Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

[This post is a joint effort between Hierothee and David]

Donna Freitas, a Catholic theologian and Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University, recently published a book on attitudes toward sex among contemporary students at colleges and universities, Catholic and otherwise: Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses.

She found that Catholic college and university students are as prone to contemporary “hook-up” culture as students at secular universities. She found that only strongly evangelical colleges comprise student bodies that reject the hook-up culture: because, she says, in the manner of a liberal protestant, these evangelical colleges encourage a “cult of purity.”

Freitas is apparently not a profound theologian. You can read a little bit about her book and her general take on things at National Catholic Reporter and decide for yourself. Nevertheless, it is useful to learn from her that students at Catholic colleges are as prone as any to engage in thematic “sex parties.” One particularly prevalent type of sex party, Freitas shows, involves young women dressing up as sexual objects (prostitutes, etc.) and engaging in random fornication with their male hosts.

Freitas gives us useful, though somewhat abstract, sociological information in this book. But the whole sordid trend becomes personally shocking when one hears a first-hand account of such a party.

We at C-L-S have been apprised of such an incident. It happened recently off campus at a prominent Catholic university, and involved undergraduate students from the university in a swingers’ game that was prominent in the 1970s. We cannot, of course, give the identity of the person who was brought, unwittingly, to the party and who told us about it. Nor can we disclose the particular university. The student in question left the party, appalled, as soon as it became evident what was going on.

There are many shocking things about all of this. But what is most shocking of all, in our opinion, is the resigned attitude that women who willingly partake in these sordid activities have about them.

We have recently posted on a study revealing the grim fruits of Catholic higher education.  The study indicated that half of the students in Catholic colleges and universities think that it is morally permissible to fornicate.  Most surprisingly, the study revealed that women were more likely (50%) than men (41%) to engage in premarital sex. Troubling as these numbers are, they do not prepare one for arrival of 1970’s swingers’ games that for some, or even many, appear to be what college is all about.

John Paul II was often accused of paying so much attention to women that he virtually ignored men in his theo-pastoral writings. He did, in fact, directly address women much more than men.  He did so because he recognized that a great evil had entered the culture, one that was directly attacking femininity.

What John Paul saw was that modern feminism had adopted Margaret Sanger’s distorted viewpoint that for women to be equal to men they must be able to compete with men in everything.  At the forefront of Sanger’s concern was the ability to be “equal” with men in hedonistic, sexual debauchery, which demands that women be free not simply from any procreative ramifications of unrestrained sex, but even free from any emotional attachments arising from sexual intercourse. Science was to help in the former, but not the latter.

Men and women are both created for complementary, total self-giving.  Sexual intercourse is the most intimate manner of total self-gift, but sex has an immutable, inner structure.  The complementarity of sex is not purely physical.  The natural telos of this physical complementarity points to a greater meaning. Fruitful sexual intercourse results in the unity of persons and, simultaneously, the openness to life-giving love.  This physical structure suggests a metaphysical structure to complementary love.  Namely, masculine love is one of initiating love, and feminine love is actively receptive.

As such, both men and women in their entire make up, physiological, emotional, psychological, and spiritual, are ordered according to this structure of love.  This makeup orients women more toward relationships and, in terms of the sexual act, to experiencing it as the permanent bonding themselves with another person.  Karol Wojtyla indicates this in his book, Love and Responsibility:

The very structure of the male psyche and personality is such that it is more readily “compelled” to disclose and objectivize the hidden significance of love for a person of the other sex. This goes with the relatively more active role of the male in such love, and also imposes a responsibility on him. Whereas in the woman sensuality is as it were covert, and concealed by sentimentality. For this reason she is by nature, more inclined to go on seeing as a manifestation of affection what a man already clearly realizes to be the effect of sensuality and the desire for enjoyment. There exists then, as we see, a certain psychological divergence between man and woman in the manner of their participation in love. The woman appears more passive, although in a different way she is more active. In any case, her role and her responsibility will be different from the role and responsibility of the male (Karol Wojtya, Love and Responsibility, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993] 111-12).

The context of this statement is sexual intercourse. It is so very important, especially for girls and young women, to understand the differences between the meaning which men and women generally attach to the sexual experience. Because of their masculine structure, which is less integrated than women, men generally experience it more in terms of sensuality and enjoyment. Women, on the other hand, because they are more interior and integrated, will see and experience it more in the way of affection and attachment. That is not to say that men and women are not both damaged when this structure is violated.  They are, but in different ways.  Men, in general, experience the inability to form lasting relationships when they regularly fornicate.  Women generally experience emotional trauma.

