Letters

'Misandry' (letter)

Name and address supplied

Contents - Dec 2002 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Christmas 2002: the state of the Church - Peter Westmore New Vatican Instruction on priesthood: the challenge to be another Christ - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 Education: Most teachers reject Church teaching: ACU professor - Michael Gilchrist Books: Biography of Archbishop Pell launched in Melbourne: author interviewed Thomas Groome: his influence on religious education continues - Eamonn Keane Brisbane Synod 2003: a leadership challenge - Peter D. Howard 'New' ecumenism fights secular culture: Protestant theologian Archbishop Chaput: what makes a good leader? - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput The sound of thunder and laughter: Hilaire Belloc re-considered -  A.G. Evans Letters: The Pell case (letter) - Alan A. Hoysted Letters: Clergy support (letter) - Peter R. McNamara Letters: Anti-Catholicism (letter) - Glenn Talaue Letters: Women's Commission (1) (letter) - Sr Breda O'Reilly Letters: Women's Commission (2) (letter) - Dr Myles M. Kehoe Letters: Bishops' initiative (letter) - Therese Vassarotti Letters: Bishop Power (letter) - Fr G.H. Duggan SM Letters: St Maria Goretti (letter) - Anne Buchan Letters: 'Misandry' (letter) - Name and address supplied Letters: Forgiveness (letter) - John Schmid Letters: Visionary (letter) - Tom King Letters: Newman (letter) - Rev Julius C. Stonehouse Letters: Apologetics (letter) - Geoff Storey Poetry: The New Year - D.C. Craig Books: Bio-Engagement: Making a Christian Difference through Bioethics Today - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: Eucharistic Devotion : renewing a timeless tradition / Heart of St Alphonsus - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Barb of Fire: Twenty Poems of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Beyond the Blue Glass: Catholic Essays on Faith and Culture, Aidan Nichols OP - Tracey Rowland (reviewer) Books: Top Ten AD2000 Books for 2002 Books: Ideal Christmas Gifts from AD Books Reflection: John Paul II on Christmas: 'the mystery of humanity redeemed by Christ' - Pope John Paul II

With great wisdom it has been said: "Belief in God is the unshakeable foundation of all Christian order and responsibility on Earth" (vide Pope Pius Xl's encyclical letter Atheistic Communism).

More recently, two American researchers, Paul Matheson and Katherine K. Young, in the first published book of their trilogy, Beyond the Fall of Man, write about misandry - the spread and teaching of contempt for men within Western culture.

They issue a grave warning to those who do not wish anarchy, terrorism or injustice to prevail in our society to take energetic steps to prevent the enemies of Christian religion from attaining the goals ideological feminists so boldly proclaim to our world. We can certainly not have any worthwhile civil authority unless we accept the authority of God.

Attention also needs to be drawn to the fact that if we are not careful, misandry could thrive in the Church.

It is not a pleasant experience, on telling a pastoral associate that I was reading the Gospels and concentrating of the words of Christ, to be told in horrified tones, "I don't think that's a good idea"; and then to the amazed response, "why ever not", to be told "the Apostles, being mere men, could have got it all wrong."

How could they have "got it all wrong" when Christ, while on Earth, spent so much time teaching them and finally giving them the authority to carry on in His name when He said, "All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go you therefore and teach all people all the things I have commanded you to teach"?

Through Christ and His Apostles, God is the author of the Bible. God's revelation of Himself may have been limited by the modes of expression of the different eras in which the Bible was written, but it is certainly a revelation of what God wants for His Church.

The spread of misandry, especially in the Church, should cease for the good of all.

Name and address supplied

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 15 No 11 (December 2002 - January 2003), p. 14