Women and the Catholic Church

Women and the Catholic Church (Derry Journal, Sunday 15th August

In his letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World, the Pope has taken on feminism and defined the woman’s role as essentially one involving service both to the family and to the community. “To serve is to reign”, according to the Pope.

The Pope goes further to suggest that feminists “emphasise strongly the conditions of subordination in order to give rise to antagonism”.

My argument would be that the male Church, and more specifically the male priesthood, is most likely how it was intended by Christ while he was on earth. But that factor should not give rise to any sense of superiority in the male of the species. Clearly the priesthood is a feminising force in the world, and those involved with it are mainly men who have chosen to live without many of the elements, including marriage, associated with manhood. Priesthood is therefore a form of self-feminisation for those involved.

This would fall into the general pattern of the influence of Christianity in the world: that it is a female voice and a feminising influence. In opposition to Christianity is capitalism, which is a male voice, dominated by the work ethic, and allegedly a civilising influence. The choice for humanity is therefore between capitalism’s civilisation and Christianity’s feminisation.

My fear for the Church is that the Pope actually believes deep down that the revolution in social values of the past few decades can be reversed, and that women will find their “proper” role again. That’s not going to happen, even if some things will return to more normal ways.

Much of the liberation of the past forty years can be defined as the feminisation of society, and will therefore be in accordance with the needs and desires of the Christian model.

There is no point in the Church believing that she ought to change the very mechanisms by which the Christian message has advanced itself in recent years, even if the Church has herself lost influence. It is better to lose influence than to take on the powers that have been unleashed after almost two thousand years of the teaching of the Christian message.

Women have a higher purpose in my mind. I dislike the bland “equality” message emanating from certain quarters about men and women. Men and women are patently not equal. In capitalism men have a competitive advantage, and are therefore superior. In Christianity women have the competitive advantage and are therefore superior. If someone says, “I am a Christian”, they are really saying, “I believe that women are superior”.

What have women ever done to warrant their superiority and their higher purpose? The answer to that is that they have been perfected over thousands of generations of oppression. Since the beginning of time they have struggled to cope with male domination, and they have come though it stronger and with more of the higher values that men struggle to cope with.

Perfected women, who accept their gifts, have experienced an inculcation of values promoting an ethos of love. When government of her life was taken from her, the woman learned to accept her plight and make the most of it. She became more beautiful than the man as a consequence. She is the prime mover in the family where her love governs relations between other members of the family and community.

An absence of violence or the threat of violence is one of the ideals of Christianity and yet, mainly through men, these things still permeate and corrupt the system of love that ought to govern relations.

So to me women have a greater vocation, a greater calling, a greater influence on society in terms of deepening values and greater role in creating stability and love. But these things must translate into more feeling for those in need in our society. The more feeling people have for those in need, the more readily those problems will be resolved.

Women must have faith in the essential goodness of all human beings. They must have faith, simply - for their task is to perfect society.

Contrary to what the Pope says, women must not all prepare for home life again. Some must take responsibility for society at a higher level. Some must become involved in politics and seek to make the world better again. The involvement of women in politics must never be reversed and, on the contrary, it must be encouraged. Women must choose to lead society, answering the call, leading and serving, so that the world may know true peace.

*John O’Connell is Derry-based author.

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