The resignation of the young women at college sex parties shows that they are getting the message that they should be talking and thinking about sex in a manner more in keeping with fallen masculine habits.  Nevertheless, they still will experience sex as feminine persons. Due to their feminine structure, they generally should be more reticent about engaging in sex outside of wedlock, but in their confusion they are setting themselves, and the rest of society, on a collision course with reality.  They do not experience pre-marital sex in the same way they are told about it and talk about it. We suspect that the epidemic of cutting, anorexia/bulimia, and other psychological ailments that all too many young women are experiencing is due in large part to this confusion. The sage wisdom that says: God forgives always, men sometimes, but nature never, applies here. With religious restraint on social debauchery all but gone, and feminine restraint waning, there is little to prevent the cultural collapse that all societies face when they so reject the order of nature.

If we had a child ready to go to college, we would seriously consider delaying his entrance until we were morally certain that he had the spiritual maturity to weather the storm of hedonism that he will confront during his four years at what appear to have become fornication factories. Certainly this is not the case at every Catholic school, but only at those which take their Catholic identity seriously will there be a likelihood that the experiences of the young student that we mentioned at the beginning of this post will be avoided. Saint Maria Goretti and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassatti, pray for us!

Pro-abortion advocate Dr. Waldo L. Fielding, takes us back to his early medical days during the pre-Roe “bad old days”. In his New York Times essay he endorsed himself as a reliable source in Repairing the Damage, Before Roe , “when a woman’s desperate need to abort was the driving force behind the selection of using any method available.”

The patient also did not explain why she had attempted the abortion, and we did not ask. This was a decision she made for herself, and the reasons were hers alone. Yet this much was clear: The woman had put herself at total risk, and literally did not know whether she would live or die.

The familiar symbol of illegal abortion is the infamous “coat hanger” — which may be the symbol, but is in no way a myth….. Almost any implement you can imagine had been and was used to start an abortion — darning needles, crochet hooks, cut-glass salt shakers, soda bottles, sometimes intact, sometimes with the top broken off..

Whether it be embellishment or outright lies which have given way to the iconic status of the pro-choicers coat hanger, there is a certain ironic veracity to the scandalous attachment to the coat hanger as THE object of the radical feminist’s combustible rage. The abortion industry’s propaganda strikes at the heart and soul of the radicals who scream for the rights for abortions on demand. In the case of the American abortion movement, the creation of the perfect storm was crafted from the symbiotic relationship between predator and prey – manipulators of the abortion industry exploiting abused girls and young women with psychological/personality disorders. More specifically – text book examples of cluster B personality disorders – Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder.

Despite their being no rational medical reason to stick a metal hanger up a birth canal other than to self mutilate, there is minimal evidence (at best) to link the use of coat hangers ever being typically used as devices for “back alley” or do-it-yourself self abortions. There is, however, no shortage of evidence linking those with specific “cluster B” Personality Disorders with genital mutilation , some of which have been associated with the behaviors of sticking sharp objects such as coat hangers, pencils, and other sharp objects up into their genitalia. (Also, see Caenis syndrome).

Those who develop a Borderline Personality Disorder are predominately angry women (with histories of sexual abuse) who are consciously or subconsciously driven to deliver a hurtful revenge onto others. They typically have poor self images and are consequently highly sensitive to rejection and constantly haunted by the fear of being abandoned. As a result, they are willing to take drastic measures to avoid loneliness and solitude, which can often include self mutilation, suicide threats and attempts.

As a way to inflict pain unto those who have or may abandon them, self-mutilation somehow releases the rage by witnessing and showing her pain to those whom she feels, has disavowed the value of her own life. Among the more mentally healthy population – the coat hanger symbol as an abortion device never quite makes sense as there can be no point of reference; where as, those who may have a more maladaptive emotional/mental disposition, would have significantly less problems “relating“; therefore, more likely to accept this as unadulterated truth. As well, can be said for the patriarchy conspiracy theory of being the driving force behind the pro-life movement. This is not meant as a derogatory jab to the intelligence of pro-choicers, but as a simple explanation behind the absurdity of the abortion industry strategies.

