I'm certain that you've faced this question n+ times already, so, if you can, be patient in answering - how do you address the idea that, as a man, espousing essentialism, in a tradition that, eloquent apologetics aside, has in practice been rather sexist (I'm a girl, raised Catholic. I have the baggage), you are...doing something rather cruel?
It's one thing to say, intellectually, that women should feel "equal." But...just by being a Catholic you also understand that we aren't just intellectual creatures, we process information in more ways than just intellectually. So. When the experience of women in the Church is, in so many ways, one of cruelty, one of being banned and barred and excluded, how can you give your explanation of the choice of men only with such apparent simplicity and ease?
It is very simple to say, "oh, how silly of you to be in pain." But that doesn't make the pain less real. It just punishes doubly the person who's in it.
What steps do you take to ensure that your answer holds also compassion, not merely tidy explanation?
Again, I don't mean to...I mean, I know, how often this must have been put to you before! But, that St. Catherine rebuked the Pope is of cold if any comfort to the women of Africa who have AIDS because of their husbands, &c, &c, &c.
There's a difference between the humility that one chooses and the humility that is imposed & enforced. The Catholic Church, in my observation, prefers the latter. Especially with regard to women.
Humility, magnaminity, teaching, these are power relations that...are not made more beautiful when the power is abused.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-04-10 04:07 pm (UTC)It's one thing to say, intellectually, that women should feel "equal." But...just by being a Catholic you also understand that we aren't just intellectual creatures, we process information in more ways than just intellectually. So. When the experience of women in the Church is, in so many ways, one of cruelty, one of being banned and barred and excluded, how can you give your explanation of the choice of men only with such apparent simplicity and ease?
It is very simple to say, "oh, how silly of you to be in pain." But that doesn't make the pain less real. It just punishes doubly the person who's in it.
What steps do you take to ensure that your answer holds also compassion, not merely tidy explanation?
Again, I don't mean to...I mean, I know, how often this must have been put to you before! But, that St. Catherine rebuked the Pope is of cold if any comfort to the women of Africa who have AIDS because of their husbands, &c, &c, &c.
There's a difference between the humility that one chooses and the humility that is imposed & enforced. The Catholic Church, in my observation, prefers the latter. Especially with regard to women.
Humility, magnaminity, teaching, these are power relations that...are not made more beautiful when the power is abused.
I type, obviously.