THEOLOGY OF THE BODY AND “PATRIARCHY"

Fr. Thomas Loya, June 12, 2010

[Sr. Helena's overabundant, opinionated, intrusive comments in brackets.]

In Theology of the Body, you can't talk about men without talking about you can't talk about women without talking about men.

In the latest issue of "Atlantic Monthly," the cover story is "The End of Men?" According to the article, women are basically taking over everything. Many traditionally male jobs such as manual labor are no longer the way that industry and business are going. Men feel inadequate and so they act immaturely and women just move on without them.

There's an inset to the article that questions: "Are Fathers Necessary?" The conclusion is: there is nothing essential about men (except sperm, which can just be gotten from a donor bank), but we'll let Dad stay because we've gotten used to him. [Insert any sitcom premise here. Since men are socialized by externals as Fr. Loya always says, what message are young men getting about the father of the family through popular media? E.g., "Family Guy," "Two and a Half Men"?] [Define "essential." Just what is Dad's "essence"? Is it only about reproduction? How about raising kids? How about being a husband?]

The article claims that there are no studies that show children are better off in a home with a parent of each gender or in a two-parent home for that matter. [Cow patties! Define "better off." Often, "better off" is measured in functional, rudimentary or market terms: Did the child graduate from school and get a good job? Stay out of jail?] Fr. Loya also says that a comparison can't be made here between "heterosexual marriage" and "gay marriage" because there's no such thing as "gay marriage." [Sr. Helena challenges these so-called "studies." Dale O'Leary does a lot of work/research in the field of gender, and reads all the footnotes and fine-print. She says that these so-called studies are often nothing of the kind, and even the findings they point to—which no one reads—are actually saying something opposite! You can Google her books.][Sr. Helena thinks this article may really coming from a gay activist source, because there are individuals and organizations who do nothing but push acceptance of "alternative lifestyles" from all different innocent-seeming angles. There are groups in Hollywood that make sure there is a sympathetic gay character on every show. Sr. Helena thinks that the recent spate of strange, totally out-of-the-blue, highly-publicized same-sex celebrity kisses are also carefully engineered.]

We hear the statement: "The Church is patriarchal." We don't stop and capture each word (like we should in TOB!) and so we put our head down and start apologizing: "Oh, I know. I'm so sorry. Maybe someday when we have a different pope things will be better," etc., etc. But instead of "running through" words and sentences like our opponents want us to do, we need to not go "across" the words, but "down." Plumb the depths of the words. What do they really mean? Make the person saying them stop and think about them. Question them about what each words means.

PATRIARCHY—comes from "patris" meaning "father." Are fathers bad? If some are, does that mean we say that all fathers are? Are fathers supposed to be bad? What are fathers really supposed to be? [If you hear some music that you don't like, does that mean all music is bad? If you like jazz and you hear some bad jazz bands, does that mean all jazz is bad? Like, why would you identify the ABUSE of something as the THING itself? Unfortunately, some people's experience of father has just been so distorted and sad. It is all they've ever known. BUT, how did they know it was a BAD experience? That the father was BAD? They must have SOME CONCEPT OF WHAT A GOOD FATHER SHOULD BE.] "Father" SHOULD be the warm part of the word.

What should a father be?
guide, provider, protector, model for son, shows daughter whom to marry, shows family what God the Father is like, order, authority [and upholder of his wife's authority, "The Lord…confirms a mother's authority over her sons." Sirach 3:2 ] From physiology, men/fathers are sacrificial, spending themselves for their families, planting the seed.

"-archy" means "overseer," like "overarching." It also means ruler, author, initiator. Are these bad things? This is the colder part of the word.

Fr. Loya has a book written by a dude who was part of a group of Evangelicals who converted to Orthodoxy: "Missing from Action—Vanishing Manhood in America." Excerpt: "When men don't THINK and DO THEOLOGY (and not just do commerce and work), they leave theology up to feminine piety." [Or, rather, simply, women. Sr. Helena could not agree more. She always found Evangelical men more attractive than Catholic men because they actually knew something about their faith and could articulate it. Catholic men seemed always to "celebrate their ignorance" of the Faith, even if they were very faithful to Catholic practices. However, Sr. Helena thinks that TOB is giving Catholic men a voice to their faith; TOB is making theology concrete, interesting, fascinating and do-able to the common layman.]