As in most cases, we ultimately like to shape our own realities (the value and dignity of each human life as being equal) based upon the history of our past and the current direction of our personal desires. Although tragic, the manifestation of a maladaptive personality disorder imposing it’s anger and will upon our culture and consequently sustaining the abortion industries hypocritical lies (one class of human life is superior to another) must be unconditionally defeated. We are all susceptible to the desires of our weak human nature, and the mental illness which can be intrinsically linked to the abortion industry is no where more evident than within the radical feminist’s iconic regard for the wired coat hanger.

Catholic, Brescia Women’s College out of Ontario, had recently invited a hostile, hate mongering feminist named Michele Landsberg to speak at a ‘Women Making Change‘ conference in conjunction with International Women’s Day.  Her talk was to be called “The F-Word: Fearless, Funny, Fast-Forward and Fabulous…Feminism.” Like most radical feminists, Landsberg is an sworn enemy of orthodox Christianity and hater of anyone and everything pro-life.

Will no priest or minister publicly resolve to stop the indoctrination of youth to view abortion as murder?

Is none ashamed of the blood-drenched holocaust vocabulary used so cynically (and anti-semitically) to whip up fervor for the crusade?

Where are the outspoken cries of conscience by bishops and cardinals who should be appalled by the evidence of links between anti-abortion fanatics and far-right militias, neo Nazis, and white supremacists? Is there no religious leader who regrets his church’s role in feeding this blind frenzy?

Will none of them repent of their excesses, will none call a halt to their sickeningly manipulative campaigns of ‘precious little feet,’ their fake ‘documentaries’ about screaming fetuses? You’d think that the world had enough lessons in the dangers of hate speech.”

My initial reaction to people like this is typically one of anger and condemnation because, I rationalize, this kind of hate speech not only distorts the truth of my faith and who I am, but also because of the danger it brings. I am offended and judge her to be all about hate through her slandering of those who are just like me. I feel anger and animosity towards her as a person because of her lies. Subsequently, I may get some sort of consolation assuming she will get hers in the end for her part in indoctrinating others to hate me and others who believe as I do. Non-heroically, I reluctantly carry a burden of paranoia, while trying to be a “good” Catholic in the public eye, but being well aware of the faceless others who will hate me for who they think I am – all because of the lies.

Obviously it’s especially difficult to let the “ill feelings” go, if those “others” hate and wish bad things upon you. Forgiving and forgetting among those with whom we have contact is one thing, but how about those those whom we will never meet or come in contact? It all comes through grace, but I try, so that I may will it, to examine myself more closely. Learning that our subconscious mind, so many times, significantly contributes to self-destructive, selfish behaviors. We become who we are, by how we react to life’s events – some over which we have no control. In reality, we are so often blind to how we come across to others, or why we do the things we do. Things are not aways as they seem to others and conversely to me.

In the case of so many among the radical activist ranks, there are the walking wounded who suffer from unmet emotional needs, neglect, seductions and possible other abuses which occurred during their lives. Sometimes, a nerve can be struck when someone says or does something that reminds them of their past which creates somewhat of an “emotional time warp” transferring their emotional past of anger, fear and inadequacy into the present. In other words, they react to someone in terms of what they are afraid of or what and who they think they see when, in reality, they know so very little at all. Like so many of our reactions, this happens without our knowing why we feel and react the way we do. In psychological terms, this is known as transference, and the reaction to it (or our reaction to Michele Landsberg) is known as counter transference. Depending on the situation, on the negative side – transference can produce a destructive hatred based specifically upon the individual’s personal illusion.

As it is, I’m still a work in progress.

It is not always within your power to control your feelings. You will recognize that you have love if, after having experienced annoyance and contradiction, you do not lose your peace, but pray for those who have made you suffer and wish them well. – as told to Saint Faustina, Diary, 1628

Source of story on Michele Landsberg: LifeSite

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD,
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are My ways above your ways
and My thoughts above your thoughts. —Isaiah 55:8–9

Clayton (The Weight of Glory) covers how the recent declaration made by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith created a watershed moment for the feminist movement within the Catholic Church who have been trying to replace patriarchal influences with repressive ideas of their own. These religious extremists who push their perversions onto the Church separate themselves from those originating from the Middle East in one significant way – where the act of one kills or mutilates the human body, the action of the other inflicts death and destruction onto the human soul.

