Christian Sexual Ethics

[FaustinaVianney]

In my Christian Sexual Ethics class today the professor wrote my response on the board for feminisim. She told us to brainstorm and write down what first came to our mind when we hear the word feminism. This is what I wrote:

When I first think of femininism I have a negative reaction. I think of the women that believe they have the right to do whatever they want-not that they can't do everything, but we all have a role in life to fulfill. Most of these women need to ask themselves who they are and embrace that.

Now, I didn't have time to complete my thoughts and explain myself, but my professor said that it was very ambiguous just like Pope John Paul II in his letter to the women's conference in Beijing in 1995. She said that you can't say women have roles in society and that they can do whatever they want. She says it is contradictory. I completely disagree. She seems to think that an important role in society means a function like to be CEO of a company, etc. She doesn't realize that every role in society is important. You don't have to be famous or have an amesome career to be an important part of society, one must be true to who they are. Women like this are suppressing themselves by not embracing what women truly are. They think they must be able to do all the things that males do to be equal, when that is completely false. To be equal is to have others understand the importance of motherhood and of women in the society. Look at Mother Mary, she wasn't the head of the Church, she wasn't one of the twelve apostles, she wasn't ordained priest, she wasn't at the Last Supper. She was a mother and encouraged her Son. She was true to what God had called her to do.

Okay, now I might not have said these things in the right way, but I just wanted to say that a role in society isn't equal to a function or a right to do certain things. A role in society is accepting what gender you are and embracing what it is to be of that gender. Male and Female He created us. Not all males or all females, so to have two distinct sexes means that there are certain roles in life. Accept it.

What do y'all think about feminism? I'm not looking for a debate...

God Bless!!! :) :)

[Confessionator741]

In my Christian Sexual Ethics class today the professor wrote my response on the board for feminisim. She told us to brainstorm and write down what first came to our mind when we hear the word feminism. This is what I wrote:

Now, I didn't have time to complete my thoughts and explain myself, but my professor said that it was very ambiguous just like Pope John Paul II in his letter to the women's conference in Beijing in 1995. She said that you can't say women have roles in society and that they can do whatever they want. She says it is contradictory. I completely disagree. She seems to think that an important role in society means a function like to be CEO of a company, etc. She doesn't realize that every role in society is important. You don't have to be famous or have an amesome career to be an important part of society, one must be true to who they are. Women like this are suppressing themselves by not embracing what women truly are. They think they must be able to do all the things that males do to be equal, when that is completely false. To be equal is to have others understand the importance of motherhood and of women in the society. Look at Mother Mary, she wasn't the head of the Church, she wasn't one of the twelve apostles, she wasn't ordained priest, she wasn't at the Last Supper. She was a mother and encouraged her Son. She was true to what God had called her to do.

Okay, now I might not have said these things in the right way, but I just wanted to say that a role in society isn't equal to a function or a right to do certain things. A role in society is accepting what gender you are and embracing what it is to be of that gender. Male and Female He created us. Not all males or all females, so to have two distinct sexes means that there are certain roles in life. Accept it.

What do y'all think about feminism? I'm not looking for a debate...

God Bless!!! :)

i think you did a top notch job explaining it. I think that people today are toooo worried about position and prestige, that they forget about the little postions. being a mother is a full time job. Being a CEO is a full time job. Being a gas station attendant can be a full time job. Each and every person has a contribution to society, even those at the bottom of a social ladder. You cant replace all male positions with female ones. You can have all male positions (cept the priest hood :preacher: , that stays male)....but i dont think that people today look at how things intertwine and work. they take things at face value. they see men, and ask why not women. instead they should look, see creatures of God, not male and female, but humans, working and living together for a common cause.

[M.SIGGA]

My automatic reaction is bittersweet; I negatively think of how sexual ethics have become distorted, but there are some progressive victories, such as suffrage, that I agree with. I don't think there is anything wrong with a woman wanting to purse her dreams and be successful. The problem is the new notion that there is no place for women in the home, and motherhood and marriage and family life are no longer important. Society prospers with a high number of succesful people, but it ultimately falls apart when there is no family. Sucess is great but never put down women who choose to stay home and have a family.

