feminine-genius

Radio interview

Had a lovely chat with Wendy Wiese today on Relevant Rado concerning my latest project: the 25th anniversary edition of Mulieris Dignitatem ("On the Dignity and Vocation of Women"). Consider this book as a Christmas gift, and perhaps 2014 would be the right time for a women's retreat to consider these beautiful themes. 

[By the way, didn't expect to be asked about women in combat, but I've written extensively on that topic. Look on the left sidebar under "categories," or begin with this column at the main site. The latest on this tragic form of "gender diversity" from Elaine Donnelly is here.]

ADDENDUM: In the interview, I mentioned an early Church Father who wrote so beautifully about the Blessed Mother but I was having a "senior moment" and couldn't think of his name. He  Jacob of Serug(h), who can be found here.

"Shrews pleading for taming"

While I've been toying with theology a good while, and pondering the vocation of woman, I admit my blind spot is the popular culture which I avoid as much as possible. Thus, I admire this writer who has slogged through a vulgar rant to find some jewels about those who misunderstand femininity. The piece she read was called “The Case Against Female Self Esteem,” and the man who wrote it was fed up with the women he encountered. She summarises his response here:

In a nutshell, the author lists reasons why strong and confident women are repellant and unattractive. Women should be insecure, he argues, because insecurity is integral to femininity. Insecurity leads to vulnerability and vulnerability is paramount within relationships. Tell your feminist ideals to shove off! You ladies know that all this independence and confidence is not for you. He concludes with this quote: “There’s no such thing as a strong, independent woman, only shrews pleading for taming.”

The writer, Sarah Gould, then goes on to dismantle his caricature, highlighting three categories of women: the post-modern feminist (who seems to despise both masculinity and femininity) and the Jersey Shore babe (who only needs men for "sex and admiration"). Is it any wonder, she asks, that faced with these two monstrosities that he opts for the third type, which Ms Gould calls the "needy leech"? 

If you are a woman and you see a little bit of yourself in each one of these stereotypes, don’t be alarmed. I see a bit of myself in each of them too and that, as I came to understand, is precisely my point. All caricatures contain a fragment of reality wrapped within scads of exaggeration. Real femininity, as God meant it to be, is a bit like all of these women. But only a bit. Women are meant to be hard and soft...  I do believe that women are meant to be vulnerable. But vulnerability should never, ever be based in fear, self-doubt, or insecurity. Vulnerability should be anchored firmly in the Lord.

She has excellent insights and illustrations. I love seeing Christians take on their contemporary world to show--even in the unlikeliest of places--the ubiquitous thirst for God and for authentic companionship. 

[Crikey! Looking for a modest picture of the JS ladies wasn't easy...]

A decade in Persia

For years now, I've been trying to cover the interesting lives I find in the obituaries around the world, but I missed the passing of this woman, who was used as a backdrop in one of Mark Steyn's older columns. Princess Fawzia Fuad was the first wife of Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, although their marriage only lasted a few years.

Princess Fawzia bint Fuad was born on November 5 1921 at Ras al-Tin Palace in Alexandria, the eldest daughter of King Fuad and his second wife, Nazli Sabri, and grew up in royal palaces and gardens, shielded from the outside world by an English governess.

A shy, pretty girl with blue eyes and black hair, she was described by the Egyptian writer and courtier Adel Sabit as a “supremely naive, over-protected, cellophane-wrapped, gift-packaged little girl” who lived “in bucolic surroundings, mobbed by adoring servants, aunts and ladies-in-waiting”.

She was 17 when the match with the young Iranian crown prince was first discussed. By this time she had been educated in Switzerland, and she enjoyed socialising, European fashion, and had never worn the veil. But once back in Egypt, her status as royal princess allowed her little freedom. “Fawzia was in those days virtually a prisoner in her mother’s houseboat on the Nile,” Adel Sabit wrote. “She rarely went out, and when she did she was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting and retainers. At a time when all other young girls were enjoying a relative freedom, Fawzia, by virtue of her position, was closely hemmed in.”

Marriage to a foreign prince seemed like a way out — or at least something different.

There was a language barrier, a religous barrier (he was Sunni, she was a Shi'ite), and there was the difference in countries. We may see the Middle East as a blurry whole, but there are wide diversities in the respective cultures. And then there was the standard in-law challenge that is often exacerbated by power and influence.

Despite having given birth to a little girl, by 1948 she had returned to Egypt alone, divorced after a few years, and remarried. The circumstances of her departure meant that she lost contact with her daughter, Princess Shahnaz, and I don't know if they ever reconciled. (Of course, the daughters life changed forever in 1979 with the fall of her father's dynasty.)

We've learned our lesson well concerning the gilded cages in which many royals live. This woman's life was no different, but goodness she was beautiful. She died this summer at the age of 91. May she rest in peace.