There can be no justice without truth because in the absence of truth, there can be no verdict which separates the guilty from the innocent and justice from injustice. When tolerance supersedes truth, tolerance eventually mutates into intolerance and truth is abandoned altogether; consequently, “tolerance” (term used loosely in context) dictates that we are bound to accept simultaneous contraries and contradictions.  This would ultimately force the hands of society to be reduced to the moral equivalence of hypocrites and liars. In other words, As the Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain wrote, “The man who says ‘What is truth?’ as Pilate did, is not a tolerant man, but a betrayer of the human race.”

As for the wreckage caused by a relatively unknown amount of oppressive, abusive and cowardly males, we are now dealing with the angry, mutated version of the original feminist movement, now referred to as Radical Feminism (not to be confused with the garden type of new age cafeteria feminists). Many of these women who find refuge in the movement are not equipped with the coping skills and support system with which to help them heal from their emotional scars, and consequently resort to anger and revenge to help them cope with the hurt, because hurt – at its core, is a reminder of our human vulnerability and helplessness. Without the proper coping skills, even if one were to eradicate the person who hurt them, it would only amount to a temporary relief, because they never resolved the cause of their emotional damage nor let go of the anger. Consequently, instead of identifying themselves as a victim of trauma and try to heal themselves from the inside – out, they externally employ the very means of their abusers with the hope of bringing about some sense of safety and security in their lives.

In the world of the radical feminist, a fear of being controlled by men and a patriarchal society dictate that we no longer be recognized as different sexes, but more as androgynous genders. When in reality, radical feminists grasp for a sense of security to become the best they can be through a rejection of the feminine and embracing characteristics of the masculine. This strategy rests on the premise that for women to reach their full dignity and freedom, they must become as much like men as possible. Ironically and irrationally, Radical feminists adopt the very same characteristics they publicly denounce, which is the true measure and embodiment of humanity being man.

Abortion ranks as their number one non-negotiable demand, of which they have successfully disguised among the rhetoric of choice. In this case, “the” choice must always return the the woman, who alone can only judge her specific situation. When does life begin? Do they feel pain? None of these questions in truth really matter, other than in the forum of public opinion. According to the true radical feminist, the defense of abortion is an inalienable right, and is seen as nothing more than a defense of privacy and the individual conscience. Justified killings (although never to the point of murder) is always warranted with or without the pro-abortion rhetoric, here is some of the latter.

Margaret Sanger (Founder Planned Parenthood) – …“ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stoop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them.” “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

Cynthia Daniels (Political Scientist – Rutgers University) – Urged women to acknowledge the life of the fetus. This does not weaken the case for abortion but strengthens it. In Daniels’ reasoning, if the fetus is living and uninvited, off of the woman’s private resources and must, therefore, be viewed as an aggressor. Since every person is entitled to self-defense, the woman has a right to kill the fetus to defend her own life.

Naomi Wolf (author, 3rd wave feminist) “So what will it be: Wanted fetuses are charming, complex, REM-dreaming little beings whose profile on the sonogram looks just like Daddy, but unwanted ones are mere “uterine material”? How can we charge that it is vile and repulsive for pro-lifers to brandish vile and repulsive images if the images are real? To insist that the truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy. Besides, if these images are often the facts of the matter, and if we then claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted by them, then we are making the judgment that women are too inherently weak to face a truth about which they have to make a grave decision. This view of women is unworthy of feminism. Free women must be strong women, too; and strong women, presumably, do not seek to cloak their most important decisions in euphemism.”

Of course, this type of brutal honesty is not for the faint of heart or the common consumers of abortion nor compatible with the normal decency of human beings . I believe the typical woman who undergoes abortion, hopes upon hope on the truth of the abortion rhetoric in order to reduce the stresses associated with undergoing an abortion. I also find it difficult to imagine that the radicals have a lick of concern or compassion over another human being’s safety or mental health if it has the potential of having a negative impact on the over-all world wide approval rating of abortion. The way I see it, in order to protect the idol of abortion (at the expense of the consumers) and subsequently their own lives – they deny, spin, invent, manipulate and attack with a vengeance anything or anyone whom they deem a threat to their means of survival. As with the wicked servant in today’s gospel, in our selfish blindness, how often do we plead for mercy and forgiveness while denying that very same mercy and forgiveness to others – and in this case I think the refusal to forgive others maybe at the core of radical feminism.

Sources:

Feminism and the Unraveling of the Social Bond

When Tolerance Trumps Truth

Feminists, some from “Catholics for a free Choice”, interrupted Mass at the Cathedral of Managua in Nicaragua, and demanded they be given Holy Communion. The decision by Father Bismark Conde to deny them Communion caused the women to react violently who then tried to force the priest to end Mass. Police eventually forced the women to leave the church.

