B
Black_Jaque
Guest
I’m wondering if the Catholic Church recognizes the family as a patriarchy. Simply meaning that the family is lead by the husband.
In Casti Connubi, the man is distinctly called the “head”, and the woman is the “heart”.
However, in Mulieris Dignitatum, Pope JPII says that Ephesians 5 is referring to a mutual submission of husband to wife and wife to husband. Is this undoing CC? Is the man no longer the head? Is the family two-headed?
Or is this a case of the Catholic “Both-And”? Jesus told the apostles that “whoever is greatest is servant of all”. So the husband is BOTH the head AND the servant of all?
If the husband is the head, what does that mean? Does the husband hold a certain primacy? I’ve looked on the Catholic Answers website and they gave rather whimpy practical applications where one spouse was in the right and the other was in the wrong, in which case of course the one in the wrong is supposed to do the submitting. But what about important but morally neutral dilemnas? Career decisions, education decisions?
I also suspect that feminism has brought about an irrational fear of patriarchy. Patriarchy is now deemed bad - but that brings with it an assumption that is harmful to men. That men are incompetent leaders, incapable of making decisions in their families best interest, while putting their own needs last. But if a man is truly a good Christian, there should be no problem submitting to him.
Sometimes I get the feeling St. Paul was using sailor’s lingo when he said the husband is the “head”.
In Casti Connubi, the man is distinctly called the “head”, and the woman is the “heart”.
However, in Mulieris Dignitatum, Pope JPII says that Ephesians 5 is referring to a mutual submission of husband to wife and wife to husband. Is this undoing CC? Is the man no longer the head? Is the family two-headed?
Or is this a case of the Catholic “Both-And”? Jesus told the apostles that “whoever is greatest is servant of all”. So the husband is BOTH the head AND the servant of all?
If the husband is the head, what does that mean? Does the husband hold a certain primacy? I’ve looked on the Catholic Answers website and they gave rather whimpy practical applications where one spouse was in the right and the other was in the wrong, in which case of course the one in the wrong is supposed to do the submitting. But what about important but morally neutral dilemnas? Career decisions, education decisions?
I also suspect that feminism has brought about an irrational fear of patriarchy. Patriarchy is now deemed bad - but that brings with it an assumption that is harmful to men. That men are incompetent leaders, incapable of making decisions in their families best interest, while putting their own needs last. But if a man is truly a good Christian, there should be no problem submitting to him.
Sometimes I get the feeling St. Paul was using sailor’s lingo when he said the husband is the “head”.