Comments on: Facebook Fun with Michael Swan of the Catholic Register

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 21:05:00 +0000

That’s a good example of what I mean by being so vague as to be meaningless.

It’s like the fact that men *generally* have larger feet than women do. It’s is true, but it is only a statistical tendency. Other than for preparing shoe store inventories, that information has no practical value whatsoever. It does not tell me what my own personal shoe size is, and when all is said and done, my own shoes are all that matters to me. Likewise, my own sins are all that matters to me, and statistical averages have no practical value on a day to day basis.

By: Paycheck

Paycheck — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 01:34:47 +0000

Masculine and Feminine for humans is different in kind by virtue of biology and different in shades by qualities.

In other words, GENERALLY men have certain virtues in greater intensity than women do and they also tend to exhibit certain vices more than women do. And vice versa.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 00:59:42 +0000

Someone needs to write a book about what femininity (and for that matter masculinity) means to Catholics. We are too influenced by the secular culture, and probably were to a large degree before V2 as well.

If femininity and masculinity really exist, then in what exactly do they consist? No one seems to be able to define it without being so vague as to be meaningless, or simply falling into the grossest of stereotypes. And generally those stereotypes are most unflattering on the female side. For example, men are supposed to be strong, rational, capable. And by contrast women are supposed to be weak, irrational, and dependent. Women’s stereotypical garb (revealing skirts, high heels, etc.) exists to reinforce this stereotype of uselessness, frivolity, dependence, and incompetence.

I’ve read Alice von Hildebrand’s «The Privilege of Being a Woman». It was thoroughly depressing; her thesis being essentially “Yes, women are weak and useless. Suck it up.”

By: Paycheck

Paycheck — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:18:04 +0000

Well, if you actually read my entry, you would see that I asked my wife and children to do it.

But if you’re trying to suggest that a father does not have a right to instruct his children in the Faith, then you are gravely mistaken. Perhaps you think the State has that right? Or the culture at large?

Let me fill you in on something. I brought them into this world. I *chose* to do so. Doing so puts a very big responsibility on me. I have given up MUCH to do it and continue to give up much. In fact, I’ve given basically my life to supporting them and raising them. Such a sacrifice is called LOVE. Now the thing about LOVE is that it is a two way street, especially LOVE coming from a Father. I assure you that I am not a sperm donor. I have a voice and I have authority that Love gives me. I intend to use it as I see fit.

My children are not the playthings of the State or the Culture which don’t trade in Love. They trade in faceless bureaucracy, debasement, and debauchery. It will be a cold day in hell before I allow my daughters to go down that route – at least on my watch.

I am their protector. I protect the dignity that your pro-abort friends, the Culture at large, and the State wants to rip away from them.

By: Southern quebec

Southern quebec — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:11:46 +0000

Did her father/husband tell her to wear it, or did she choose? See the difference?

By: Paycheck

Paycheck — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:50:00 +0000

Actually, Steve, “dressing up” is something that all of us should recover.

It doesn’t mean expensive clothing. It means wearing the best everyone has. It says a lot.

By: Steve G

Steve G — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:45:37 +0000

If there was a tradition for men to cover their heads at Mass, I would go for it. I like the symbolism of humility it conveys.

By: Paycheck

Paycheck — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:29:30 +0000

My daughters can think for themselves….and think a lot better than most men. You’re ignorant of this subject, and therefore you shouldn’t be offering an opinion.

To equate Catholicism’s teaching on the dignity and equality of women to Islam only shows how ignorant you are.

Besides, if Michelle Obama wears one to meet the Pope, then it can’t all be that bad, right?

By: Paycheck

Paycheck — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:25:09 +0000

I agree with you, Neal. It should not be a requirement, but it is a venerable tradition which we should encourage. It brings decorum and mystery back into Mass.

By: Neal Ford

Neal Ford — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:54:50 +0000

At our parish, one woman in her early forties shows up in a Mantilla. Nothing wrong with it, it is a part of the heritage. That being said, it must never become a requirement. No one should make fun of a woman who chooses it, nor shuld any pressure be brought to bear on those who would prefer not to. I know my wife and daughters would give me the death stare if i even suggested they wear one… On the other hand, i have also heard calls for men to go back to wearing suits for Mass. I will occasionally wear one when I do the readings, but not regularly. As Jesus explained to the disciples after chastising the Pharisees over external appearances in Mark chapter 7:, beginning in verse 14 And he called the people to him again, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”
And when he had entered the house, and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him,since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
And he said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man.
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.
I am also reminded of the part where the Phariosee and tax collector were in teh synagogue praying, and Jesus pointed out that the Tax collector went home justified because his heart was in a place of repentance.
Thus Jesus is concerned about where the heart is, and if wearing a Mantilla helps one get their heart in the place of humility them more power to them, but if it is not done freely, then it is utterly worthless.