Judging from the chauvinistic tactics of force and intimidation typically employed by perpetrators to impose their will onto others, it can’t be that the radical feminists actually despise the acts which they publicly denounce; but rather consider it to be a true measure and embodiment of their humanity. Consider the logic: The radical feminist movement has always defended abortion as THE guarantee of a women’s freedom from oppression and equality with men. Ironically, this strategy is dependent on the premise that for women to fully achieve their dignity and freedoms they must become as much like their distorted image of men as possible.

In this case, I’m thankful Fr. Conde prevented what would have been an obvious desecration of the Eucharist. What’s it called again, when a perp attempts to have a forceful communion with an unwilling participant?

Edwina Gateley, a Catholic laywoman and author of 10 books, got cold feet and opted out of her speaking engagement, when informed her seminar would be taped in order to review content during a retreat at a Franciscan Renewal Center. She stood to lose $4,000 from the canceled engagement, but two unidentified women who thought it best to remain anonymous covered the costs to speak at a series of alternative events during the same time frame. Since her feminist theology of a feminine god is well known, I have my suspicions about the retreat organizers and the 20 nuns who signed up to hear her.

Gateley insists that her refusal of being recorded is due to the producers of her copy written material forbidding outside tapings of her talks, but is more likely the manifestation of her fundamental rejection of authority along with the fear and insecurity that comes from being denied the total control to which she is accustomed.

Harvard University seniors Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray founded a student group earlier this year, called True Love Revolution which promotes abstinence on it’s campus. Unlike many campuses which have abstinence clubs which are affiliated with religious organizations, the True Love Revolution is totally “secular,” and it should come as no surprise that many members of the group have come under attack from feminist students and others who mock and ridicule their choice to abstain from sex. This, I believe, is a rather natural reaction for those suffering from a low self-esteem. Somehow, because someone chooses to believe and behave differently and refuses to coddle and affirm a particular (destructive) lifestyle, those who have adopted the lifestyle feel offended and angered as if they were being personally threatened or attacked. Quite telling I would say.

The True Love Revolution is just part of an encouraging trend of unlikely colleges from around the country forming groups devoted to abstinence. For example, Princeton and M.I.T. have formed Anscombe Societies. Just last month the Anscombe Society of Princeton University held a conference on marriage, family, and sexuality which was dedicated to the memory of Professor Elizabeth Fox-Genovese.

Given that I was part of the problem when I was a college student, you can understand why I’m all the more impressed and that I admire the courage and conviction of these students and others like them who persevere despite being treated like societal freaks. May God bless all those who are on the front lines of this cultural war.

Since their stint over at the Edwards blog didn’t work out, the girls over at Pandagon may want to check to see if they have any openings here. You never know, they may find another purpose in their lives.
Image courtesy of Pandagon.

In an effort to bring back the Vagina Monologues, the Honors Program at Marquette University will present the play as an academic event . The associate professor of philosophy and director of the Honors Program, Anthony Peressini, collaborated with the students and found a way to address the graphic sexual issues of same-sex orgasms, child rape gratification, S&M, etc… from an academic standpoint. This year, after the play, there will be a panel of experts who will present academic perspectives of sexual assault, feminism and human rights.

This program is being allowed on campus as being consistent with a Decree in the Documents of the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus: Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society, which calls “all Jesuits to listen carefully and courageously to the experience of women.” The website Gop3.com was successful last year in leading the charge in denying the Monologue performance on campus. They intend to do so again and give 7 reasons why it should be banned as an academic assembly.

Also by gop3.com: The list of the Jesuit universities planning to perform ‘The Vagina Monologues’ this year.

Karen Kubby, clinic director of the Emma Goldman abortion clinic, recently marketed her abortion services as being instrumental in providing pro-life benefits for the woman and families who choose abortion. She believes that pregnant women will make a decision on whether or not to have an abortion based on their “equilibrium“. If she chooses abortion, it’s because the loss of a child would consequently result in a gain for that woman and her family. Therefore, she concludes, the decision for abortion is decidedly pro-life.

I am pro-life. I believe strongly in the value of living beings on this planet. I celebrate life in a variety of ways through my daily activities and spiritual life. I recognize the lives gained through abortion. I see the lives of women and their children who are stronger and more stable because of a decision toward abortion…. A decision about abortion is decidedly pro-life. It is a respectful and moral option….