The book goes on to say that theology is a (manly) man's task (that men need to take up!) [Not that women can't "do" theology, but there is that divine order in creation where the man "initiates," even spiritually. Even her most radical feminist days, Sr. Helena always thought it was stupid that women objected to men (exclusively) preaching to women in church, because Sr. Helena a) basically liked what men had to say and how they said it b) women are perfectly capable of finding their own voice—preaching in church is just ONE locus and form of discourse c) men have no control over how we HEAR what they say and what we do with it, and we can't help but hear/receive/process as the women that we are (even though she had very little clue what it really meant to be a woman at that point). The great Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA, when asked about "women's ordination" said: "I can preach anywhere I want. On the street, in the home, in the school, in the workplace, on the bus. And who are you going to listen to first, anyway? A man in a white dress in a pulpit or yo Momma?"]

The "Atlantic Monthly" article went on to say that since women are outnumbering men in college now (studying), there are campaigns to recruit men for college. (Used to be the opposite.) Many boys/men don't like school because it may not be the way men learn (it may be feminized in its approach, also with more and more female teachers). [Sr. Helena also thinks it has to do with guy's socialization: Do other men value an intellectual man—beyond technological geeks?] Same-sex schools are helpful so that guys can concentrate on academics.

Men were created first [in first account of Creation in the Bible. JP2G says we have to read BOTH accounts of Creation together because they explain each other and are not contradictory]. Why? He was given authority so that the order of love and life could thrive. Even in the Trinity, there is a hierarchy of sorts, a divine order. The Father is the Source! Jesus' whole life was about revealing the Father and doing the will of the Father.

The way men pick up babies is very different from the way women do it! They hold the baby out so the baby feels that he/she is not just cuddled/nurtured by the mother, but also is on his/her own, independent. Then, of course, the Dad THROWS THE BABY UP IN THE AIR. Very instinctively! Whoa! thinks the baby. Life is ALSO scary and exciting, but I can trust that my Dad will catch me. The father tries to prepare the child for life, toughen them up a bit, let the child discover their own strength. Let the child know they can make it on their own. [Sr. Helena commented to the online group attending Fr. Loya's class that she marvels that men never drop their babies! A Dad said: "We actually do worry about that." Ha ha.]

The Church is not patriarchal, it has a patriarchal DIMENSION. If we look at power only, then that's all we care about, that's the only thing we value. But the HEAD is only one part of the body! Where would a head be without a BODY, a HEART? D-E-A-D.

When we only measure the externals-only aspect of a child's development, we are buying into an all-male paradigm! (And yet the article said we don't need men!) When women value only power, they obliterate their own femininity. [And deny that they have a different kind of power! Any which way you slice it, this article is nuts and self-negating, and guess what—womanhood ALWAYS loses when we try to get rid of men, because WE NEED EACH OTHER. Manhood also loses when they try to get rid of women. Or rather, when we either settle for or desire caricatures—of whatever kind--of each other.]

Fr. Loya says: When someone starts with "The Church is patriarchal," a soundbite can be: "Thank God, the Church has a patriarchal dimension to serve womanhood!" Patriarchy manifests the spousal meaning of the body.

Mother and Father bring different essential principles to the child. [Bishop Cordileone—lion-hearted defender of marriage—said that a way to win over the younger crowd who think "gay marriage" is OK, is simply to say: "Children need both a father and a mother." This makes sense to them, especially since many of them have personally experienced the absence of a parent through divorce or something else.]

A way to capture words/phrases: Answer like the Irish do, with a question: "Oh really now?" "Is that so?" so you can slow it down.

[We need to distinguish between what the Church really teaches and the bad practices/behaviors that have cropped up, no matter how ingrained.]

How did Jesus exercise power? [On the Cross, in His vulnerability, doing the will of the Father.] What is the real power of the Church? Monasticism because it is the pulse of the health of the Church. It is all about prayer and being in the closest contact with God. JP2G says this in his encyclical "Light of the East." Monastics also invented hospitals (St. Basil the Great—Eastern Church)

Women in public positions in society humanize and personalize things. One area where men still dominate: custodian [the Garden!] and engineers. [During the Stanley Cup, one woman sportscaster interviewed TROY BROUWER of the Blackhawks. "Now, your Dad was very sick, wasn't he? We tend to think of you guys as machines out there on the ice, but you're human, too." Troy was pleasantly surprised and said in all seriousness: "Yeah, we have feelings, too." And then started to talk about his Dad.]