Sadly, the BVM doesn't immediately come to mind when I think of feminism. She wasn't an Apostle or a great philosopher or even a political figure, but she maintained her purity even though a million odds were against her in this "veil of tears" world that we live in. She also was the Mother of our Savior. That fact alone makes her the greatest woman who ever lived and the ultimate champion of feminism.

[nikkan_hanil]

To me, feminism is the respect of a woman and what a woman does. Of course, morals still apply as always...

[PatrickRitaMichael]

Feminism is not discarding my gender to become a man. It is embracing my womanhood and my dignity as a human being. So, being a mother, CEO, a voter, and an doctor are all equally valid and good roles for a woman, as long as one is not valued above the other and as long as I do not have to deny who and what I am in order to fulfil that role.

I think radical, modern feminism does the opposite -- it rabidly idolizes men's roles while devaluing any female roles as inferior and seeks to transform women in men, denying their femininity and making 'feminism' worthless.

[inDEED]

I'm a feminist...

[hopeful1]

I'm a feminist...

i consider myself one that hasn't lost her mind!

btw, thanks to whoever wrote that about mary! You just gave me an opportunity to think of her in a new light!

well... getting late :sleep:

[cmotherofpirl]

Mary was a feminist...

[FaustinaVianney]

thank you all for your comments. They are all so wonderful! When I was first writing my response I didn't think of Mary until I started to right about women's roles in society. It is sad to think that Protestants don't look at Mary in the same way that we do! She is the ultimate feminist and the one us women should model ourselves after!

PatrickRitaMichael- I do agree with you that most/some of the modern feminists are the ones that are more suppressing for the women because of how they view the male role. I believe that equal rights mean to look at a gas attendant and a CEO of a company and see how they each contribute to society in an equal manner. We are all equal in the eyes of God, only if we could have the ability to do the same...

[cmotherofpirl]

The most important role anyone has in society is the care and nuturing of the next generation. Therefore the most valuable people in society should be parents.

A society is only as good as the treatment given to its young, old, ill or disabled.

Our culture, instead of improving the lives of these groups, simply seeks to exterminate them.

[Birgitta Noel]

Hey FaustinaV,

Add me to the list of feminists on the board. Incidentally I think that we could even tag JPII as one!

I'm at work so I don't have much time to read and write, and I'll write more later, but I have a whole paper on Catholic Feminism that I gave at Notre Dame Univ. this past fall that I'd be happy to pass along if you'd like. WHere are you in school? Hmmm, I also promised that paper to someone else on this board last time we discussed feminism....(Birgitta runs off to dig out that thread....)

God Bless, Birgitta

[cmotherofpirl]

Post the paper for everyone to read!!!!

[FaustinaVianney]

Birgitta~ I'd love to read the paper! I agree that JPII is prolly a feminist too. He's the most pro-woman pope we have ever had! The radical feminists just don't understand him. I go to Xavier University-Cincinnati.

[jmjtina]

Post Post Post the paper!!! :deal:

:D

[traichuoi]

Pope John Paul II says that Mary is feminism par excellence...i've posted this before in other "feminism" threads but it's always a good read...i love it...

MARY SHEDS LIGHT ON ROLE OF WOMEN

Pope John Paul II

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God’s saving plan which is revealed in creation attributes equal dignity and worth to women, but it also affirms the uniqueness of the gift of femininity

At the General Audience of Wednesday, 6 December, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on the Virgin Mary, calling particular attention to her as the model for woman's role in the contemporary world. Here is a translation of his address, which was the eighth in the series on the Blessed Virgin and was given in Italian.

1. As I have already explained in the preceding catecheses, the role entrusted to Mary by the divine plan of salvation sheds light on the vocation of woman in the life of the Church and society by defining its difference in relation to man. The model represented by Mary clearly shows what is specific to the feminine personality.