In summary, Kubby feels the end of gaining a quality of life for women justifies the means of abortion. I mean, what woman wouldn’t want to tap into a respectful and moral means of gaining strength and stability for themselves and their children? Using her cost/benefit ratio- “equilibrium”, I wonder how far beyond the “respectful and moral option” of scrambling the brains of living children outside of the womb would she be willing to go? To what extent does she really covet the authority and ultimate power given to women, which exceeds that of any man, as sole judge and executioner over another human being?

Source – Prolife Blogs

29 year old Michael Buday goes to court in an attempt to change California law that would make it permissible for men to take their wife’s last name when married. He wants to take his wife’s last name so he can honor his wife’s family.

California is one of 44 states with unequal name change laws for people getting married. Right now, only six states — Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota — explicitly allow a man to change his name through marriage with the same ease as a woman can.

According to the ACLU, the obstacles facing a husband who wishes to adopt his wife’s last name violate the equal protection clause provided by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. “California has the perfect marriage application for the 17th century,” said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU of Southern California. “The laws reflect a mind-set that the wife is to be subordinate to the husband”

As for Buday’s personal decision to adopt his wife’s last name, Allred adds that “the point is not if he wishes to change his name, but that he has a right to do it.”Buday, she says, is set apart from most men because “he is secure enough” to take his wife’s surname.

We know that this has nothing to do with rights and everything to do with manipulating a system to promote change which will adapt to one’s own desired paradigms. As so often the case, there is a tendency to attack and demand change to a system that doesn’t provide us with a sense of belonging or providing a comfort zone, as opposed to addressing the internal issues which are at the root these feelings of insecurity. If one feels inadequate in one’s role as a male/female and husband/wife, wouldn’t it make sense that an androgynous society should be the norm? It’s a sort of adolescent, egocentric thought process that expects and demands that others change, because it’s not them with the problem. As for the wimp syndrome; what woman wouldn’t long for their fathers, husbands, and boyfriends to avoid being bullies OR wimps. They would want a man who loves them and transcends his ego and desires for their sake – this is real masculinity, this is true manhood. It all starts with the man.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese died earlier this week, on Tuesday January 2nd, at the age of 65 from complications due to surgery. She began her career as an atheist, feminist scholar but her sharp mind and open heart soon led her to the truth about abortion and eventually to her conversion to the Catholic Faith. She was an active member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, a recognized expert in the history of the American South, and a critic of radical feminism. Some testimonials follow:

From the president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

Robert P. George in National Review On-Line: The Story of a Life Well Lived

Her obituary in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: Dr. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Unorthodox Scholar

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Maverick in History and Women’s Studies, Dies at 65

From Deal Hudson: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, RIP

Please join me in praying for her husband and family, and for her eternal soul.

May the souls of the faithfully departed, rest in peace.

“The Female Brain“, written by the self proclaimed feminist, Dr. Louann Brizendine, is quite interesting in the fact that applying the results of clinical work and scientific analysis, Brizendine was forced to concede that everything she had been taught about gender was wrong. As she put it, “I know it is not politically correct to say this but I’ve been torn for years between my politics and what science is telling us. I believe women actually perceive the world differently from men.” It’s a good lesson to remember that we become who we are and what we believe, partly through the experiences of our lives; but as individuals, there are those of us who seek the truth, and those who reject anything that contradicts what they want to believe as true. Well done Louann!

Source

Short two minute video shows the damage that may occur if women attempt to have a wild and independent opinion of their own.

Tracy Samantha Schmidt, a graduate from Dominican University and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, recently got a job with Time Magazine and decided to do some articles for the magazine based upon interviews she had done as a journalism student. The series of articles talks about how young women are changing the face of sisterhood in general, with other articles focused on St. John’s Catholic Newman Center and some women there. One of them is about a young lady at St. John’s, Katharine Johnson, who is now discerning between religious and married life. Another is about another young woman at the Center, Sr. Sarah, who has already made that choice. A third article is surprisingly about the resources available for discerning a vocation to the religious life.

The articles are very well done, and other than for the precision that she mistakenly equates the term nun with religious sister, it is surprising to see articles sympathetic to Catholic life in a magazine like Time. This is especially so for as aspect of Catholic life that is so antithetical to our modern wordly view. One might almost suspect that the author herself might be contemplating such a vocation. I plan to say an Ave for her any way.

