Letters

Radical feminism (letter)

Gordon Southern

Contents - Nov 2002 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The essential role of saints in the Church - Michael Gilchrist Independent inquiry exonerates Archbishop George Pell - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 Father Fessio: real US crisis is 'spiritual abuse' - Karl Maurer Australian Bishops' 'complaints protocol' used to uphold orthodoxy - Richard Egan Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva canonised at Papal Mass in Rome - AD2000 Report Sydney Archdiocese courses on 'Catechism' - Fr John Flader Catholic schools: restoring a sense of sin - Br John Moylan CFC Australian apologist Raymond de Souza's successful overseas lecture tour - AD2000 Report Events: The Fellowship of St Arnou to hold function in Melbourne Letters: Media war declared (letter) - Fr M. Shadbolt PP Letters: Embryo experimentation (letter) - Brian A. Coman Letters: Radical feminism (letter) - Gordon Southern Letters: Brisbane Synod (letter) - J.F. Nolan Letters: Anglican Church (letter) - Fr James Grant SSC Letters: Office of Bishop (letter) - Fr Brendan T. Walters MSC Letters: Headline (letter) - Michael Starr Letters: Birth control (letter) - Kevin Tighe Letters: Insulting TV program (letter) - K.L. Hanrahan Letters: Tough teachings (letter) - Mrs Maureen Federico Letters: Offertory prayers (letter) - John Mulholland Letters: Exorcists (letter) - Monica J. Hart Letters: EWTN (letter) - Jacqueline Donohue Letters: Anonymity (letter) - Narelle Mullins Books: The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: Scripture Diary 2003 Books: Bernard Of Clairvaux: Essential Writings - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: A Generation Betrayed: Deconstructing Catholic Education, by Eamonn Keane - John Young (reviewer) Books: Ideal Christmas Gifts from AD Books Reflection: St Maria Goretti's 'perfect Christian death' - Mary Kenny

Last week I sighted the CACW pamphlet under the heading "Commission for Australian Catholic Women" and titled The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference - Decisions and Proposals of the Social Justice Statement 2000.

I am disappointed to see limited Church resources diverted to this publication which could be fairly described as a manifesto of undisguised radical feminism (as opposed to a truly Catholic feminism as found, for example, in the teaching of Pope John Paul II and in the writings of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross).

I find myself wondering whether the Catholic Church in Australia really needs another layer of bureaucracy (Commission for Australian Catholic Women) which appears to be driven by the quest for power and elitism.

The irony is that the ordinary Catholics funding this folly would, for the most part, have a vision of the Catholic Church much closer to that described in Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church than that promoted by CACW.

The real Catholic women I am privileged to know are women seeking transformation in Christ through

* the truth revealed in the Word of God, as transmitted by the magisterium of the Catholic Church;

* their striving to live with integrity gospel values;

* their wholehearted participation in the Church's sacramental life,

* their living a life of prayer.

Some are women who, by living faithfully and sincerely the consecrated life of religious sisters, are a beautiful witness and response to the love of Christ. Others are lay Catholic women, married or unmarried, but all with a strong Catholic vocation.

It is a matter of public record that the surveys on which Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus was based demonstrated, no doubt to the chagrin of its promoters, that their evident discontent with the Catholic Church in Australia is not shared by the great majority of Catholic women.

One must hope and pray that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference will be resolute in resisting the strident voice of disaffected radical feminism and that we may move towards more emphasis on "Christ Jesus" and less on a truncated vision of "Woman and Man".

GORDON SOUTHERN
Cook, ACT