April 29, 2024

HOW TO READ YOUR WAY OUT OF RADICAL FEMINISM

DISCLAIMER:
I don't necessarily agree with/support everything that some of the sources below put forth. However, these cherry-picked resources are key to deconstructing radical feminism. 

--my video testimony: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TOhqMnyrIc&t=4088s

--my (audio) talk "From Radical Feminism to 'Feminine Genius'":
https://soundcloud.com/pauline-books-and-media/sets/theology-of-the-body

If we are Catholic-Christian women, why do we need to listen to "the culture," ideologies, secular humanism, or an unbelieving world to get clues about our identity, purpose, way of life, destiny as women?

THE BIBLE 

God made women. God loves women. God created women equal in dignity to men, but different in many other ways--physically and spiritually. God gave women their own unique power, authority, gifts, roles, influence and mission. Women weren't always treated well (nor did they always act well) in the Bible, but God did not sanction these things. The Bible is also an historical account. God is all holy and wants our sanctification.

We have been taught to read the Bible through a radical feminist lens, and so we skip over
pro-woman books/passages (that don't fit the misogynist narrative we've been taught to look for) such as:
-The Book of Ruth
-The Book of Esther
-The Book of Judith
-The Book of Judges (Deborah)
-Sirach 3:2 "The Lord confirms a mother's authority over her sons."
-Proverbs 31
-Exodus 1:1-21 the Hebrew midwives, Shifra and Puah
-Mark 14:9 
-1 Corinthians 7:3-5 mutuality (unheard of in the ancient world)
-1 Corinthians 11:11 interdependence (unheard of in the ancient world)
-Ephesians 5:25-33 / 1 Peter 3:7 (duties of husbands: cherish your wives)
(and many, many more)

God the Holy Spirit is the true Author of the Bible. Read it through His loving eyes.

--"Women of the Bible" books (faithful ones) make good reading.

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD & OUR MOTHER, VIRGIN MOST POWERFUL:

--Any faithful books on Our Lady (including books on her apparitions)!
My favorites: "The Reed of God" by Caryll Houselander; "Mary, the Church at the Source" by Joseph Ratzinger; "True Devotion" by St. Louis de Montfort; "The Marian Option: God's Solution to a Civilization in Crisis" by Carrie Gress; "Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God" by Scott Hahn; "Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary's Queenship" by Edward Sri; "Mary, Mother of Apostles: How To Live Marian Devotion to Proclaim Christ" by Fr. Giuseppe Forlai

WOMEN SAINTS:

--"Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics" by Carol Lee Flinders (notice how these women don't try to imitate men in their unique relationships with God)

--Read the lives and writings of women Saints and Blesseds, including 20th/21st century women

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY:

"Theology of the Body" is a Bible study of the human body-person and the Incarnation.

--"Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body" This is THE TOB text by Pope John Paul II--a challenging read--but the lengthy Introduction by Dr. Waldstein is worth the price of the book. Some parts of the volume are an easier read than others.

--Complete 34-page SYNOPSIS OF THEOLOGY OF THE BODY by Fr. Roger Landry:

--Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI (Encyclical issued in 1968, reaffirming 2,000 years of the Catholic Church's rejection of contraception/abortion, and instead embracing life, sexual integrity, human flourishing and holiness). Pope John Paul II wrote his Theology of the Body in great part to explain Humanae Vitae (the last section of TOB is on Humanae Vitae).
https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html

--"Love and Responsibility" by Karol Wojtyla (JP2) came out in English in 1960; considered his "philosophy/psychology of the body," much easier read than his TOB text. ESSENTIAL READING FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS.

--"Men, Women & the Mystery of Love" by Edward Sri (a much smaller and simplified spinoff on "Love and Responsibility")

--Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women" (Mulieris Dignitatem) Depending on how much of a radical feminist you are, I don't recommend starting here. Some women are turned off by his insistence that women are, by nature, 'brides"--but JP2 means spiritually, and in relation to God, first of all and above all.

ONE STOP SHOPPING:

-- The BEST Theology of the Body books! (curated, with book covers, by category--scroll down to "WOMENSTUFF")

FORMER RADICAL FEMINISTS:

--"Women, Sex & The Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching" by Erika Bachiochi (scholarly essays by women who once rejected Church teaching)

--"Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women's Movement" by Sue Ellen Browder

OTHER RESOURCES BY WOMEN:

--"The Authority of Women in the Catholic Church" by Dr. Monica Miller
(hint: women's authority is not ordination)

--"The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture From Toxic Feminism"
by Carrie Gress

--"The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us"
by Carrie Gress

--"These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body" by Emily Stimpson

--"Love Thy Body" by Nancy Pearcey

--"My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints"
by Dawn Eden

--"A Path To Hope: Restoring the Spirit of the Abused Christian Woman"
by Rose Saad, RN

--"Theology of the Body, Extended: The Spiritual Signs of Birth, Dying & Impairment" by Wendy Windley-Daoust

RESOURCES BY MEN:

--"Woman: God's Masterpiece" 2 CDs by Christopher West (life changing for women and men!) Ugh. CDs. Do whatever you have to do to listen to these.

--"Our Bodies Tell God's Story" by Christopher West

--"Eclipse of the Body: How We Lost the Meaning of Sex, Gender, Marriage and the Family and How To Reclaim It" by Christopher West

WHAT THE DARK SIDE CAN TEACH US:

--Any videos (YouTubes) by Fr. Chad Ripperger on the state of the world, Church, spiritual warfare, family (the devils love when gender roles get messed up and there is disorder in the family leading directly to disorder in society)

--Authority in the Home (chain of command): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ssTYukSqk Christine Niles

PRIESTHOOD / ORDINATION:

--"The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to Church Teaching"
by Sr. Sara Butler
Sr. Sara is a theologian of international renown who travels(ed) in the highest circles.
She laid the theological groundwork for and helped the Anglican Church get "women's ordination," thinking it would just be a matter of time before the Catholic Church followed suit. Enter John Paul II. She read his Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and "Theology of the Body," and then began a deep dive of her own which resulted in a 180 degree turn.

--What are "minor orders"? (all male). This will make everything make so much sense.

--Why no altar girls: (this is Catholic apologist David L. Gray in his hilarious & spot-on character of "Fr. HellNaw"--but I disagree with a lot of David's other stuff)

MY ARTICLES FOR TORONTO'S "CATHOLIC REGISTER":







Why Do Our Girls Not Want To Become Women?






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