For the fourth time this year, Bonnie Bleskachek, Minneapolis’s first female feminist fire chief, had charges of discrimination and harassment brought against her in the U.S. District court. A male firefighter is the latest person to sue the Minneapolis fire chief, who is lesbian, claiming that she discriminated against him because he is a heterosexual man. The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights found probable cause for the case to procede. The lawsuits, of which two have already been settled, reveal a woman, “who let her personal life interfere with work decisions”. This latest case involves Bonnie’s partner, who just so happens to be a a fire department captain.

Quoting Bonnie, “I just want this all to be over. I just want to be free.” I have a feeling there will more rumors, hurt feelings and conjecture as long as Bonnie Bleskachek is in charge.

In an open letter to Catholic voters, the National Coalition of American Nuns encouraged Catholic voters to have respect for the moral adulthood of women. They should select the legislators who will support the women’s right to make reproductive decisions and receive medical treatment according to the “rights of privacy and conscience.” They also argue that many Catholics support abortion for “compassionate, faithful reasons”.

“We’re supposed to vote as our conscience tells us, not as the archbishop’s conscience tells him,” said Cunningham, a member of the Sisters of Loretto. “I have great respect for the archbishop, but I think that’s kind of treating us like children.”

Opposing war and treating immigrants with compassion are included in a list of seven issues outlined by the group. Mary Ann Coyle and Anna Koop of Denver and Sallie Ann Watkins of Pueblo are the other Colorado nuns on the board.

In their open letter, they pledge themselves to “initiate, invite, and support deepening actions on behalf of social justice, particularly as these impact women, racial/ethnic minorities, and gay or lesbian persons.” How biblical of them.

Source

The (feminist?) movie, Pope Joan, is an upcoming film based on a false legend about a woman disguised as a man who became Pope in the 9th century will be played by actress Franka Potente. The mythical pope was supposedly torn apart by an angry mob when her deception was discovered. I have never heard of this actress, and hopefully will never hear much of this movie which will be nothing more than anti-catholic propaganda made to confuse and deceive.

Source

St. Stephens Community House, a registered Canadian charity, has produced a sex education program which The Ministry of Education in Manitoba is making available to children in grades 9 – 12 with a similar education project in Alberta. The homosexual proganda program called “The Little Black Book–A Book on Healthy Sexuality“, encourages the practice of homosexual behavior among teen girls. For example it reports that approximately 10% of the population is “gay”, 10% is heterosexual and the remaining 80% is bisexual, and goes on to suggest that girls can kiss other girls, but this does not committ them to lesbianism. A theme through out the book makes it perfectly normal for a girl to date both boys and girls.

The following is additional content of the “black book”:

“The guide does not just endorse homosexual practice – it virtually promotes it, and portrays those who object to such practices, particularly parents, as being homophobes, stating that ‘A lot of parents are homophobic, and so are their children until the get minds of their own.’

“One section devoted to lesbian sex is entitled ‘My First Time ****ing a Girl.’

“The guide promotes the use of devices to reduce the risk of contracting disease and infection through sexual activity, referring to this as safe-sex. No meaningful attempt is made to warn the reader of the failure rate of these devices. The result is that young girls are being led to believe, wrongly, that they are not at risk of unwanted pregnancies and infection.

“In another section entitled ‘How to use a Dental Dam’ the guide actually includes the following option: ‘for extra fun – cut out the crotch of your undies and sew on a dental dam.’ This advice, if followed, could lead to the complete failure of the device and infection of its unsuspecting users.

“Finally, in a swipe at religious Canadians, the guide includes the gratuitous observation that ‘(i)f you need someone to represent God The Holiness, then for me, it’s a fat black dyke.’ What this statement has to do with healthy emotional and sexual development is beyond us.

The St. Stephens Community house has removed all traces of this on-line sex manual from the website as of today. Like some in the psychiatric industry, I am convinced that many who are drawn to the sexual education of the young have more than their share of sexual disorders and confusion and consequently, pass on their delusional thoughts to impressionable kids.

Sources: Institute for Canadian Values , Defend Marriage, LifeSite

Links to chapters of the book (Warning – May Be Offensive to Some Adults)

UPDATE (09/22/06) – The Little Black Book produced by St. Stephen’s Community House in Toronto, and correctly described in the report, is in fact not the same Little Black Book being considered for distribution to students in Manitoba schools. Parents have also complained about the latter item but details are not available. A follow up news report will provide further details.