Feminism had three great movements in history:
1. Property
2. Voting (full participation in civic life)
3. Gender Feminism—anti-male, anti-life, but denying femininity at the same time and trying to become men, and eventually denying the sexual difference all together [Androgyny Feminism]

["The early stages of 20^th century feminism drew unfortunate parallels between masculinity and patriarchy, but it is important to keep in mind that they are not the same thing. The masculine, like the feminine, is an inner energy, a form of consciousness. It is what Jung called Logos, and it incorporates judgment, discrimination, reason and a will to action. Since the dawn of patriarchy, we have not culturally or individually experienced a healthy, authentic masculinity. It has been relegated to the same dark underworld as the feminine by the insistence on POWER as the overriding force in patriarchal cultures." –Kathleen A. Brehony "Awakening at Mid-life" I don't totally agree with her assessment here, but this is a completely secular psychology self-help book. It goes on to say that we desperately NEED the presence of fathers in the family!]

Ralph J. Burns, Sr. (12/25/1901--2/6/2003) R. I. P.

Sr. Helena's Pops (who was VERY essential).

[One last thought: fathers/husbands MUST be essential, if God gave St. Joseph to Mary & Jesus. Amen.]

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DVD: “ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN—SERVANT OF ALL”

The new one-hour documentary, "Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen—Servant of All," is a succinct and inspiring introduction to the life and work of the Servant of God. The DVD was produced by the diocese of Peoria, IL, who are very enthusiastic and eager that their native son reach the glory of the altars! What is more important to the makers and collaborators on this film, is that Sheen be known by a new generation of Catholics.

What is Sheen most known for? For being a media priest, and later a media bishop. He was the only priest ever to be offered a religious show on prime-time TV. "Life Is Worth Living," a mixture of humor and religious instruction, became so popular (even beating out "Mr. TV" himself, Milton Berle, in the ratings) that Sheen also has the distinction of the being the only priest with an Emmy for "Most Outstanding Personality." He may well be the only priest with an Emmy, period. The Jewish Milton Berle, known as "Uncle Milty" on his TV show, had no problem sharing the limelight with Fulton Sheen, and began calling him "Uncle Fulty."

Fulton Sheen was many things. He was a great American. From humble Midwestern roots he became a brilliant scholar (the first American to garner a super-doctorate at the University of Louvain) and mesmerizing teacher (Catholic University of America) who never lost the common touch. Early on his priestly life, his obedience was tested by his Peoria bishop who assigned him to a tiny, poor, immigrant parish before letting him teach. Sheen threw himself into the role of pastor, preaching dynamically, doing home visitations and bringing people back to the Church until—within nine short months—the community was flourishing.

Sheen was equally prodigious and noted for his practice, from ordination on, of making a daily Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, no matter how inconvenient or how tired he was. Many seminarians and priests as well as laity have followed his shining example. Sheen was faithful to this intimate colloquy with "Our Blessed Lord," till the day he died, appropriately, in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

In addition to authoring sixty-six books, Sheen travelled all over the world preaching. He was greeted by immense crowds, but the adulation never went to his head. He took a tremendous interest in the poor of the world, as well as the poor of America, and had a habit of giving everything away. Everything. Money, any gift he received, his own coat. Among many diverse activities, he was the head of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, reminding Catholics that they are missionaries by virtue of their baptism. His paychecks, royalties, and the many monetary gifts people entrusted to him were handed over instantly to the Society. He never even looked to see the amounts on the checks (a Sister who worked with him testifies that it in the end it totaled about $17 million). Most people are aware of Sheen's practice of the spiritual works of mercy, but it may have been equaled by his practice of the corporal works as well.

Sheen's influence on the Catholic Church in America and the world is not measurable, let alone on those outside the Catholic Church. I once met an old Black minister on the south side of Chicago who loved Sheen. He told me: "You wouldn't even know he was Catholic!" (The minister meant because he was preaching Jesus and the Scriptures!) There is a statue of Sheen inside Rev. Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, CA, along with all the other great American preachers like Billy Graham! Witnesses say that Sheen never missed an opportunity to engage every individual he came in contact with and talk to them about Jesus.

After Vatican II, Sheen became convinced that the renewal of the Church would come through the renewal of the priesthood, and dedicated himself to giving retreats to priests all over the world.

The documentary glides lightly (as did Sheen in his life and writings) over the intense and tragic jealousies and misunderstandings Sheen endured from his fellow clergy and even bishops, but it is clear that it caused him the greatest suffering. However, his moment of vindication came when Pope John Paul II (who learned English in part from Sheen's tapes) embraced him in St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC, in 1979, shortly before Sheen's death, and told him: "You have spoken and written well of Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church." What more resounding affirmation could Sheen have received? The Sister being interviewed for the documentary attests that Sheen was deeply moved by this. I remember this incident clearly (from my playpen). Things were so crazy in the U.S. Church in the 70's, and Sheen was often treated like an anachronism, hopelessly outdated. But faithful adult Catholics around me still loved him, treasured him, and held him up to us young 'uns. They totally read between the lines of JP2G's warm gesture, and the image of these two great men of God was seared on my two-year-old imagination. (Alright, I was a little older than two.)

