Apologetics
I just educated my good friend Pam on what apologetics is :) She had never heard of it before. I was like... Pam... I just found out about it last year. It will ROCK your WORLD. I might not be very good at it. But it is amazing. What does interest me though is the name. Calling it apologetics makes me feel like people are "apologizing" for what the Church is... when they're really defending the Truth.
Time to check the dictionary.com ...
a·pol·o·get·ic (-pl-jtk) also a·pol·o·get·i·cal (--kl) adj.
1. Offering or expressing an apology or excuse: an apologetic note; an apologetic smile.
2. Self-deprecating; humble: an apologetic manner.
3. Serving as or containing a formal justification or defense: an apologetic treatise on church doctrine.
n. 1. A formal defense or apology.
(Middle English, formal defense, from Latin apologticus, from Greek apologtikos, suitable for defense, from apologeisthai, to defend oneself verbally, from apologos, apology, story. See apologue)
Ahhhh.... That looks better then. I wonder how "formal defense" eventually got connotated as "defending what you did wrong" and then "being sorry for what you did wrong" - when originally, there was no wrong! You're defending Truth.... Our silly mother tongue :)
Time to check the dictionary.com ...
a·pol·o·get·ic (-pl-jtk) also a·pol·o·get·i·cal (--kl) adj.
1. Offering or expressing an apology or excuse: an apologetic note; an apologetic smile.
2. Self-deprecating; humble: an apologetic manner.
3. Serving as or containing a formal justification or defense: an apologetic treatise on church doctrine.
n. 1. A formal defense or apology.
(Middle English, formal defense, from Latin apologticus, from Greek apologtikos, suitable for defense, from apologeisthai, to defend oneself verbally, from apologos, apology, story. See apologue)
Ahhhh.... That looks better then. I wonder how "formal defense" eventually got connotated as "defending what you did wrong" and then "being sorry for what you did wrong" - when originally, there was no wrong! You're defending Truth.... Our silly mother tongue :)
posted by Silabella @ 12:33 AM
7 Comments:
At 11:14 AM,
Velvet said…
LOL...hey there! Cool beans...diden't you get a rush when you saw it up on the website? Hehe...I like it...
At 8:33 PM,
Silabella said…
YES! I totally do. so fun... hehe
At 11:41 AM,
Velvet said…
hehehe- break out the Edith Stein cassie-BELLA!!!
At 10:06 PM,
Silabella said…
You bring up a lot of great points ergo sum and I'm glad that you've decided to say hello and visit our blog :)
Unfortunately, your questions deserve answers far more eloquent and elaborate than I could ever hope to construct. As such, I'm going to paste here some useful links that you might find informative about the Catholic perspective on women, while I attempt to answer your query as decisively and concisely as warrants a comment submission ;)
http://www.phatmass.com/directory/
index.php/cat_id/595
Particularly useful are:
“Mulieris Dignitatem” – A papal encyclical on the “The Dignity of Women” by Pope John Paul II http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=3381
And, in regards to your concerns with men and women and the Authority to do certain things – “Wives, You’re your Husbands” http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=1409
These two articles I think would really help you understand the Catholic perspective a bit more, even if after reading them you have retained your original beliefs.
Catholicism teaches that men and women are of the same nature, embodied in two ways, for the purpose of union and communion through the gift of self according to the will of God. We are different - we are made with different strengths and vocations and these vocations are mirrored not only in our personalities, but in our bodies as well (see: “Theology of the Body”, by Pope John Paul II).
While we, in our culture, see as the logical extension of the feminist movement females being entitled to enter every sphere as males (you cited for example, consecrating the Eucharist, celebrating the Mass, administering the sacraments and participating in the hierarchy of the church), we often fail to realize that this is not just a manifestation of the centuries-old power struggle between men and women. Men serving as priests and as leaders in the church has everything to do with the vocation God has called them to just as Women as physical and spiritual mothers is itself the vocation God has called women to - through revelation, Jesus, the scriptures, tradition, and most interestingly, our bodies themselves. (see the articles I linked you to above)
The Catholic Church teaches that men and women are equal - both made in the image and likeness of God - one nature, embodied in two ways... according to God's will. It is a common misunderstanding to feel indignation at the belief that women are subordinate to men... because of our focus on the power struggle. But it is Church teaching that while we are both equal, one is naturally the leader and is given faculties which show this and one is naturally the helper. Subordinate in the sense that they are second in the order of leadership but never in value or worth. The veneration and value of women is shown most of all by the Catholic beliefs about the Blessed Virgin.
