Who can point me toward the Church's documents on women?

[TheRiver]

To be a Saint does not mean you were perfect in this life and could make no mistakes. It means you led a life that led you to heaven.

Being sexist clearly is a life that leads one to heaven, I’m glad the Vatican has moved away from a fully Thomistic philosophical outlook, it’s highly erroneous in many aspects, though there is a lot of good and reasonable work in there, some of it must have been written when he was drunk.

 

[Shin]

Reading St. Thomas, the great saint’s deductive reasoning and taking it emotionally in that fashion rather than understanding why he said it, is a very flawed approach that will get you nowhere ultimately with your spiritual reading.

Reading with modern eyes and prejudices the past… is just not the way to go about it.

 

[Just_Lurking]

Aquinas’ views on women were very representative of the Catholic Church from the time of St. Augustine to just before Vatican II, and were influential in maintaining the view of women as inferior beings throughout the middle ages.

 

[fultonfish]

I’m not sure what the purpose of the OP is.

However, both men and women are called to holiness. Basically putting God first.

You know there is this brief explanation in the old Baltimore Catechism which is very relevant.

God made us to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life and be happy with Him in the next life.

The interest in separating men and women in terms of the Church’s writing mystifies me.

The Church is not basically a political organization or a psychological organization aimed at goals of self-actualization or some similarly worded goal; its purpose is to help each person achieve holiness.

There are corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, tending to the sick, clothing the naked, etc. But these are focused on the inability of most people to concentrate on the state of their souls when they have no food, etc.

The work of the Church in the corporal works of mercy have over the past couple of centuries or so been usurped/ taken over by government and secular agencies, with controversial results in many cases.

But issues such as women’s rights and children’s rights are often bound up in language which derives from proponents of Marxism and liberation theology.

So you really need to look at the origin of these issues and the origin of these discussions and ask the question: what is the point and what is the purpose.

 

[sarahraegraham]

Yikes! Didn’t expect all that discussion.

Anyhoo, perhaps this will make things clearer. The reason I ask is because over the course of time my heart as a woman has turned toward the home and away from career/job aspirations. I am more and more convinced everyday that the primary place of women is in the home, as those are the particular gifts God has bestowed on the female sex as a whole in complementarity with the opposing gifts bestowed on man as a whole. And I’m looking for documentation or writings from the Church discussing more clearly women roles in the home and society.

Now, that might tend to open up a can of worms for some people, particularly those with feminists leanings, however I’m not attempting to stir up discussion on that, just to further my own knowledge on any information in particular which the Church has provided.

Thank you for the original links in the first few posts, they were helpful!

 

[kage_ar]

Yikes! Didn’t expect all that discussion.

Anyhoo, perhaps this will make things clearer. The reason I ask is because over the course of time my heart as a woman has turned toward the home and away from career/job aspirations. I am more and more convinced everyday that the primary place of women is in the home, as those are the particular gifts God has bestowed on the female sex as a whole in complementarity with the opposing gifts bestowed on man as a whole. And I’m looking for documentation or writings from the Church discussing more clearly women roles in the home and society.

Now, that might tend to open up a can of worms for some people, particularly those with feminists leanings, however I’m not attempting to stir up discussion on that, just to further my own knowledge on any information in particular which the Church has provided.

Thank you for the original links in the first few posts, they were helpful!

As there are female saints who were working moms, you are not going to find a document with a that 11th commandment “thou shalt be a stay at home mom”.

What you will find is striving to holiness, dignity, in all we do and whatever path that God leads us down.

 

[Joe_5859]

Women and their roles in the family, Church and society at large… encyclicals, et al.

Thanks!

I started to organize links to various Church documents on women on my website:

catechesisofthepopes.wikispaces.com/Catechesis+on+Women

Most of the big documents have been mentioned already, but I have listed many Wednesday Audiences on the subject.

It’s not a comprehensive list, so I’m always looking for ones I missed. (Thanks, Just Lurking, I added JPII’s Letter to Women. I think I’ll hold off on the Tavard link, though… )

 

[joandarc2008]

Not all of us are called to be mothers. We may adopt someday - but it doesn’t mean that we need to stay in the home if that is not what makes truly happy and at one with the Lord. Just as there are many flavors of ice cream IMO there are many types of Catholic women. As long as we do what we are called to do with the talents that God gave us with dignity and humility and with respect for His law then I believe we are on the right path.

 

[fultonfish]

“Secular Saints” by [from memory] Joan Carol Cruz

[she has written a bunch of really great religious books]

“Women of the Bible”

Got to thinking.

A couple of years ago, I received in the mail an issue of CFO magazine in which a woman author complained that women were being held down and all they wanted was to be treated fairly, etc.

Well, the problem is that the only thing that men want is to be treated fairly.

Becoming a CFO is something that eludes the vast vast majority of men who aspire to that job.

Life isn’t fair. Not to men and not to women, either.

Fairness just isn’t the way life goes.

One of my friends got hooked up with some organization and it just wasn’t what she was expecting. It was boring and etc. But she had a great time. She said her philosophy was “if you are stuck with lemons, make lemonade.”

Bloom where you are planted, I guess.

NOT “make the best of it; suffer in silence”.

But, rather, work within the “system” and have a fantastic time.

One day I was whining to one of my priest-friends, and he quietly said, “Pray the Rosary”.

So, I did.

Incompletely, frequently interrupted.

But the effect was unreal.

It changed everything.

It changed my appreciation, my understanding. My whole outlook.

**

 

[Shin]

Yikes! Didn’t expect all that discussion.

Anyhoo, perhaps this will make things clearer. The reason I ask is because over the course of time my heart as a woman has turned toward the home and away from career/job aspirations. I am more and more convinced everyday that the primary place of women is in the home, as those are the particular gifts God has bestowed on the female sex as a whole in complementarity with the opposing gifts bestowed on man as a whole. And I’m looking for documentation or writings from the Church discussing more clearly women roles in the home and society.

Now, that might tend to open up a can of worms for some people, particularly those with feminists leanings, however I’m not attempting to stir up discussion on that, just to further my own knowledge on any information in particular which the Church has provided.

Thank you for the original links in the first few posts, they were helpful!

Your conviction is in the right place.

 

[JanaHF]

Hi there!

Papal Directives For The Woman Of Today
papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12WOMAN.HTM
This is not an encyclical, but it is a papal address to a congress of Catholic women.

Although there are not dozens of encyclicals explicitly written on a woman’s role in the world, you can begin also to glean a little bit here and there from other encyclicals. I’m just becoming better aquainted with the Church myself, and I am reading the encyclicals on the Church’s social doctrine. Again, they do not explicitly state “This is the teaching on women,” but I think that they still help you to better understand the Church’s teaching on women and their roles in society. I’ve read only two thus far and am working on the third. This is the website that I’m working off of as a study guide, if you’re interested. It includes links to all the encyclicals. usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/social-encyclical-primer.html

I hope that helps!