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Elizabeth3
Guest
I just wanted to share a link to this blog post I found because I do think it happens to be a good reminder that the Church really is Holy Mother Church and she should be referred to properly when we speak of her. I really think we lose something when we forget this and it’s not a natural part of our language anymore.
Along with the loss of the presence of nuns and sisters in the vast majority of parishes and losing this language of referring to Mother Church as an “it,” many women look to find any kind of visible feminine identity with the Church and begin to fall for the “inclusive language” of calling God the Father, “Mother” and decide that women should be priests as well because everyone who is baptized into Christ’s Body can represent Him the same way.
There is a strong female presence in most parishes today as women have stepped up to fill in the roles of religious sisters, but somehow that isn’t translating into the minds of most that that is spiritual motherhood and it has an equally dignified, needed and valued role right alongside the priesthood in order for the whole Christ to be present. "…as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself “bride” (St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 74:4: PL 36, 948-949).
Here is a small part of the post that makes the point of calling her “she” but if you’d like to read the post, the author also goes into why it’s not proper to refer to God with feminine pronouns.
"The proper pronoun to use when speaking of the Catholic Church is “she”. She is Holy Mother Church. She is the Bride of Christ. Why is it then, that more Catholics now refer to the Church as “it”?
For example, during the reading of the Prayers for the Faithful intentions at this past Sunday Mass, the following was read…“for the Catholic Church, that “it” continue…”
That same day that the above referred to intention was read at Mass, the meditation for the day in the Magnifcat, happened to be one of St. Catherine of Siena’s writing on patience and perseverance.
She wrote: “For you know well, most holy Father, that when you accepted Holy Church as your bride you agreed to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her… So we see that the Church’s being persecuted, and every difficulty virtuous souls experience will end in peace, won through true patience and perseverance…” - October 2010 Issue
hicatholicmom.blogspot.com
Along with the loss of the presence of nuns and sisters in the vast majority of parishes and losing this language of referring to Mother Church as an “it,” many women look to find any kind of visible feminine identity with the Church and begin to fall for the “inclusive language” of calling God the Father, “Mother” and decide that women should be priests as well because everyone who is baptized into Christ’s Body can represent Him the same way.
There is a strong female presence in most parishes today as women have stepped up to fill in the roles of religious sisters, but somehow that isn’t translating into the minds of most that that is spiritual motherhood and it has an equally dignified, needed and valued role right alongside the priesthood in order for the whole Christ to be present. "…as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself “bride” (St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 74:4: PL 36, 948-949).
Here is a small part of the post that makes the point of calling her “she” but if you’d like to read the post, the author also goes into why it’s not proper to refer to God with feminine pronouns.
"The proper pronoun to use when speaking of the Catholic Church is “she”. She is Holy Mother Church. She is the Bride of Christ. Why is it then, that more Catholics now refer to the Church as “it”?
For example, during the reading of the Prayers for the Faithful intentions at this past Sunday Mass, the following was read…“for the Catholic Church, that “it” continue…”
That same day that the above referred to intention was read at Mass, the meditation for the day in the Magnifcat, happened to be one of St. Catherine of Siena’s writing on patience and perseverance.
She wrote: “For you know well, most holy Father, that when you accepted Holy Church as your bride you agreed to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her… So we see that the Church’s being persecuted, and every difficulty virtuous souls experience will end in peace, won through true patience and perseverance…” - October 2010 Issue
The Catholic Church is not an "it"
Picture source In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole univers...
hicatholicmom.blogspot.com
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