Letter To Women: From a Dual Perspective (ft. a certain amount of satire)

The Miss Megan and I are BACK for our 2nd Monthly Papal Document Linkup, which, if you need a reminder, comes to you on every 5th of the month, and you are welcome to use the little box below to link up with and join us! We'd be thrilled to have you.

Our papal document for March is Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women, published on June 29, 1995, by Pope St. John Paul II, pope from 1978 to 2005.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I'll give you a (very) brief summary, of course, but this letter is actually quite short, and wouldn't take you long to read. You can find it here.

Summary: Women are awesome, and we have something incredibly important and special to share with the world no matter what state of life we're in. The views of women in the world haven't always been perfect, and it's a good time to fix that...here are some flaws, and here are some solutions. Women deserve dignity and respect, they have a special genius, and they are needed desperately in our world! 

I'm a little tired and hungry at the moment (#Lent) so I'm going to do something more narrative-like than essay-like today. The encyclical does really lend itself to this. Not that essays couldn't be written about it, because they could, but it's more of a direct-address document (it is a letter, after all...) and it seems fitting.

I appreciate many things about this encyclical--the greeting first of all, and the way he says that he's writing the letter to each woman throughout the world (that means me!)--but one thing that struck me most throughout the letter was the subtle ways in which John Paul II re-underlined Church doctrine about women, even while affirming many (but not all) of the modern attitudes towards women. It's done in such a straightforward, unaccented, honest, and friendly way that a rabid (read: atheistic) feminist might read the letter and totally be nodding along the entire time...and then several hours later think to herself "wait a hot second, WHAT did he say? HoW dAre???" and that mental image amuses me greatly. 

So, in order to find some sort of focus for this post, other than "JPII SAYS WOMEN ACKNOWLEDGE THE PERSON MORE THAN MEN. JPII SAYS COMPLEMENTARITY ISN'T JUST IN MARRIAGE. JPII SAYS THIS. JPII SAYS THAT", I'm going to be examining a couple of my favorite parts where he doubly affirms modern women and affirms Church teaching and showing why I think they are SO funny (and well-written on JPII's part) when looked at from the dual perspective of secular feminists and Catholic women.

(Please be aware that in this post, the term 'feminist' refers generally to the predominant cultural movement of radical secular feminists who want to 'free women from traditional gender roles' and 'the dominion of the patriarchy' and so on, the ones who go to extremes and don't usually acknowledge where the Church is right about women, and just want Strong Independent Women (TM) not Soft Loving But Still Strong Women Who Acknowledge The Person And Love Jesus. My ribbing of them is somewhat good-natured--they're not wrong about some of their agenda--but also a little rueful. If you'd like clarification, please ask in the comments--it's not my intention to be offensive. I am a woman myself, after all, and I appreciate being able to vote and work and get paid and all that.)

"And what shall we say of the obstacles which in so many parts of the world still keep women from being fully integrated into social, political and economic life? We need only think of how the gift of motherhood is often penalized rather than rewarded, even though humanity owes its very survival to this gift. Certainly, much remains to be done to prevent discrimination against those who have chosen to be wives and mothers. As far as personal rights are concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the rights and duties of citizens in a democratic State."

Feminists hear: "Women have to be citizens, vote, and have jobs! They need equal pay, access to childcare, and equal advancement!" (NB: none of this is entirely a bad thing, unless it becomes an idol.)

Catholic Women hear: "The culture needs to stop forcing wives and mothers to work, and also stop looking down on stay-at-home moms!"

The fact that the choice of example of discrimination is that of discrimination against those women who choose not to work makes this one especially ironic. He's not wrong. Women do need to be fully integrated into social, political, and economic life...if they want. But they shouldn't be forced into that if they don't want...for example, they should not be looked down upon if they want to just stay home with their kids!

" The time has come to condemn vigorously the types of sexual violence which frequently have women for their object and to pass laws which effectively defend them from such violence. Nor can we fail, in the name of the respect due to the human person, to condemn the widespread hedonistic and commercial culture which encourages the systematic exploitation of sexuality and corrupts even very young girls into letting their bodies be used for profit."

Feminists hear: "Encourage #MeToo! Be totally and completely shocked when women wear almost nothing on their bodies and then are objectified and/or attacked!" 

Catholic Women hear: "Ban pornography and teach girls about the dignity of their bodies and the necessity of modesty! Stop objectification in the media!"

The condemnation of sexual violence is absolutely justified, and it's Good that he included it. (And in my lampooning of the feminist view, I am NOT repeating the opinion that it's all the woman's fault if she's attacked when wearing something skimpy. That's a lie.) At the same time, though, the emphasis here is on encouraging respect for the human person, which may include steps such as "saving marital intercourse for marriage" and "wearing modest clothes". (*shock*)

"When it comes to setting women free from every kind of exploitation and domination, the Gospel contains an ever relevant message which goes back to the attitude of Jesus Christ himself. Transcending the established norms of his own culture, Jesus treated women with openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness"

coupled with the quote

"the presence of a certain diversity of roles [in the Church] is in no way prejudicial to women, provided that this diversity is not the result of an arbitrary imposition, but is rather an expression of what is specific to being male and female...If Christ-by his free and sovereign choice, clearly attested to by the Gospel and by the Church's constant Tradition entrusted only to men the task of being an "icon" of his countenance as "shepherd" and "bridegroom" of the Church through the exercise of the ministerial priesthood, this in no way detracts from the role of women"

Feminists hear (mostly from the first quote): "Jesus wants women to be equal in Every Way! Maybe we'll get women priests as soon as the Catholic Church gets in line with 'What Jesus Actually Meant'!" 

Catholic Women hear: "Jesus loves women, and treated them with the dignity that they were due. Just because priests are always going to only be men doesn't mean that women are any less deserving of dignity."

Sorry feminists. Priestesses ain't ever gon' happen. Jesus really was very radical in his respect for and inclusion of women in his time, setting an example of how women should be treated...since He was perfect, He treated women perfectly. Which means that His choice to not include women in the ministerial priesthood was not a result of the times (because he didn't usually treat women in the way the norms of the times specifically dictated), but something that is perfect, and will last forever.

"You can see then, dear sisters, that the Church has many reasons for hoping that the forthcoming United Nations Conference in Beijing will bring out the full truth about women. Necessary emphasis should be placed on the "genius of women", not only by considering great and famous women of the past or present, but also those ordinary women who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves at the service of others in their everyday lives."

Feminists hear: "JPII wants the truth about women out! We're geniuses, and we're all so special and more women should be famous! People need to be aware of how awesome we are!"

Catholic Women hear: "JPII hopes that the UN conference won't overemphasize equality and sameness between men and women, but will emphasize the uniqueness of femininity and womanhood in its ability to serve others in everyday lives, without necessarily being exceptional or famous."

This last quote honestly has a wistful feel to it...almost like JPII expects that the UN conference isn't going to focus on the genius of women, especially not in how women serve others in their everyday lives. But even though it's kind of an uphill battle, and even if that's not how the UN sees it, he's still going to talk about how awesome the Church thinks women are. That last line, about the ordinary women, the ones that we won't ever notice, the ones who incite their children to sainthood, and serve even when it's hard, and don't ask for thanks and honor for doing a harder job than most...that line hits hard. <3

Alrighty, that's all for today! I think this post is quite a bit more sarcastic than usual, so...I hope that hasn't been confusing! There's certainly been a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek, even along with the seriousness. Which is, of course, what makes it fun. :) (Can you tell I'm a little fed up with all the feminism at college? XD)

What's your favorite document by JPII? Have you read any of his letters before? How's Lent going for you so far?