What It Means to Be A Catholic Feminist

EMBRACING WHO GOD CREATED YOU TO BE

What would you say if I told you I was a Catholic feminist?

Did you know those terms could go together? I didn’t until a year ago when I listened to the Catholic Feminist Podcast. And then it all just seemed to click.

I’ve always cringed at the word “feminism,” disgusted at the mainstream feminism movement that advocates for contraception and abortion in society. It disgusts me because here is a movement claiming to fight for women’s rights, but actually hurting them in the worst way possible.

Any secular feminist would tell you that Catholics can’t be feminists, that we hinder women and hold them back from their full potential. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, I would argue that to understand the depth and beauty behind the Catholic Church’s teaching on women is to promote women to a higher degree in society.

You see, my problem isn’t that I think the secular feminism movement is doing too much. Rather, I think it’s doing too little. I think they sell us women far too short and have failed to recognize the beauty of our nature.

WOMEN: DESIGNED FOR LOVE

It’s no secret that the radical feminist movement promotes unlimited access to contraception and abortion. They say these things are critical for women to be able to work, pursue their dreams, and have equal rights as men.

However my issue with this logic is that birth control, contraception, and abortion all take something AWAY from a woman. A woman was born WITH a uterus, a menstrual cycle, and the ability to bring life into the world. When God made the first woman, He hand-crafted her and her body parts for a purpose. These were all gifts given to a woman that men do not have and cannot have.

If secular feminists are truly advocates for women, why are they trying to make our bodies more like a man’s by delaying or preventing ovulation or killing the children in our womb?

Men can’t get pregnant, so they don’t have to deal with some of the physical discomforts associated with bringing life into the world. That means they may be able to work longer hours or attain higher positions in the workplace. But that’s okay! This biological fact doesn’t make them any greater or us more inferior!

We need to stop trying to do the SAME things as men and instead embrace who we are as WOMEN! We can do incredible things… just in a different manner because WE ARE different with DIFFERENT GIFTS.

Women do not need to change parts of themselves to fulfill their mission in life. Equal rights between sexes does not mean equal or sameness of body parts. Anyone who argues that women need to be more like men is not a feminist at all.

For us to truly live out feminism for what it should be, we need to start embracing those qualities given just to us as women and not ignore biology. We need to advocate the fullness of a woman- physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. There is so much beauty to celebrate there, and to rob ourselves of that beauty in order to get ahead in our careers or pursue our selfish ambitions is a true tragedy.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND FEMINISM

Now some will try to argue that the Catholic Church is suppressing women’s rights because of its firm stance against birth control and abortion. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Church upholds equality in the dignity and value of both men AND women while recognizing the value in the complementary nature of each sex.

Genesis 1:27 reminds us that God created each of us in His image and likeness, “MALE and FEMALE He created them.” He did not make them the same. He made them different. And for a purpose, too.

Saint John Paul II in His Letter to Women states,

“Womanhood and manhood are complementary not only from the physical and psychological points of view, but also from the ontological. It is through the duality of the ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ that the ‘human’ finds full realization” (7).

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen shares some of the complementary nature of the sexes in his book World’s First Love when he writes,

“The mark of man is initiative, but the mark of woman is cooperation. Man talks about freedom, woman about sympathy, love, sacrifice. Man cooperates with nature; woman cooperates with God. Man was called to till the earth and rule over it, woman to be the bearer of life that comes from God” (pg.87).

Further, when God sent His Son into the world to save us from sin, He could have brought Him into the world in a number of ways. He is God. But He CHOSE to have His Son born of a woman. A human woman. He didn’t need to do this. So why did He?

God upheld the value and dignity of women and motherhood so much that He chose to come that way. And further, He brought His Son into the world through the only perfect woman in all creation: Mary. She is our ideal as Catholic women. She is who we should emulate because she is the perfect example of living out femininity to the full. She accepted who God created her to be as Mother of the Son of God. And similarly, God calls all of us women to give our “yes” to Him, by surrendering what we want for who we are as women.

LIVING OUT CATHOLIC FEMINISM

So, if Catholic feminism means embracing all that a woman is and who she was created to be, how can each of us, male and female, live that out in our lives?

For us women, it means living out the dignity we deserve to be shown.

We fight for equality because we want to be shown the same respect as men. In the workplace, we want fair wages for what we earn. In society, we want to be seen as smart, intelligent individuals, capable of incredible things. In relationships, we want to be valued for who we are as people, not objects for sexual pleasure. We want to be shown the respect that reflects our worth.

However, while our worth as daughters of Christ never changes, we need to start conducting ourselves in a manner that reflects that worth. We have to stop selling ourselves short!! It starts with the simplest, smallest acts like what we decide to wear every day and escalates to the biggest decisions of what career to choose and what man to date. We must recognize the value of each human person, value the soul of each individual, and hold the opposite sex to a higher standard.

And for you men out there, encourage us women. It’s hard enough as it is trying to live virtuous and holy lives, pursue our career vocations, and also navigate relationships with ya’ll!! We are beautiful, but we are talented. Recognize the fullness of our person, encourage us in our dreams, validate our feelings and emotions… This is how God created us! You should be Catholic feminists, too! We need strong men fighting to uphold the beauty we were created for. As St. John Paul II once said,

“It is the duty of every man to uphold the dignity of every woman.”

LIVE DIGNITY TO THE FULL

So whether you are Catholic or not, male or female, I hope you walk away from reading this with a conviction of who you were created to be. True feminism means living out our identities as male and female. We are equal in dignity, but we do not have the same purpose. So let’s stop acting like it.

Sometimes my friends think I’m “old fashioned” or “naive” to hold onto the Catholic values that I do. But I know that they just don’t understand. For if they truly did, they would realize that the truest feminists of them all are Catholic feminists.

From the depths of my soul,

Josie