "small dash"

LifeSiteNews provides this tremendous account by Patrick Craine:

August 17, 2009 - The mother who wrote last August sharing her choice of life for her unborn son with fetal abnormalities has written now, a year later, to share the powerful and moving story of her son's 'brief, beautiful life.'  Her letter was published in the Ottawa Citizen on Friday.

Last summer Genevieve Lanigan wrote to LifeSiteNews.com and Dr. Margaret Somerville, one of Canada's leading ethicists, to share her experience of choosing life for her unborn child. Genevieve and her husband, Barry, had discovered with great joy after 7 months of marriage that they were expecting. While Genevieve's pregnancy appeared to be progressing healthily, the couple were shocked to find out after their scheduled 20-week ultrasound that their child suffered from a hole in his brain stem, fluid in his brain, and a severe heart condition. 

Genevieve, a practicing Catholic and a teacher in a Catholic school, recounted how she was offered a 'termination' from her doctor, a 'treatment' that statistics show is all-too-often offered and accepted. In the case of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome for instance, the abortion rate is as high as 95% in some Western countries. For Gevenieve, however, "[this] was not an option."

The expectant mother persevered in choosing life, not knowing how long her child would live.  "The little one in my womb is moving around, kicking his mother, and hopefully enjoying a refreshing swim," she wrote at the time.  "I am carrying this baby as long as he will let me, and will not be the killing hand."

Pledging not to pursue extraordinary means, she said, "Our prayer is simple: That we will get to meet our little one, tell him that we love him, and watch him fall deep into a sleep that will bring him to heaven."

Genevieve wrote to Citizen readers on Friday, responding to requests from readers to find out the end of the story. "Dr. Somerville has told me that many people have been wondering how the pregnancy ended," she writes.  "So, I would like to tell you that part of our story, which I lovingly sum up as 'A Beautiful Life: 30 Days of Pure Love.'"

In early September 2008, less than a month after her first letter, Genevieve went into labour, at around 35 weeks gestation.  "At 11:30 p.m.," she says, "4-lbs.-11-oz. Joseph Earl Francis was born via C-section and handed directly to his father, breathing on his own, and heart beating strongly. Barry and I quickly fell even more in love with him."

Kept in hospital for several days after the birth, little Joseph "was the centre of attention for each of his visitors who held and kissed him all hours of the day and night."

"On the Monday following his birth ... we were able to take Joseph home to live out the rest of his life and to die peacefully," she says.  "Once a week, members of a palliative care team visited Joseph, assessed his heart and lungs, and helped us to prepare for his death."

"For three weeks at home in Rockport," she goes on, "Joseph continued to astound people with his perfectness and gentleness as he had at the hospital.  His popularity never dwindled and he was held without complaint almost all of his life. He made valiant efforts to nurse and we felt he was fully present with family and friends."

Joseph's life, though brief, was filled with joy.  "For each day of his life, Joseph entertained no less than two visitors a day, was read to, sang to, and told over and over again that he was the cutest baby in the whole wide world," Genevieve says.

Loved and nurtured by his family, Joseph's pain worsened leading up to his death.  "On the weekend before his death," she recounts, "Joseph struggled with the pain he must have felt from the worsening of his head condition that caused both the shape of his skull and weight of his head to change. Two days before his death he was given morphine for pain, and though he still seemed somewhat content, it was clear that his time on earth would soon end.

"At 11:30 a.m. on the first day of October 2008," she says, "after being read to and kissed by many of his family members, Joseph went to rest forever in his daddy's arms."

"The 30 days of our son's life will never be forgotten by our family and the many friends who supported us on our journey," she says.  "Looking back, we regret nothing. ... We are pleased that we gave him the chance to live and that we loved him the best way we knew how. ... Sad as we are to live without him, we feel grateful that he is a saint in Heaven, bearing no pain and feeling ultimate love."

She concludes her letter by reflecting on the comments of a friend, who "thinks the small dash on gravestones that indicates the 'between' of birth and death can explode with meaning depending on the life attitude one chooses."

