Maybe it is because Halloween is almost upon us. But some very ghoulish men are walking the earth spewing hateful, uneducated nonsense at women.
Let’s make one thing clear:
When Mary said, “Be it done to me according to Thy Word” she was referring to the word of God. Not the word of men like these: Senate aspirants Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin, Gov. Bob McDonnell (otherwise known as Gov. Ultrasound for his enthusiastic support of laws mandating medically unnecessary, invasive transvaginal ultrasounds for women contemplating abortions), Paul Ryan, the Ayn Rand acolyte-turned-Thomas Aquinas-devotee-and-avenue-to-the-Catholic vote for the sometime Mormon Bishop, Mitt Romney.
For reasons that bewilder most women who are awake, (mostly) white men in high places feel compelled to ruminate publicly and stupidly about rape. In addition to forcing themselves and their benighted views into an already horrible situation, they have now created a little space for a guest appearance by God. Apparently God spoke to them and told them she needed to create life through the opportunity presented by rape. Perhaps that is what happens when your world-view is informed by your business acumen: that knack for seizing on every opportunity to extract some profit, whether it is money from gullible consumers or votes from the credulous still in the pews
This is what happens when men get overly attached to the pomp and circumstance of high office and fancy robes and turn their backs on the challenge of walking with the poor. Or as the late Cardinal Martini says when their “rituals and cassocks are pompous.” When they get too used to thrones and mitres, silk vestments and ermine, to the stained glass splendor of cathedrals, and the cross as ornament, not as deeply sacred signifier of how faith and fidelity to Christ’s teaching should move us to act.
We need to take a page from the nuns. Like Jesus, they walk among the poor, the broken, the sick, those most in need on the margins of society. Not the society of super-achievers and high net worth individuals that Romney and Ryan and the GOP ticket are pledged to support at the expense of the poor. And who appear to enjoy the support of the US Bishops. One of the ironies of this election is that the wealthy have actually done very well under the Obama administration.
Sr. Sandra Schneiders IHM, reminds us in her book, Prophets In Their Own Country of the important prophetic role the sisters play “bearing witness to the Gospel in a troubled Church.” As we get
bombarded by the politically expedient invocation of Christian values and Catholic social justice teaching by some to advance agendas that are hostile to the poor, we should note, as Sr. Sandra does, Jesus’ warning to “beware of the official teachers, of the priests and elders who ‘sit in the chair of Moses’ but are hypocrites (Mt: 23: 2-3, whited sepulchers (Mt 23:27), self-serving oppressors of the poor in the name of God.”(95)
In this election, Catholics need only ask themselves: Who were Jesus companions then? And who might they be now?
And cast their vote accordingly.
Well worth reading: here is one blogger, Andrew Sullivan making the moral case for a second Obama term from his perspective as a gay, conservative Catholic man who wants a more peaceful, just world.
Dawn Morais 
The USA is rated number 22 as the country most acceptable for women to live in for equal rights. I think that speaks volumes to the foolishness of this country’s “moral dilemma” with women. Women who believe that they need to be subjugated to men are already subjugated and don’t know what else to do about that cognitive dissonance in their lives because being treated like a child has many advantages besides the obvious disadvantages. I relate this to the issues of how gays as second class citizens will have to face up to the responsibilities of treating themselves: their bodies and souls, as valuable and not a commoditiy to fall back on as they age and subjugate themselves to the lonely lives of people who are used rather than being users. If we can reacognize why it is easier to stay under the thumb of power and control, we can better argue against it.
Having worked with abused and beaten women for years in social work, I can attest to the fact that the more you try to convince a woman that she is being treated poorly, the more tightly she grasps onto a defensive posture…yet we seem to have forgotten that pearl of wisdom when we fight for other people’s rights in a rabid manner. This is a progressive illness….to believe that you are “not good enough” in power and control cultures….and it takes a great deal of patient work…like a marshmallow bulldozer, to point out the advantages of not believing this anymore. The areas of internalized phobias that crush our spirits have got to be rooted out primarily by understanding the radical nature of God’s love for us through Jesus Christ who was a justice seeker, a justice maker, and not a person in the image of a controlling, powerful man. This business of manhood as understood by those who wish to interpret the Bible as a “he” only Bible has held us in bondage so well that most of us have fallen into the seductive nature of man is better than woman where the cheese binds.
If any of us study the prevention of cruelty to children, it was the prevention of cruelty to ANIMALS that preceded the notion that children should not be beaten or treated as property worse than animals. Those child protection laws came AFTER we wrote laws to protect animals and were based on those early prevention documents.
I am convinced that religion in this century has got to get this male/female “stuff” addressed or we will remain as backward and stupid as the 22nd country that we are. It is shameful to me to find out that we are 22nd in the world for our rights. So I am left to believe that at some level in this country under our rhetoric that we are NOT made equal in the eyes of God.
Kaysie: Thank you for being such a faithful reader and adding your thoughts. You are right–women need to trust and value themselves enough not to give away what is theirs.
Sheela Jane: As you can see, I put your gift of Sr. Sandra Schneiders’ book to use right away. Thank you! xoxo Mum