No less than thirty-three people are interviewed for the film, including relatives, admirers, bishops and priests who knew him, and even Regis Philbin! Fulton Sheen's fervor and well-crafted catecheses live on today in his books ("Peace of Soul" and his "Life of Christ" are particularly touted), as well as his continuing audio, radio and video presence. May he one day be declared a (truly American) saint!

For copies of the DVD, contact:

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation
Diocese of Peoria
P.O. Box 728
Peoria, IL 61652-0728
309-671-1550 x 309 OR 877-71-SHEEN
swoiwode@sheencause.org
www.archbishopsheencause.org

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BLESSED JAMES ALBERIONE FILM

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172 N. MICHIGAN AVE., CHICAGO IL, 60601

HAWKSOME!!!!!

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AYAAN ALI HIRSI AND PHILOSOPHY

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

Yes, she's an atheist--but remember she became an atheist because of the faith-tradition she came out of: Islam. It was a reaction to Islam. She experienced FGM (female genital mutilation) at 5 yrs old. If you don't know what that is, Google it. It's horrific. She hangs with the atheist crowd: Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etc., but, if I'm not mistaken, Rick Warren ("Purpose-Driven Life") was enlisted to help pay for her 24-hr security! She is also a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

What we really need to listen to her for is our own American principles that are being thrown to the wind. She loves this country more than many Americans. She understands the good philosophical principles we were founded on and wants those to spread (in a special way to liberate women in Islam). She has great ideas and solutions for us. She is warning us about playing with crazy ideas like allowing Sharia law in Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. and Britain. I think she is in a very unique position to be listened to: African (Somalia), female, experienced the worst of Islam, speaks English, was in politics (Dutch parliament), and is under the death-ban like Rushdie was. Very calm, intelligent and articulate. She says what no one else will dare: "some ideas are better than others." WOW. Go Ayaan!

I think Colbert was truly evangelizing her in his own kooky way. Every so often his "character" coincides with his Catholic Faith and I think he goes for it. In a humorous, postmodern way. Go Stephen! (Notice she doesn't say she was at a Catholic church when she took the "wafer," but Stephen just went with it as though she was....)

Ayaan is not really about being anti-God. She is anti-oppression. She is pro-human dignity. Notice she names philosophers as people she looks up to (albeit philosphers with flawed philosophies: Locke, Mills....) If anything, philosophy is her religion, and she admires the philosophers/phies that this country is founded on. As Catholics, we know that our founding American democratic principles are very, very good, although not perfect. Some would argue that the seeds of our own destruction are embedded in these principles, but if the citizenry has good philosophy/religion, I believe that can't/won't happen. And of course they have to elect the right leaders.

Read her books!!! "The Caged Virgin--An Emancipation Proclamation for Women in Islam," "Infidel" (autobiography), "Nomad--A Personal Journey through the Clash of Civilizations."

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SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION

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TV: “FAMILY GUY”

"Family Guy," is a wildly popular animated comedy show that has been running for approximately ten years on FOX (and, of course, on Hulu, YouTube and iTunes) about "family guy" Peter Griffin, his wife Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and dog Brian (the baby and the dog talk like adults). If you've never seen it, you should, because your kids most likely have. Brace yourself.

What makes "Family Guy" so watched? Well, let's start with a chronological comparison with two other animated comedy shows about families. "The Simpsons," in its twenty-first year on FOX, was controversial when it first came out. It's hard to believe this was the case. To compare "The Simpsons" with "South Park" and now "Family Guy" makes it look like "The Brady Bunch." "The Simpsons" focused on a slacker son (Bart) and his dumb Dad (Homer) who never seemed to disagree with or punish Bart's bad behavior.

"The Simpsons" dealt regularly with the hot button issues du jour, and depicted people practicing religion. Some religious people embraced the fact that at least religion was being portrayed as an actual part of people's lives. Others appreciated the fact that there was a lot of love in the Simpson family.

On "The Simpsons," the hot button issues were often dealt with in a seemingly non-committal way: presenting both sides and then withholding judgment at the end or advocating an unreasoned laissez-faire attitude. Hmmm. One of the principles of Media Literacy is that all media are constructed from a point of view. On the part of the media creators: to TRY not to take a stand on an issue while presenting it, to PRETEND not to have a point of view, or to ACTUALLY THINK that one doesn't have a point of view…these are all points of view (and certifiable philosophies in many cases)!

But mostly, perhaps, people watched "The Simpsons" because it was funny. It made them laugh.

