And here you are, a man, commenting on things which are not about your sex.
I am glad that you wish to defend women from what you perceive as oppression, it shows the nature of your character and that you have about you cultivated that natural tendency to protect and defend which is God’s gift to every man, without allowing yourself to abuse it in search of power. When I was 16 I was every bit as indignant as you. It seemed silly to me that I, a female, could not be permitted to become a priest and serve the Lord had that been my calling. I thought the Church degraded women, down played our importance in Christianity. It took me years before I saw and understood the reasons that the Church had and knew that it was right just as it was.
The Church is the Bride of Christ, and Mary is the model for the Church - pure, unstained by sin, faithful and obedient, humble and meek, filled with love and tender care for others. In the womb of Mary, Christ is gently nurtured. When we are baptized we die to our old selves and become a cell in that Body of Christ. We then gain Mary as our Mother, and God as our Father just as Christ has them. In the same way, we are given a Joseph, too, in the form of the Priesthood and most especially in the form of the Pope. As Mary is our model, we must be obedient when our Joseph tells us to go down to Egypt and move quickly. Joseph wasn’t oppressing Mary with his commandments, he was working to save her. Even so, the Priesthood and the Pope isn’t oppressing the Bride, but working to save Her and keep Her from harm.
The Male sex is born with the testosterone flowing through their veins which makes them stronger in muscles and often taller in size than a woman. This is because you (speaking with all men in mind here, not specifically you although it applies to you as well) were called to the front lines in a battle, to give your life if necessary for the woman that you love and to protect her and, by protecting her, protect your children. You are taller that the enemy may notice you first. You are stronger that you might have the best chance of winning and, if you do not win, give your wife and children the best chance of escaping by slowing the enemy down. When situations arise, your natural biological response is fight or flight. This is to help you to fulfill the task you were created to do. For this reason, it is important that a woman learn to obey her husband. When the wolves are at the door, the husband needs to be confident that his wife will listen to him and do as she should do so that he can give himself completely over to the battle at hand without worrying about her.
The woman is born smaller, less muscular and far more limber than a man. This makes it easier for her to hide. What she lacks in muscle she makes up for in courage and patience. When trouble comes, a woman has a natural tendency to seek other women and to gather her children to her. This is to help her to fulfill her role. She can keep multiple priorities juggling at the same time for prolonged periods of time, necessary for keeping groups of children focused and tended while her husband is out doing battle. It is sometimes said that the hardest battles are done behind the front lines, because behind the front lines you can only trust that God is doing what He can do for those on the front lines. This is why we gather other women to us when we are in trouble - because waiting patiently is easier when you have a support network to do so. Because it is her job to keep the children safe, children must obey their parents. A child who keeps running off or won’t be quiet when mother tells them to endangers not only themselves but everyone that their mother is trying to protect, as well as their father.
Children in danger naturally seek their mothers and, if they cannot find her, seek to hide. This is a God-given inclination designed to help protect them from danger. Usually it works quite effectively.
If the husband fails to do his job, then the wife must do both her job and his job and the three of them are sure to perish. Indeed if any of the three refuse to do their job the entire family is endangered. So it is with the Church. Priests are the front line defense for the Church. If we, as women, attempt to join them the Priests cannot do their job as effectively. We must do what we were created to do so that they can do what they were created to do effectively.
A woman’s right to choose ends where another life begins, just as my freedom ends where it treads upon yours. Freedom requires life. No life, no freedom. Birth control is evil. It does horrible things to a woman’s body (if you want to know the details, just visit the infertility forums), not to mention what it does to the unborn, and is an offense to God by attempting to stop Him from creating new life.
I am humbled and honored.Me and the Catechism disagree with that. It is the bad, not the good that scares people away.