"Upon reflection," she says, "I figure that regardless of the short distance between the dates before and after his dash, Joseph's dash counts because it signifies love; love to stay living inside my womb, love to meet us; love to fight for his life; and love to die peacefully when it was time. His was a beautiful life -- 30 days of pure love that sure did count."

 

From a dedicated gender feminist

This will surprise very few of you:

Now that I am at home with [my children] my style has relaxed quite a bit.  I spend most days in shorts and a t-shirt because it is comfortable and suits my lifestyle.  I recently ordered a summer skirt from e-bay.  I love long flowing skirts but have not actually bought one in a long time.  Each time they see me wearing it, their eyes get as big as saucers and they are both quick to tell me how pretty I look. The baby in particular loves it when I wear anything pink.

Though we have tried to raise the boys in a gender neutral manner, they have still internalized many ideas about what it means to be male or female.  This can materialize in their chants of penis power, or telling me how much they love it when I wear “girl clothes”.  We have tried to impart the idea that there is nothing inherently female about a beautiful blouse or a skirt but it’s not like the unhusband is going to put one on to reiterate the point. [snip]

As we parent, even in the most aware households, we actively teach gender.  For my boys, pink and long flowing skirts represent femininity.  As their mother and female role model, it is comforting to them, to see me perform womanhood as they have seen in the media and their interactions with the outside world. 

No matter how we try to disturb gender roles in our home, they have been indoctrinated like everyone else.  I have come to understand that one cannot completely erase the concept of gender because we all perform it in various ways.  Perhaps, what is more important is thinking critically about the limitations we impose because of our understanding of gender. Realizing that though we are trained to believe that some acts are inherently female may not necessarily be bad as long as we understand that these are equally important to that which we consider inherently male. This does to some degree mean embracing an essentialist view of gender, however; I am not sure at this point, that there is any other way to negotiate it differently for young children.

Now, I would argue that the "indoctrination" that she bewails is actually a form of hard-wiring. I would even suggest that, despite her efforts to the contrary, she's hard-wired to melt a little at her children's delight in her beauty. That is why the last couple of sentences -- I submit -- are very different than what she thought or would have written pre-children. (I have no way of knowing, 'tis true.) My guess is the "femininity is a social construct has melted a little into "femininity is equally important" -- about which we would agree.

[I'm not providing link because I don't want to start a cat fight; I just want you to know what cultures are created in other homes, for kids to deal with.]

UPDATE: Now that I've wandered about a bit with this post in my head, another thought occurs to me. There is a similarity between these gender feminists and Christians -- both try to deconstruct the popular culture. While we remind our children at every turn that the materialism and pan-sexuality that they see in movies, hear about in their music and follow in the tabloids isn't God's will for His children, the gender feminists are telling their children that male and female are not what they appear to be. While we don't want our children to bring home confused notions about lust, other parents are more worried that their children might think that dresses are for girls. We're both swimming upstream, but two different rivers. At least I get a sense of their level of frustration.

The oldest Marian feast

"The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest Marian Feast, returns every year in the heart of summer. It is an opportunity to rise with Mary to the heights of the spirit where one breathes the pure air of supernatural life and contemplates the most authentic beauty, the beauty of holiness. The atmosphere of today’s celebration is steeped in paschal joy. 'Today,' the antiphon of the Magnificat says, 'the Virgin Mary was taken up to Heaven. Rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever. Alleluia.' This proclamation speaks to us of an event that is utterly unique and extraordinary, yet destined to fill the heart of every human being with hope and happiness. Mary is indeed the first fruit of the new humanity, the creature in whom the mystery of Christ - his Incarnation, death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven - has already fully taken effect, redeeming her from death and conveying her, body and soul, to the Kingdom of immortal life. For this reason, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, the Virgin Mary is a sign of certain hope and comfort to us (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 68). Today’s feast impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself. God is Heaven. He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving" (Benedict XVI, Homily from 15 August, 2008).

