That is a phrase from PF's Gaudete et Exsultate. I expect we shall be hearing quite a lot about it in the next few years, unless Providence brings this pontificate to a cruelly premature end. And I had better be careful what I say ...
... because, you see, I have one Wife, three Daughters, and two Grand-daughters. I wouldn't like them to hear that I had written slightingly about such an important subject. So ... Mum's the word ... er ....
I will simply, therefore, observe that it goes without saying that there most definitely is a Genius of Woman, and that it is completely different from the equally real Genius of Man. My consequent question is:
As we quite properly, if belatedly, celebrate the Genius of Woman, what plans are PF and his associates making to follow it up with a special, balancing, celebration of the Genius of Man? Will there be a special new Roman dicastery (jobs for the girls?) to raise awareness of the Genius of Man? A 'Year of the Man', perhaps? A 'Synod on Men'? Vatican Postage Stamps exclusively celebrating Men? Special Vatican Press Presentations of Men, hosted by a winsomely smiling Graf? Supplements on Men in Osservatore Romano? An Apostolic Exhortation on Men (Dignitas virilis)? The admission of Men to exclusive, secretive and powerful organisations like the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious? Special mechanisms to fast-track more Men into Parish Flower Guilds? A quota system to ensure that men are more proportionately represented in teams of Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers? Successions of seminars so that everyone can listen sensitively to the Voice of Men: their needs, fears, and hopes; after all, men simply want to be heard ... to have their narratives, their own particular Truth, respected; why should they not be allowed to be as visible and audible in the public forum as normal humans are? Possibly even a special Men's Column in the Tablet?
Perhaps we need a major enquiry into why, since 1973, Men have been totally denied ordination to the Subdiaconate in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite?
There's a lot of catching-up to do.
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was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Since 2011, he has been in full communion with the See of S Peter. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. In this blog, the letters PF stand for Pope Francis. On this blog, 'Argumentum ad hominem' refers solely to the Lockean definition, Pressing a man with the consequences of his own concessions'.
... once graced the high altar of the church of Sancta Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill.
Fr John Hunwicke
was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Since 2011, he has been in full communion with the See of S Peter. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. In this blog, the letters PF stand for Pope Francis. On this blog, 'Argumentum ad hominem' refers solely to the Lockean definition, Pressing a man with the consequences of his own concessions'.
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... once graced the high altar of the church of Sancta Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill.
8 comments:
Wow! Indeed I commend every word you say!. I am now an "old Fogey" and hence what I say is irrelevant. I was granted the ministry of Acolytate and I have served faithfully in that role since 1975 but my local Ordinary has demanded that I sign up for a further five years just as if I were an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist.. As far as I knew it the Acolytate was for life, since it is one of the Minor Orders. But NO! I had to sign up for a further five years. So, I resigned! Our Bishops know nothing. They have had a very poor education in the Seminary and now the Church is in a mess!
Huh. I have a wife, SEVEN daughters, and (using fingers here....) seven grand-daughters. I also built a vault in my basement which locked from the inside. That worked pretty well!
#resignandbeprosecuted
I haven't read this one, but surely it's not so different from 'the feminine genius' in St. JPII's "Mulieris dignitatem", and 'the genius of women' in his 1995 "Letter to Women"?
Which is not to say that I do not fully expect to be facepalming my way through any document released by PF, because I usually am. But it's a prior term of art, not copyrighted by PF.
Ah, I had already facepalmed and forgotten that one, although I think I also did some clutching of sinal release points. Doesn't say much about women, either.
Re: men's equality initiatives, it's funny because it's true. I feel that in daily life, I need to go to extra lengths to treat men with respect, and especially young men or boys -- because they have gotten used to hearing a lot of nastiness. I also try to make absolutely sure that I thank men for courteous gestures. It perks them up a lot, but it's sad that so many male people don't expect female forms of common courtesy.
Unfortunately, some young women at my church are apparently not so nice. My mother (who is more plugged into this stuff, since I'm always busy singing in the choir) says that quite a few of the female volunteer church ladies were making life heck for certain young male volunteers, to the point that they would skulk into Mass at the last possible moment and then vanish before the last hymn ended. Given that one of the persecuted was a brilliant young physicist headed for good earnings, you can see that they are not exactly long-term thinkers.
(His crime was that he is very good with plants and liked coaxing along the poinsettias and peace lilies. They didn't actually want to work with the plants or even water or deadhead them, but they thought he was getting too much favorable attention for it.)
The physicist was also the guy who persuaded his neighbors at home, back up in God's Country, to let him tune all their lawnmower engines to specific harmonizing notes, so that they would have a more pleasant hum.
It worked too.
Yeah, it boggles the mind that somebody would want to be nasty to somebody like that. Especially inside a church. But he's going off to a well-paid graduate school job, which is what happens when you work on STEM stuff with actual money applications.
Father, you have omitted noting the most important area from which males are excluded, at least in the American church: the parish secretaryship. Some few priests and even a bishop have warned me that while it is seriously inconvenient not to be in the good graces of your pastor, it is lethal to be out of favor with the parish secretary. My impression is even a bishop has to be careful. He can browbeat his priests, but must needs watch his tongue with the parish secretary. Yet I have not come across a male parish secretary. The women have it all in their exclusive power.
Louis,
I approached a priest-friend with the idea of a secular order of men who would take on administrative duties in parishes. The men would pray the Hours with the priest(s) in order to have some real sense of community and then he would run the office on behalf of the rector as a steward would run a household on behalf of a king, thus freeing the rector to do his pastoral job properly. The added bonus is that the priests would no longer suffer under the tyranny of a female secretary trying to run and ruin their lives.
He thought it was a good idea as long as the male administrative assistants were not permanent deacons, because they are insufferable.
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