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Pope Francis retains patriarchal view of women
Google/LAT ^ | December 8, 2014 | Candida Moss and Joel Baden

Posted on 12/06/2014 3:19:28 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o

At first, it was easy to overlook. With all of his statements about caring for the poor, the disabled and immigrants, and all the fanfare surrounding his famous "Who am I to judge?" proclamation, Pope Francis seemed like a breath of fresh air for a church stuck resolutely in the past. The fact that he never commented on the long-standing marginalization of women in the Catholic Church, and asserted quite plainly that there would be no ordination of women, did nothing to dampen progressive enthusiasm for the new pope. There has been a hopeful sense that he would get around to it eventually.

He hasn't, however, and there is reason to question whether he ever will. Instead of a more compassionate and understanding take on the standing of women in the church, Francis has repeatedly embraced the traditional Catholic view that a woman's role is in the home.

Ten days ago, Pope Francis organized and addressed an interfaith colloquium on the subject of "The Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage." The use of the doctrinal term "complementarity" signals the conservative underpinnings of Francis' views on marriage. The religious teaching of complementarity holds that men and women have very different roles in life and in marriage, with men outranking women in most areas. Although Francis did acknowledge that complementarity could take "many forms," he nonetheless insisted that it is an "anthropological fact."

Last week, in chastising the European Parliament on the subject of immigration policy, Francis provided another alarming insight into his attitudes toward women, this time in his choice of metaphor. He described Europe as a "grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant," but instead "elderly and haggard." At 77 years old, presumably Francis still thinks himself relatively vibrant and useful to society. Women of his age, however, have apparently outlived their utility.

Francis has made it clear that he sees childbearing and child rearing as crucial womanly roles.

But his remarks about European immigration marked the first time Francis has used the natural loss of fertility and change in appearance that accompany aging to cast a moral judgment. By selecting the image of an aging woman — someone who is, to use Francis' words, no longer "relevant" to the world — is nothing other than crass chauvinism. Francis has elsewhere condemned our modern "throwaway" culture that discards the elderly, but here — when the subject is exclusively female — he demonstrates exactly the same attitude.

Even when ostensibly elevating women, Francis reveals a highly patriarchal view of where their value lies. In a July statement that many took as a positive sign, he said that women are "more important than bishops and priests." But it is unclear just how progressive we should understand that statement to be. Repeatedly, Francis has come back to extolling the role of women specifically as mothers, noting that "the presence of women in a domestic setting" is crucial to "the very transmission of the faith."

To his credit, Francis has called for an expansion of women's participation in the life of the church, and he has said that "the role of women in the church is not only maternity, the mother of the family." But he seems to have trouble articulating that role in non-maternal terms, or at least in terms that are not circumscribed by the familial: "I think, for example, of the special concern which women show to others, which finds a particular, even if not exclusive, expression in motherhood." Although women may have lives outside the home, Francis has urged that we not "forget the irreplaceable role of the woman in a family."

It is too much to expect, even with Francis at the helm, that the church would decide to admit women to the clergy. But it would be no violation of doctrine to recognize women as contributing to the life of the church, as being intrinsically and equally valuable, regardless of their familial role or fertility. Francis has had many opportunities to express these sentiments, yet he hasn't. It's hard not to conclude that he sees procreation as the end goal — and the functional utility — of a woman's life.

Candida Moss is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Joel Baden is professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale University. They co-wrote the forthcoming "Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness."


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: anticatholic; candidamoss; cultureear; joelbaden; male; masculine; men; meow; nuclearfamily; smashthepatriarchy; waronchristianity; waronmarriage
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To: Mom MD

Agreed!!!


21 posted on 12/06/2014 4:45:17 PM PST by Mercat ("The sisters did not want to save the world. Someone already had.")
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To: jtal

At least she’s cute: http://candidamoss.com/gallery/


22 posted on 12/06/2014 4:54:58 PM PST by vladimir998
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To: txnativegop; vladimir998
I just love it when these gals get all steamed up and humphy. It seems to make everything ---oh, I don't know--- better, somehow.
23 posted on 12/06/2014 5:04:40 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (I'm not denyin' the women are foolish. God Almighty made 'em to match the men.)
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To: HerrBlucher; Cicero; Mercat
She certainly knows less about theology than my fellow dear, non-academically-credentialed, RCIA Team members.