1997--Enter: "South Park." "South Park" is about four little elementary school friends (boys) more than it is about their families. "South Park" featured rough animation that looked like crudely cut-out paper dolls sashaying across the screen. The tone was much darker and sarcastic than "The Simpsons," the hot button issues much more explicit, the language extremely vulgar, and the social commentary much sharper. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had set out to expose the lack of logic in America. Abortion, euthanasia, sex-change operations, etc., were examined in head-on detail and defined in an unswerving, unblinking way. There seemed to be a desire to hold America to some kind of honesty. Does the demographic of "South Park," eight-year-old boys, GET the satire? One can hope.

Religion on "South Park"? Lots. The purple dinosaur goes to church, Jesus guest-stars frequently, and no religion is safe or sacred from a thorough skewering. Parker and Stone believe all religion to be bunk, so none are given preferential treatment. The Catholic Church also had its own exclusive moment, with a very crude episode involving the pope and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Parker and Stone even took on Islam recently (but were censored for their own protection by Comedy Central).

Why was "South Park" so loved? It's wickedly witty. There is a kind of brilliance at work.

Thought we'd seen and heard it all with "South Park"? In 1999, "Family Guy" hit the wild, wild, world of entertainment. "Family Guy" took crass "comedy" to a whole new level. (At what point are things just no longer funny?) The tone was even darker than "South Park," with the addition of hollowness, nihilism, mean-spiritedness and profound misogyny. There is a deep-seated hatred of women in "Family Guy." Peter, the dumb father of the Griffin family, is no Homer Simpson. He HATES his teenage daughter Meg—a regular, rather square type--and does terrible things to her that harm her physically and psychologically. The mother of the family, the voluptuous Lois, is the sex object in the home. Her baby, Stewie, and the dog both openly lust after her in over-the-top-I-can't-believe-they-are-showing-and-saying-these-things-on-TV ways. "Family Guy" almost makes "South Park" look like a candidate for a decency award. Jesus also frequently guest-stars, and Terri Schindler Schiavo was recently made fun of (gotta keep those shockwaves coming!). Saddest of all, I've been told that parents are sitting watching "Family Guy" with their kids. And laughing.

Janet McMullen, a professor of Radio, TV and Film at the University of Northern Alabama, says [e.g., regarding shows that appear casual toward teen sex], "It sends a message to kids that sex at a young age is OK, because they're watching it with their parents and the parents aren't saying anything."* I wonder what laughing at "Family Guy" does…. In Pope Benedict's encyclical "Charity in Truth," he speaks of "…a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human," referring to the affluent ignoring the poor. But can this also be applied to our discernment of media? A great question to ask ourselves with regard to our media use (including media content, the media culture we live in, and the media technology we use) is simply this: "What does it mean to be human? How can my family and I use media in a way that enriches and never diminishes our humanity or that of others?" This is a broad question that encompasses our entire media lives, our tastes, our habits, our time, the influences of media on every aspect of our lives. But if we answer it honestly and prayerfully, we might find that we are discovering and desiring better ways to use our hours of daily screen-usage, even if it requires some tough decisions and resolutions to be made and kept.

"Family Guy" is at a faster pace than "The Simpsons" or "South Park," which suits a speeded-up, insta-media world. Thoughts and words of characters are immediately illustrated as imagined asides or flashbacks, which is very entertaining, but at the same time feels like we're interrupting the story to Google every word, incident, and concept in some kind of literalistic advanced video search tagging indexing reference engine. Is this how our minds are working now?

The creator of "Family Guy" is Seth MacFarlane—a young atheist with a bit of an axe to grind. Search for him on YouTube and listen to him speak for himself on Bill Maher's show (and other places). Another case of a brilliant mind, a superior talent put to questionable ends. (MacFarlane also does many of the voices on "Family Guy.") And it's one of those "this guy is very funny without the raunch" cases. In some ways, "Family Guy" is funnier than "The Simpsons" and "South Park." Deviant funny.

In all three cartoons, fantastical things happen (e.g., suddenly they're in outer space or battling monsters), but the real, everyday situations are just that. Like science fiction, the issues are truly human issues that don't stray too far from home. So to say: "It's just entertainment—what's the big deal?" is to miss the intent of the media creators, the nature of entertainment, and the ways that humans grow, develop, assimilate, internalize, etc.

What can be learned from this little history of animated comedy shows about families? Never underestimate the bewitching potential and power of humor. He/she who gets you to laugh last, laughs best. All the way to the zeitgeist bank. And what do you and your children get?
______

*"Can Too Much TV Kill Us?" by Bernie Delinski, April 12, 2010, http://www.timesdaily.com/

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