The "equalisters" are watching

While at first glance, the new feminist rating system out of Sweden appears to be so much nonsense, it is actually rather interesting, and one I may tuck into the back of my head for a while to see what I may have been missing. It involves the following:

To get an "A" rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

Hahahaha.

No really, what do women talk about -- have I missed something? Does it mean they can talk about anything other than men (like fashion, babies, or aging parents) or does it mean that they have to talk about engineering, political theory, or metaphysics? Or how to bring down the boss? It would seem the latter:

Beliefs about women's roles in society are influenced by the fact that movie watchers rarely see "a female superhero or a female professor or person who makes it through exciting challenges and masters them," Tejle said, noting that the rating doesn't say anything about the quality of the film. "The goal is to see more female stories and perspectives on cinema screens."

Wow, how many films have we seen concerning "exciting challenges" for women. And yet saying that they cannot talk about men means that there's half the human race that they're obliged to ignore, which isn't quite the complimentarity that the ideal society should foster. Presuming that romantic interests are too shallow for the test, it would seem that their conversations must also preclude fathers, brothers, and sons. Doesn't this sound remarkably stilted and sexist on its own?

Remarkably, the Lord of the Rings trilogy failed the test, as did Star Wars, most of the Harry Potter films, Pulp Fiction and The Social Network, what passes?

The state-funded Swedish Film Institute supports the initiative, which is starting to catch on. Scandinavian cable TV channel Viasat Film says it will start using the ratings in its film reviews and has scheduled an "A" rated "Super Sunday" on Nov. 17, when it will show only films that pass the test, such as "The Hunger Games," "The Iron Lady" and "Savages."

It would seem, then, that there's more than just boy talk that causes a film to flunk and a girl power theme must pervade the story. In essence, the bulk of women who like chick flicks seem to have been duped into paying to watch their own slavery on the screen, and this standard (created by the cartoonist who penned "Dykes to Watch Out For" in 1985) will help to socially reengineer the masses.

Good luck with that, but in the meantime, I may take a few notes of my own along these lines.

Of crocuses and little things

Local luminary (lucky us!) Anthony Esolen has a lovely piece on the persistence of nature to reassert itself, despite the world's efforts to pave it over (literally). The premise of the topic was the contemporary effort to depersonalise intimacy, to masque our humanity, and to separate morality from the deepest questions we face, as illustrated by the modern university campus. In the face of all the temptations, one good soul broke through the darkness:

One of their questions remains with me still, as much for its content as for the person who asked it, and the manner in which she asked.  “How can we women help our men to avoid or to overcome this evil?  What can we do to help them be better men?”

Suppose a man walking for years and years on an endless stretch of gray, nothing but asphalt and rubble and dust, mile after monotonous mile; if he should suddenly see a crocus poking through the rocks, spreading its humble yellow bloom to the air; or should hear a trickle of fresh water spilling over a tumbled ruin; with the same grateful heart I greeted that question, the like of which I have not heard from a college student or a professor in thirty years.  The question was asked with love, not scorn; with admiration for men as men.

Dear friends, that is the heart of our vocation. Since a woman's vocation is to receive the human person, she is likewise called to direct each person to his supernatural end. As an icon of the Church, each woman is charged with using her spiritual motherhood to lead souls to Christ, in Whom they are transformed and renewed. 

For guidance in such matters, both books deal with the specific details: The Authentic Catholic Woman and Set Free: The Authentic Catholic Woman's Guide to Forgiveness. Let's begin to sunder the dark asphalt with the light of femininity well-lived!

Dire straits for widows

Punita Devi isn't a widow yet, but it looks like she will be soon. Her husband has been found guilty of a heinous crime and sentenced to death. Her parents say she cannot return home for they cannot support her and her young son; her in-laws with whom she lives now indicate that she is no longer welcome. She has little education, no skills, and lives in a part of India where women are not supposed to leave the home, much less find jobs.

In the village where Ms. Devi lives in eastern Bihar state with her husband's family, women are kept veiled and largely secluded. They can't leave home without a male relative. Ms. Devi must wait until dark simply to go into the field behind her house to defecate.

"A woman going out for work is not in our tradition," says Vinay Singh, Mr. Singh's older brother. Ms. Devi's mother-in-law, Malati Devi, is blunter. "In our family, women die at home. They never venture outside," she says.

Add to this the shame of her husband's conviction, and the future looks rather bleak. The guilt of her husband is questionable, and the high-profile case which spread horror world-wide placed enormous pressure on authorities to find the culprits and punish them severely.

The tragedy, following on the heels of several other publicised attacks on women, highlights the overall lack of safety for Indian women, the limited options and widespread poverty that will not let up its stranglehold on much of the population, and the traditional constraints that show no sign of changing in the countryside. So many families live on the knife's edge of survival, and crises like these send them into the abyss.

