Linking evil to feminism (Is the Prospect of Female Power So Threatening To the Catholic Church?)

Boston Globe ^ | 4/11/2004 | Eileen McNamara

[presidio9]

Not content to wage war on the civil rights of homosexuals, some leaders of the Roman Catholic Church chose the most sacred week in the Christian calendar to launch an assault on another of their favorite targets: women.

In Boston, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley identified "feminism" as one of the secular evils that make the United States "a hostile, alien environment" for Catholics. Feminism, the advocacy of equal social and political rights for women, lumped right in there during his homily with "the drug culture," "the sexual revolution," "hedonism," "consumerism," and "the culture of death."

In Atlanta, Archbishop John F. Donoghue banned women from participating in traditional Holy Thursday reenactments of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper, their inclusion in the symbolic ritual inappropriate, he said, because women cannot be "called to the priesthood." (O'Malley, too, restricted the ritual to men but issued no edict requiring others to do so.) Donoghue instituted a similar ban 15 years ago when he was the bishop of Charlotte, N.C. To their credit, many Georgia parishes canceled scheduled reenactments rather than restrict participation.

In Britain, Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, applauded plans by a television outlet to broadcast an abortion procedure later this month. It would be educational, he said, "especially for women," the suggestion implicit that women have no idea what they are doing when they terminate a pregnancy.

[Cicero]

The writer is named Eileen McNamara. What is it with Boston Irish Catholics? They used to be the salt of the earth. Now they're all nuts.

[Rutles4Ever]

It's articles like this that solidify my faith in the Catholic Church....

[Hibernius Druid]

Latest rant from Boston, the Vatican City of Secular Humanism.

[Rutles4Ever]

It's all about Satan... and it's across the board -- all traditional ethinicities (except perhaps the Poles) are falling away...

[Desdemona]

Enforcing church law and teaching suddenly becomes a war on women and homosexuals.

Yeah.

Give me a break. I'm almost embarrassed to be descended from Boston area Irish. They've gone off the deep end.

[nina0113]

Mary promised the children at Fatima that the true faith would always be practiced in Portugal, though I don't believe she said by what percentage of the populace.

[ex-snook]

Right. Other religions have not elevated a woman to the heights that the Catholic Church has placed Mary.

[martin gibson]

a rat is a dog is a pig is a feminist (with profound apologies to rats dogs and pigs)...

[Mr. Jeeves]

Giving political power to a feminist is like handing a loaded gun to a gibbon.

[Aliska]

This from a man who would rigidly obey the pope on washing womens' feet but would not withhold communion from a blatant, public sinner who will do everything in his power to ensure that, while keeping his own hands free of blood, will enable millions of women to continue mudering their babies in the womb in the most gruesome way, all for political expediency.

If these catholic women gain any more power in the church, it will only go further downhill.

It's sad and disgusting. He shouldn't have picked on womyn this Easter. He picked on the wrong sex.

Fix what's wrong with the men, then go after the womyn.

[johniegrad]

Not content to wage war on the civil rights of homosexuals,

Sorry, Presidio, couldn't get past the first lie.

[dmz]

Since the 1960s it's all been about making ugly women feel more mainstream
________

I seem to remember making that joke as a high school senior in 1976. Some around here haven't developed much since then, and this time it isn't me.

[babaloo999]

In Britain, Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, applauded plans by a television outlet to broadcast an abortion procedure later this month. It would be educational, he said, "especially for women," the suggestion implicit that women have no idea what they are doing when they terminate a pregnancy.

They tend not to focus on the gory details.

[SuziQ]

Not content to wage war on the civil rights of homosexuals, some leaders of the Roman Catholic Church chose the most sacred week in the Christian calendar to launch an assault on another of their favorite targets: women.

Get over yourself, Eileen. Women are not the target of the Catholic Church, Godless FEMINISTS are!

The Catholic Church has always had women in positions of power; Abbesses had only slightly less power than Bishops! The fact that women are not allowed to be priests has not kept them from influencing the Church in myriad wonderful ways, when they are informed and led by the Holy Spirit. The fact that the results of feminist interference in the Church has been chaos shows that theirs is not a 'fruit of the Spirit'.

[grellis]

Feminism, the advocacy of equal social and political rights for women...

I'm only 34 years old. Feminism stopped being about women's rights looooong before my time.

[grellis]

This from a man who would rigidly obey the pope on washing womens' feet but would not withhold communion from a blatant, public sinner...

I don't think he's had a chance to withhold the Eucharist from al-Qerry, either personally or by directing priests in his diocese to do so. al-Qerry has been attending a non-Catholic church for a while now. Photos which show him receiving communion are being floated around with little or no mention of what church he is attending. Slick, huh? "Look at me, I'm still accepted as a Catholic in good standing, wink wink." He's pathetic.

[presidio9]

Some around here haven't developed much since then, and this time it isn't me.

Please expand on that thought.

[Unam Sanctam]

Eileen McNamara graciously demonstrates why feminism creates a hostile environment for the Catholic faith in the United States.