I recently started an online discussion with a person who considers herself nearly an atheist. Reading what she writes to me, I don't find her ignorant. It is like speaking to a former version of myself. She believes that the all-male priesthood is debasing to women. She feels that because only males can hold what she believes to be "the highest role," that this has defined women as somehow inferior.
I can tell you exactly what she believes and why because I used to believe that too. I also held a whole host of other beliefs in that same vein. Ironically or not, all of my misunderstandings about Church teaching were all rooted in sexual misinformation. You could even call it my own sexual confusion. My battles with myself, secular society, and the "big bad" Catholic Church all had a sexual undertone to them. It was literally years before I made that connection. I actually thought that I had all of these original ideas!
Then one guy, a priest, started me on the road to a deeper understanding. I would like to say that the one guy was our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. But no, I'm not even quite quick enough to have noticed his work on my own. No, it was a priest who taught a class at the Newman Center during college. His name was Father Simeon, God rest his precious soul. He handed out some really great pages. I didn't even know what I was reading at the time. But for reasons known only to God, they spoke to me personally.
Most of what he talked about in the class was about God being outside of time for our salvation. But there was this other message he was sharing. He discussed some amazing talks that had been given by the pope. This was 1993. The talks were from '79-'83. But I knew none of this at the time.
Honestly, really really honestly, I knew absolutely squat about Catholic teaching on sexuality, at the time. I knew secular society's corrupted version of truth: Contraception was good because having babies all the time was a drain on your finances and freedom, so-called "gay marriage" was a denied civil right, Ordination for women was just around the corner, marriage was a license for all the sex you could get, and fornication was a smart way to test drive before you buy. I knew it all and believed it all, and acted on as many parts that applied to me.
And I was born and raised Catholic, by devout, faithful parents. But the message just wasn't there. It wasn't until about 1995 that I really took another look. How I got there isn't nearly as exciting as why I got there. The why is because I needed to know about authentic sexuality. I needed to know Catholic teaching in order to be truly free. There are no words that can express my gratitude. JP2, as we lovingly call him, knew almost as much as there is to know about sexuality.
This celibate man answered each and every one of my objections. He did nothing to convince me. He merely showed me what it meant to be a woman before God. He showed that my womanhood affected my every thought and action. There was nothing I could do to leave my womanhood behind, nor should I. Secular society had long tried to make me abandon my sexuality for some neutered version instead. Secular life sought equality through the sterile. To undo what makes men and women different, has only hurt us. Sameness does not equal equality.
That celibate bachelor in Rome taught me more about being a married woman and a mother than anyone has ever taught me since. God rest his soul. Thank you, Pope John Paul the Great!
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