Feminism in Catholicism

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mardymar
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mardymar

Guest
church-say-feminism
– I couldn’t add links, but if you google this it’s the top result

First off, I am not a Catholic. I did study Catholicism a lot when I was in my early teens (shows you how much I know), but it is an incredibly important and positive part of many people’s lives.

Ok … enough of that.

So I wanted to know the official stance on what is called feminism from the Catholic church. I was really off-put by that article because she said something like “It’s about letting woman being who they want and men being who they want”. She went on to clarify that it is different from a woman being a clergy (which is in the bible (maybe) and in a lot of other religions, so please don’t respond to that). But the response she had contained nothing to do with that subject. It was more along the lines of … ok, I HATE saying this, but it is the only way I know how to express this thought … “I have a black friend”.

I’m not interested in rebuttals or defenses to this article or my interpretation of it. I just really want to know if there is a definite stance in the Catholic church about gender roles and what they are.
 
By ‘Sacred Scripture’ do you mean a place on the forum or me looking at the bible?
 
“Heck, we can look at the exact same document and have different interpretations”.

I’m not interested in talking about my interpretation or yours. I just want to know what the church teaches. Like … is it different from place to place, or is there a theme they try to push, or what?
 
The short answer is that the church supports the dignity of the human person from conception until natural death.

There is no problem with women getting an education, being the top in their field, and being salt and light in these places.

Is that what you’re looking for, or some other angle?
 
And honestly, pointing to the bible isn’t a good argument. It ranges from gnostics to catholics to protestants to muslims to jehoviahs witness’ to mormons … Just to name a few.
 
I can totally stand by that. But is that just your interpretation, or is it something the church teaches?
 
I should add a bit more. So, Agape. Beautiful sentiment. But does the church teach Agape “By Doing …”.
 
PennyinCanada said:
the church supports the dignity of the human person from conception until natural death.
Click to expand...
Feminism is some sort of a socio/political movement. Catholicism is a religion which believes what the Holy Bible teaches.
Panny wrote: the church supports the dignity of the human person from conception until natural death.

To this I would add that the church is not interested in various -isms that are out there.
 
@Adamek

I agree ‘isms’ are a problem. It’s kind of my whole point. I just used it to quickly let passers by get an idea of what I was talking about. So, sometimes it’s justified. You never addressed my question, though.
 
@LumineDiei

" I am convinced that the secret of making speedy progress in achieving full respect for women and their identity involves more than simply the condemnation of discrimination and injustices, necessary though this may be. Such respect must first and foremost be won through an effective and intelligent campaign for the promotion of women , concentrating on all areas of women’s life and beginning with a universal recognition of the dignity of women."

Thank you for showing me this. This is what I was looking for. Especially coming from the pope.
 
@LumineDiei

I just read the whole letter. It made me cry. Again, thank you so much for showing me.
 
Deep breath (lol)…

In Catholicism, your role is who God made you to be. There are certain things women are meant to do as women, there are certain things men are meant to do as men, and there are things they can both do. The point is, the Catholic Church is Catholic…its not pro or anti feminist…why? because they Catholic Church believes what it teaches is the truth, (which I believe), and it wants you to be happy whether you are a man or a women, within the guidelines that God has given us.

So you are “Mardymar”, you were put into this world by God, to serve and to love God, because he thought that creation would be better with you in it. You may be called to be married, religious, or a consecrated lay person. One thing is for certain, following the Catholic tenets of faith will lead you to TRUE Happiness, and not always the fleeting pleasures of the world. Though you may experience them from time to time on occasion.

To be honest with you the Catholic Church may support some of the notions that you believe feminism to be, and in some areas it may not. The thing is, is that word, FEMINISM has been so warped by our modern society that there is no way to tell what exactly you mean by that. There are some people who take that idea and go way to extreme, and there are some who are more moderate. Doesn’t matter, because are you in this world to pursue TRUTH?..or…FEMINISM?. So, you shouldn’t accept or deny Catholicism based on how it accepts feminism you should judge it if it is true.
 
I don’t know that there is any one specific “teaching”.

God created them as well as men, and they are of equal dignity.

He also gave them brains, just like he gave men.

It is generally accepted that in general, women are more nurturing, and men are more disciplinary; and the two are considered complimentary.

Feminism is not a defined term; it means different things to different people. IMHO, there was a significant change in terms of what women could do, caused by WW2 and the need for women to fill roles which had previously been primarily filled by men; e.g. my mother was “Rosie the riveter” in the Portland shipyard (actually, she was a welder), and that likely made a good running start at roles women could fill.

It also had an economic effect of (over time) increasing the employment of women, which in turn created a larger pool of employable individuals, and like most issues in economics, supply and demand still has an effect; the general result is that it now takes two incomes to do what used to take one income.

The Church still holds motherhood in very high esteem; it is also aware that too often, both husband and wife need to work. The Church also knows and acknowledges that women can and do make significant contributions both the the Church and to society.

So how one defines feminism is perhaps a greater starting point than trying to see how the Church defines it. And because the definition often has to do with issues outside religion, the Church may agree, partially agree, partially disagree, or disagree entirely to some or all of a definition of the term feminism, as there is not one definition of it.

As noted by LumineDiei, there are statements. As to a formal teaching, not so much.
 
Last edited:
@Adamek

“Feminism is some sort of a socio/political movement.”

Read the words from the pope that were posted by LumineDiei
 
Last edited:
otjm said:
It is generally accepted that in general, women are more nurturing, and men are more disciplinary; and the two are considered complimentary.
Click to expand...
I’m a man and I’m really nurturing. I know a lot of girls who are very ‘disciplinary’, way more than me or a lot of men I know. So … what’s your point?
 
And I know people like that too. As I said - “generally” - which means there are exceptions.

The Church strongly supports motherhood. It does not maintain that women are only meant to be mothers; a charge which often is made against the Church, particularly by some who take feminism to an extreme of denigrating motherhood.

My mother was a type A personality. Or as another woman said of her “she was a pistol”.

There are certainly groups which think that women are to be categorized under the “barefoot and pregnant” typecast. The Church does not hold that either, but it strongly supports motherhood, which many feminists do also, and some do not.

Which circles back to how one defines feminism.
 
Thank you for pointing to these passages. I think we can agree the term “feminism” as used by JPII is far from what is meant by it in popular culture.
 
LumineDiei said:
“new feminism”
Click to expand...
I will add that a significant aspect of Catholic feminism in the 20th century was the recognition of the myriad ways in which Catholic women enriched, promoted and defended the faith. For example, all four female Doctors of the Church were promoted from 1970 onwards. Julian Norwich was rescued from obscurity at around the same time, and her book The Revelations of Divine Love is the earliest book written by a woman in the English language. Lady Norwich has never been canonised, but apparently her case for promotion as a Doctor of the Church has been ongoing at the Holy See for a few decades.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top