One of the Catholic Church's main missions is to promote social justice through equality on THIS world. Yet why is it that w/n their own institution, they are regulating women as being 2nd class citizens?
Think about it. They preach, "we believe in quality for all" yet how they conduct their business is anything but. There's a glass ceiling for women. They can assist in how the church is run, they can teach, they can recruit members but when it comes to actual leadership roles, sorry, they're unfit. Is this not an exploitation?
Winston Churchill during his political exile in the 1930's repeatedly denounced the Nuremberg Laws that legalized the discrimination of German Jews (among other things) "for nothing more than how they was born." Why cannot the same be applied w/ the Catholic Church & its treatment of woman? Were they any other establishment, there'd be a class action lawsuit accusing the Church of "sexual discrimination" or some sort of conspiracy to keep women down. Furthermore, the government would step in & say, "You have every right to conduct business as you see fit. But we cannot condone such actions. Therefore we will suspend the tax benefits those very same benefits that enable the status quo."
If you look closely in the Bible in how they describe Christ's conception. God created Mary free from original sin. He then later chooses Mary to carry his son (or himself, depending on your interpretation). There's a big tadoo in how God's gift to man is "free will."
At the Annunciation, Gabriel announced, "Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’" (Luke 1:30-31). Notice how its phrased, "you will" as opposed to "will you". Mary had no choice in the matter. Sure she may have been honored to have his child (or himself...didn't that whole Trinity thing split the Church at some point) but she just as well may have been revolted by the premise. So because Mary never consented of her own free will to having the baby, does this not mean God raped Mary? Where is Mary's "free will"?
Certainly has to make one wonder.
Why women still continue to support the church & its hypocrisy. My theory? Stockholm Syndrome.
Think about it. Stockholm Syndrome is "an emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival."
What's the stress? Could be anything from excommunication to denial of the sacraments to the denial of the soul's acceptance to heaven. What's the dependence? The spiritual renourishment. Why the cooperation for survival? Again, the fear of being excommunicated, the denial of sacraments, &/or the souls denial into heaven. Because of this, people become dependent on its teachings & interests w/ little critical thinking. In this context, can the church not be viewed as the captor?
Until the Church starts scrutinizing its own actions & do work towards a better world on this Earth as outlined in their mission in the New Testament (peace on earth; feeding the sick, lame, & poor; leaving this world a better place than when you found it; spread the word of God; loving thy neighbor as I would love myself; to name a few...), I have a really hard time taking anything they preach at face value.
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This is Amanda. Taken during a very rare nonrainy moment while I was out in Boston this past summer. I swear it rained like 45 of the 60 days I was there, pretty ridiculous even by Boston's weather standards.
The shoot got cut short because we had to race outside to stop her car from being ticketed which we were successful in doing. Nonresidential parking in Boston is a pain in the rear. I recommend using their public transportation if at all possible.
Feel free to critique, opine, whatever, all I ask is that you be an adult about it. Oh yeah, & leave at least a first name if you're not a blogger member.
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1 comment:
"They preach, 'we believe in quality for all' yet how they conduct their business is anything but"
I think you mean to suggest they claim to believe in *e*quality for all.
But that being said, I'm not sure they preach that at all. Men quite clearly have a privileged position in the church hierarchy. I don't think there's a pretense of equality.
What's interesting to me is how the Church quite often couches their sexism under the guise of women are pure and special and shouldn't be soiled with the impurities of politics, decision making and the like... hence the venerated position in the Church of the Virgin Mary and mothers in general. The thinking, I suspect, being that if you laud women with flowery praise, they might forget about their own unequal position in the eyes of the Church.
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