In recent times some trends in the feminist movement, in order to advance women's emancipation, have sought to make her like man in every way. However, the divine intention manifested in creation, though desiring woman to be man's equal in dignity and worth, at the same time clearly affirms her diversity and specific features. Woman's identity cannot consist in being a copy of man, since she is endowed with her own qualities and prerogatives, which give her a particular uniqueness that is always to be fostered and encouraged.

These prerogatives and particular features of the feminine personality attained their full development in Mary. The fullness of divine grace actually fostered in her all the natural abilities typical of woman.

'Let it be done to me according to your word'

Mary's role in the work of salvation is totally dependent on Christ's. It is a unique function, required by the fulfilment of the mystery of the Incarnation: Mary's motherhood was necessary to give the world its Saviour, the true Son of God, but also perfectly man.

The importance of woman's co-operation in the coming of Christ is emphasized by the initiative of God, who, through the angel, communicates his plan of salvation to the Virgin of Nazareth so that she can consciously and freely co-operate by giving her own generous consent.

Here the loftiest model of woman's collaboration in the Redemption of man—every man—is fulfilled; this model represents the transcendent reference point for every affirmation of woman's role and function in history.

2. In carrying out this sublime form of co-operation, Mary also shows the style in which woman must concretely express her mission.

With regard to the angel's message, the Virgin makes no proud demands nor does she seek to satisfy personal ambitions. Luke presents her to us as wanting only to offer her humble service with total and trusting acceptance of the divine plan of salvation. This is the meaning of her response: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1: 3 8).

It is not a question of a purely passive acceptance, since her consent is given only after she has expressed the difficulty that arose from her intent to remain a virgin, inspired by her will to belong more completely to the Lord.

Having received the angel's response, Mary immediately expresses her readiness, maintaining an attitude of humble service.

It is the humble, valuable service that so many women, following Mary's example, have offered and continue to offer in the Church for the growth of Christ's kingdom.

3. The figure of Mary reminds women today of the value of motherhood. In the contemporary world the appropriate and balanced importance is not always given to this value. In some cases, the need for women to work in order to provide for the needs of their family and an erroneous concept of freedom, which sees child-care as a hindrance to woman's autonomy and opportunities, have obscured the significance of motherhood for the development of the feminine personality. On the contrary, in other cases the biological aspect of childbirth becomes so important as to overshadow the other significant opportunities woman has for expressing her innate vocation to being a mother.

In Mary we have been given to understand the true meaning of motherhood, which attains its loftiest dimension in the divine plan of salvation. For her, being a mother not only endows her feminine personality, directed towards the gift of life, with its full development, but also represents an answer of faith to woman's own vocation which assumes its truest value only in the light of God's covenant (cf. Mulieris dignitatem, n. 19).

4. In looking attentively at Mary, we also discover in her the model of virginity lived for the kingdom.

The Virgin par excellence, in her heart she grew in her desire to live in this state in order to achieve an ever deeper intimacy with God.

For women called to virginal chastity, Mary reveals the lofty meaning of so special a vocation and thus draws attention to the spiritual fruitfulness which it produces in the divine plan: a higher order of motherhood, a motherhood according to the Spirit (cf. Mulieris dignitatem, n. 21).

Women sow the seeds of the civilization of love

Mary's maternal heart, open to all human misfortune, also reminds women that the development of the feminine personality calls for a commitment to charity. More sensitive to the values of the heart, woman shows a high capacity for personal self-giving.

To all in our age who offer selfish models for affirming the feminine personality, the luminous and holy figure of the Lord's Mother shows how only by self-giving and self-forgetfulness towards others is it possible to attain authentic fulfilment of the divine plan for one's own life.

Mary's presence therefore encourages sentiments of mercy and solidarity in women for situations of human distress and arouses a desire to alleviate the pain of those who suffer: the poor, the sick and all in need of help.

In virtue of her special bond with Mary, woman has often in the course of history represented God's closeness to the expectations of goodness and tenderness of a humanity wounded by hatred and sin, by sowing in the world seeds of a civilization that can respond to violence with love.

 

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Taken from:

L'Osservatore Romano

Weekly Edition in English

13 December 1995, page 11