Christ came to earth as a man, to lead and to serve, to suffer and redeem, but the most perfect PERSON was a woman... Mary. She is the model for all mankind as to how to live as children of Christ. The feminine submission to the glory and will of God is akin to how humans are to function in relation to God. And God, as the perfect Father, serves us in complete self-giving and humility as all men are called to do in relation to all women. Indeed, God embodied us in these complementary ways in order for human beings to understand the relationship between the Creator and his Creation. It's such a beautiful relationship, complex and simple at the same time... that I am only skimming the surface of an ocean.
Finally, you mention St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians where he is referring to the coifs of women. That verse has caused much confusion, which is elucidated in view of the larger tradition of the Church and the context of the time. I am attaching the link to a Catholic forum where this question was answered.
http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=35323&hl=
Briefly, it is properly modest and humble for a woman to treat her hair in the manner described by St. Paul as the subject in question is a matter of custom and regional convention, not dogma.
As a Scholar wrote on phatmass: “Jewish woman in biblical times, but not always, wore head coverings because not to do so in the culture of the day indicated one was sexually available for a price. Similiarly we teach our young girls not to put on extravagent amounts of makeup, short skirts, and socialize out in public.”
In addition, however, I would like to attach a quote on the subject by one of my favorite Saints, Saint Edith Stein, a German theologian (Jewish convert) who was killed in the concentration camps at Auschwitz:
We should not be deemed disrespectful to the Apostle if we suggest here that in this instruction to the Corinthians, there is confusion as to the divine and human aspects, the temporal and eternal. Coifure and clothes are matters of fashion, as even St. Paul says in the close of the passage: “But anyone who may still be include to argue knows that we do not have such a custom nor do the churches of God.” If this judgment regarding the dress to be worn for public worship by the Corinthian women was binding for the community he had founded, that is not to say that by the same token it is also binding for all times. (The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace, 1931)
As a most direct answer to your question – we would never accept the secondary status of women by the Church. Not because the church regulates to women this secondary status, however; rather, because the She doesn’t. Indeed the Catholic Church is the lone voice in the world preserving the dignity and beauty of women, as She has been from the beginning (e.g. with the idea of virginity and Mary as the new Eve)
A thought to ponder – Just an Ordinary Girl and I have both been raised in middle class families during the girl-power generation, where feminist ideals have been engrained in our culture and upbringing from our very conceptions. We have orthodox parents, heterodox parents, and parents who have fallen away from the Church completely. It’s only logical that you would wonder how it could be that two fairly well-educated girls such as ourselves could be hoodwinked by the antiquated patriarchal practices of the Catholic Church. The answer…is that we learned what Catholicism was, not what people said the Church was. We corrected (and indeed are still in the process of correcting, am I right Sophia! ;) ) our misunderstandings, and confronted our frustrations…through education, prayer, and contemplation.
We started looking for the Truth. Not what society taught us, not what feminists taught us, not what the “common sense” of our friends taught us, not even (in some instances) what our parents taught us… but the Truth. If I can paraphrase a very good friend of mine, when you start looking for the Truth, you’ll find yourself at the Catholic Church. The Truth is always more powerful…and more beautiful… than anything mankind can ever invent for himself to believe.
At 10:09 PM,
Silabella said…
**Correction** - The Article's called, "Wives, Obey your husbands" not "Wives, You're your husbands".
My bad! :)
At 7:56 AM,
Velvet said…
Woohoooo...!!!!!!! That's my giiirl! Cassie rocks, doesn't she Ergo? hehe ;)
At 9:35 AM,
Velvet said…
totally
lol
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