Prayers for everyone involved, the souls of the men as they face eternity, the families of the victimes that they find the grace to forgive, and for those who remain, that they find a way forward.

Lady Alice

The Church has extended a remarkable honour to one of our contemporary treasures, and I couldn't be happier in the choice. On the occasion of her 90th birthday, Dr Alice von Hildebrand was invested as a Dame Grand Cross of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great, which would have a tremendous meaning for one who was devoted to both Pope Saint Gregory and the Benedictine tradition.

Cardinal Burke, prefect of the Vatican Signatura – the highest judicial body in the Church – said in a keynote address that both Dietrich von Hildebrand, a professor at Fordham University, and his wife, who taught philosophy for 37 years at Hunter College in NY, faithfully carried out the role of Catholic educators in engendering in students the “listening heart” that leads one to the fullness of truth in the Catholic faith.

“So often today, we find individual Catholics as well as Catholic endeavors and institutions in the state of some confusion or even error about their Catholic identity,” he said. “In particular, a notion of tolerance of ways of thinking and acting contrary to Catholic teaching and morals seemingly has become the interpretative key of many of our Catholic activities. This notion is not securely grounded in the moral tradition, but it tends to dominate our approach to the extent that we end up claiming to be Catholic while tolerating ways of thinking and acting which are diametrically opposed to the moral law and therefore to the Catholic faith.”

Imagine her tenacity in not compromising her faith even in such a secular setting, with its pressures and constraints!

The cardinal said that Alice von Hildebrand “tirelessly gives witness to the truth of the faith through the witness of her life and through her speaking and writing. … So many students were drawn to Christ and assisted in receiving faith in him who alone is our salvation. She truly loved her students, and therefore wanted them to know the truth and its living source in God.”

Alice von Hildebrand has said that she never sought to proselytize her students, but that simply teaching that there is an objective truth that can be known led many to the Catholic faith.

“There’s a whole passel of former students who are her godchildren, and for every one of them dozens of others, if not hundreds who owed so much to her intellectually and spiritually,” Block continued. “Her wit and generosity were the sugar that made the medicine go down. The medicine was the truth, the salubrious truth that was her gift to us in a world that was so stingy about it.”

Consider the spiritual motherhood at work in that very classroom, and how her active and listening heart won over so many souls to the truth. Truth and beauty speak a language of dignity and consistency, which must have been present even in the indifferent halls of Hunter College. Her integrity of character is tremendously inspiring, showing us that there is no setting where maternal wisdom cannot shine.

While Pope Francis seems to think that we need a new "theology of women," it seems that the theology surrounding the truth of God is sufficient to form young men and women--even today. Dame Alice always sensed that, and used her classroom as a "seat of wisdom." Hearty congratulations to this fine woman!

"Where is the Christian conscience?"

Interestingly, today's reading was about the Mystical Body of Christ:

Brothers and sisters: We, though many, are one Body in Christ and individually parts of one another (Romans 12:5).

and then we read about this:

The bodies of 30 Christian civilians, including women and children, killed by Islamist militias, have been found in two separate mass graves, in the city of Sadad. The number of Christian civilians confirmed dead in this small town halfway between Homs and Damascus has reached 45. Many are injured and several are missing.

The city of Sadad, a Christian settlement, was invaded and occupied by Islamist militias on 21 October. It was recaptured in recent days by the Syrian regular army. When the representatives of the Patriarchate and families of the victims returned to their town they found to their horror two mass graves, where they found the bodies of their relatives and friends. In an atmosphere of grief, outrage and emotion, the funerals of the 30 Christians were celebrated by Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama.
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According to eyewitnesses, many of the civilians were killed by militia gangs of 'Al- Nusra Front' and 'Daash'. The city has been completely destroyed and looted. Some of the militants who invaded the city were holed up in the Syriac Orthodox Church of St Theodore, which was profaned. Sadad is an ancient Syriac village which dates back to 2000 BC located in the region of Qalamoon, north of Damascus. It had 14 churches, a monastery, temples, historic landmarks and archaeological sites.

Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh said: "What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two and a half years... 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing.

"For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women. Some of them fled on foot travelling eight kilometres from Sadad to Al-Hafer to find refuge. About 2,500 families fled from Sadad, taking only their clothes, due to the irruption of armed groups and today they are refugees scattered between Damascus, Homs, Fayrouza, Zaydal, Maskane, and Al-Fhayle".

The Archbishop said: "There is no electricity, water and telephone in the city. All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture. Schools, government buildings, municipal buildings have been destroyed, along with the post office, the hospital and the clinic".

"What happened in Sadad" he said "is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010".

Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh concluded: "We have shouted [for] aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers? I think of all those who are suffering today in mourning and discomfort: We ask everyone to pray for us".