I would rather be schooled in Catholicism by the first 50 people through the doors for 7:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Daily Mass, than by the Catholic Theological Society of America.

24 posted on 12/06/2014 5:16:01 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
you know sometimes I wonder if all the whiny libs secretly want to be Marines. Since any good Marine leader would say of his/her marines : IF THEY AIN'T B&TCHING! THEY AIN'T HAPPY!
25 posted on 12/06/2014 5:16:54 PM PST by txnativegop (I'm out of ideas about tag lines.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

I am an RCIA team member and in my third year I’m still learning stuff.


26 posted on 12/06/2014 5:18:47 PM PST by Mercat ("The sisters did not want to save the world. Someone already had.")
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To: Jim Noble
(Eyes darting left and right. Hand held conspiratorially to the side of my mouth)... I like patriarchy.

Seriously. I could say with equal truth:

I like Patriarchy... as reformed by the Gospel.

I like Feminism... as reformed by the Gospel.

27 posted on 12/06/2014 5:19:00 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: workerbee

It’s like she saying “Oh yeah, the transmission of life.... yawn.... so trivial...”


28 posted on 12/06/2014 5:20:15 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: GreyFriar
Yeah. Tell that to Catherine of Siena.

:o)

29 posted on 12/06/2014 5:21:21 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: dodger

Da fungus among-us.


30 posted on 12/06/2014 5:21:43 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: txnativegop

This is a credentialed, tenured academic woman whose professional opinion is that contemporary women are victims, but the holy martyrs of the first Three Centuries of the Church were not.


31 posted on 12/06/2014 5:24:00 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: Mercat

I love RCIA. I am amazed at what I am still learning (5th year.) I have such talented fellow teachers, and the vistas that have opened up to me are just vast. It’s like I just noticed I’m standing at the intersection of Incarnation and Infinity.


32 posted on 12/06/2014 5:25:59 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

I have not done research, but the book cover on another post might be her doctoral dissertation. Which would suggest philosophy, history or religion.

Regardless, the dissertations that get published are those that will cause controversy and, therefore interest, to buy said book.

She’s a bone-head, no doubt about it.


33 posted on 12/06/2014 5:33:27 PM PST by txnativegop (I'm out of ideas about tag lines.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Even when ostensibly elevating women, Francis reveals a highly patriarchal view of where their value lies.

The author's work providing an object lesson as to "why."

Apparently she doesn't understand the Deposit of Faith was never supposed to be an interest bearing account.

34 posted on 12/06/2014 5:46:55 PM PST by papertyger ("News" is what journalists want to say.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

I love being lectured to about the pope’s attitude toward women by someone named Candida Moss. Is she a fungal growth?


35 posted on 12/06/2014 5:48:08 PM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)
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To: papertyger

!!


36 posted on 12/06/2014 5:48:49 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("The Holy Catholic Church: the more Holy she is, the more Catholic she is.")
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To: Mom MD

What a privileged place God has given us. To bear children, be loved and cherished!

***
Dittos from this woman who loves her wonderful husband, the head of our household.


37 posted on 12/06/2014 5:53:02 PM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Snort!


38 posted on 12/06/2014 5:54:05 PM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Heck! I’ll shout it:
PATRIARCHY IS GREAT! IT NEEDS TO RETURN.


39 posted on 12/06/2014 5:55:46 PM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)
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To: Mom MD
I will say that the passage about women obeying their husbands is often misinterpreted. Women are to obey their husbands, no question. But the last half of the verse is usually left out. Men are to love their wives as Christ loves the Church - and to lay down their life for their wives. What a privileged place God has given us. To bear children, be loved and cherished!

Amen
A Catholic husband knows what his job is: to help his wife and children get to heaven.

That’s his Prime Directive: He needs to do whatever needs to be done to help his wife and children be holy.

Why? Because he loves them, and he wants eternal life for them and himself.

40 posted on 12/06/2014 6:06:54 PM PST by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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