A commendable legacy

[Just revisiting this briefly since finding an excellent article noted in the update below.]

Eunice Shriver, fifth of the nine children of Joseph Kennedy, is being buried today. A handicapped sister Rosemary, had an extraordinary influence on her life and has led to many helpful resources to other families with similar challenges:

Eunice's sister Rosemary, her senior by three years, had been born with a mild mental handicap. In those days, the presence of a mentally handicapped child in a family could be a cause of embarrassment, and although the Kennedys kept Rosemary at home, they concealed her condition from the outside world. As she grew into adulthood, Rosemary became, in Eunice's words, "increasingly irritable and difficult", and in 1941 – without consulting any other member of the family – Joe Kennedy decided that Rosemary should have a prefrontal lobotomy, a new and apparently "miraculous" surgical procedure which, he had been assured, would leave her mental functions intact while eliminating her aggressive behaviour. In the event, the operation left her so severely brain-damaged that she had to be removed to a special institution (she eventually died in 2005, aged 86). The family told inquiring reporters that she was living in a convent.

The experience had a profound effect on Joseph Kennedy, and on Eunice, who had always been close to her sister. In 1946 he created the Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation (named after a son who had died in the war) to help mentally handicapped people, and 10 years later he appointed Eunice (by now married to the politician Sargent Shriver) the foundation's vice-president.

In this role she toured the United States, seeking out the small number of experts willing to challenge "out of sight, out of mind" attitudes to the mentally handicapped and visiting the notorious "snake-pits" – remote institutions where mentally handicapped children and adults were herded into bleak, overcrowded wards often containing 100 or more people. "There was a complete lack of interest in them and lack of knowledge about their capacities", she later recalled. "They were isolated because their families were embarrassed and the public were prejudiced."

When her elder brother John entered the White House in 1961, Eunice Kennedy Shriver persuaded him to establish a task force to devise a legislative programme to improve services for the mentally handicapped, and suggested the creation of new research centres to improve understanding and treatment.

May this generosity redound to her credit, and Jesus have mercy on her soul. 

UPDATE: Father Roger Landry has written an essay that describes more specifically her pro-life work, which was often at loggerheads with her family and their political party:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver had the integrity and the pluck to remain publicly pro-life even when, sadly, her Democratic party, several of the members of her family, many of those in her social circle and even some misguided fellow Catholics did not. Among the many things she did to advance the pro-life cause, she hosted receptions in her home to honor pro-life stalwarts, like Mary Cunningham Agee of the Nurturing Network. With her husband, Robert Sargent Shriver, she provided crucial advice and encouragement to the founders of Feminists for Life, an organization from which Kennedy Shriver received the Remarkable Pro-Life Woman award in 1998. When the National Abortion Rights Action League published an advertisement manipulating her brother John F. Kennedy’s words in favor of their abortion advocacy, she published a letter in the New York Times in which she not only defended her brother but the U.S. bishops’ pro-life work, describing why it was not at all a violation of the principle of the separation of Church. In 1992, she was one of several prominent Democrats to sign a letter to the New York Times protesting the pro-abortion plank in the Democratic Party platform. She was a supporter of Democrats for Life for America, the Susan B. Anthony List and Feminists for life.

The irony of our medical advances is that techniques which could do so much good are often abused:

The scientific research into Down’s Syndrome led to the discovery that it is caused by the presence of a third 21st chromosome. That knowledge, however, rather than being put exclusively to finding a cure, has been developed into tests to assay the presence of Down’s Syndrome in a child in the womb. While such knowledge could be used to help a couple prepare to welcome a child with special needs, it is being used mainly for destruction. Recent scientific surveys have shown that over 90% of parents who receive a diagnosis that their unborn boy or girl has Down’s choose to abort. This is a far cry from Shriver’s advice to couples in 1964 about how they should react when they find out that a child is mentally-handicapped: “Be proud of him as a member of the family. Give him love, love, love.”

Perhaps she can intercede on this particular point, since there is so much need for authentic enlightenment.