Catholic Womanhood :: CNA

A reflection on womanhood

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Maggie Lawson

"Certainly what God gave to Eve, He would not refuse His own Mother…"

Coming off of Mary’s month of May, and freshly venturing into June, there are countless lessons that we can learn from Our Mother, which seem too various to limit to one month. Bishop Fulton Sheen’s book, The World’s First Lover, offers an insightful understanding for Mary’s sinless nature.

First, he discusses her necessity of being, and then recognizes Mary as a part of the original goodness of mankind, symbolizing the state of womanhood before the fall. (Read more)

The 'Dignity and Vocation of Woman' in the life of St. Edith Stein

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Maura Shea

This is the first of three posts I have adapted from a paper I wrote my senior year at the University of Dallas with Father Roch Kereszty, O. Cist.

I have long been interested in better understanding the Church’s teaching on women, and where better to look than the writings of one of her greatest female saints? In order for us to live out what John Paul II calls the special “dignity and vocation of woman,” we need to educate ourselves at the feet of a saint who could not only articulate this mystery, but whose life was perhaps the most articulate witness of all.

It is best to begin with Saint Edith Stein’s own words: (Read more)

Mommy and me

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Clare Hinshaw

My mom and I would both describe ourselves as introverts, though we express our introversion in different ways. As children, each of us was terribly shy. Mom eventually came out of her shell to become the beautifully relational person that she is today, good at reaching out to others.

By the time I hit middle school I, too, had started to break out of my shell but was promptly shoved back in by the cruelty of my peers, which seemed to vindicate the self-sheltered life I had lived up to then. I don't want to overdramatize my middle-school experience – I don't think anyone has a good one – but, I know with certainty that those years created the terrible insecurity and lack of self-confidence that I suffered from until a few years ago.

In high school I discovered my love for public speaking. And though I've certainly grown in my people skills over the past few years, I still feel much more comfortable speaking to an audience than an individual. So if you need someone to speak to a large group of people, I'm your woman. Mom, on the other hand, will want nothing to do with it. If you want someone to talk with you one-on-one, someone to chat with and listen to you, you want Mom. (Read more)

Why marriage can never be gay

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Jenny Uebbing

Framed almost exclusively as a “human rights” issue and no longer considered a fringe movement, the push for gay “marriage” is sweeping across the globe, taking millions of good-hearted and well-intentioned people along with it.

The arguments are persuasive. The demands seem reasonable. But in order to truly make an informed decision, it is necessary to take a few steps back and look at the larger picture. While (seemingly) millions of voices are clamoring for “equality” and “dignity” and “respect,” the question nobody seems willing to ask is the obvious one: what is the point of marriage?

If the answer were simply “happiness,” then denying a self-identifying 3 to 4 percent of the population this opportunity for fulfillment and lasting joy seems cruel indeed. But what if that isn’t the point of marriage, at all. What if, instead, our modern concept of the institution of marriage, as recognized and revered for thousands of years, is dead wrong? (Read more)

The Boy Scouts admit gay kids: does it matter?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Mary Hasson

It didn’t take long for the mud to start flying.

The Boy Scouts’ decision to lift its membership ban on gay youth was but hours old, and already the commenters on the Washington Post’s story about the decision were divided into warring camps – “bigots” versus “perverts” (as described by their respective opponents).

The dialogue, such is it is, captures our cultural tension over homosexuality. No one wants to “hurt” kids or make them feel bad by excluding them. (And it’s a pity that name-callers from both ends dominate on-line comments.) But as a culture, we’re divided over what it means to be “openly gay” and uncertain what our response should be to those who declare themselves so. (Read more)

…And the land we belong to is grand

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Molly OConnor

I am an Oklahoma native. I haven’t really lived here for about six years, but if you are born and raised Oklahoman, you die Oklahoman. My roots are here. My family is still here. And for the last 48 hours, I’ve been here—back to visit my parents.

The tornado in Moore is only further affirmation of my true Okie roots. In a state where the signs along the highway command that you “Drive friendly” (notice I never said drive well), I couldn’t be prouder to be from a state of hardworking resilient people who are known time and again for putting others first.

Oklahomans are from a stock, like many Americans, of people who sacrificed to make better lives for their families and their descendants. My family members came out with the railroad and for the oil. We endured the Dust Bowl, during the Great Depression. We endured the Oklahoma City bombing. And what did Oklahoma do? We took in our neighbors. We went out in the streets to clean up and provide aid. Together, we rebuilt our homes, streets, churches, schools, and our lives. (Read more)

St. Isidore the Farmer

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Sarah Metts

St. Isidore the Farmer was born in Madrid to poor parents around the year 1070. He was named for Isidore of Seville, and although his parents could not provide Isidore with a formal education they instilled in him a love of prayer and a hatred of sin at an early age. From the time he was old enough to work, Isidore was a laborer on an estate outside of Madrid owned by a wealthy man named Juan de Vargas. Isidore’s wife, Maria, was also poor and very holy. In Spain she is known as Santa Maria de la Cabeza because her head (“cabeza” in Spanish) has been carried in procession, especially during times of drought. Isidore and Maria had one son who died as a child; after his death they agreed to serve God in celibacy.

Isidore is a model of how to unite prayer and work in the Christian life. He would attend Mass early each morning and all day long as he worked in the fields he would be praying to God, the saints, or his guardian angel. Isidore spent holidays making pilgrimages to the churches of Madrid and the surrounding areas.

One day, envious workers told de Vargas that Isidore had been coming late for work in the mornings. When de Vargas went to investigate, he saw angels plowing the fields in Isidore’s place. At another time, de Vargas saw two angels working beside Isidore, so that he accomplished three times as much as his fellow workers. Isidore was known for his great generosity to the poor and his kindness to animals. He worked many miracles in his lifetime and was already considered a saint when he died in 1130. (Read more)

Celebrating mothers, celebrating women

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Editor's note: Below are Ms. Lopez's remarks from the 28th Annual Ball for Life, a dinner that raises funds for Good Counsel maternity homes in the New York metropolitan area.

Pope Francis was talking about the importance of daily examination of conscience and Confession the other day so I’m going to begin with mine.

I was asked me some months back if I’d speak at the Ball for Life this year. In the mess that is my inbox -- which some of you have been casualties of -- I apologize but you’ll understand what I’m talking about -- I said sure, happy to do anything for Good Counsel if they think it’s helpful! (Read more)

1000 Moms

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Elise Harris

Lately it seems like the pro-life movement is exploding all over, and there are all sorts of different initiatives and efforts that aim at helping to inform women about the truth of the sanctity of life, and the dignity of the human person, as well as the dangers inherent in and surrounding the topic abortion. Even Time Magazine has highlighted how this movement is gaining ground, and becoming a stronger force here in the United States.

Slowly we seem to be coming back to recognition of what it means to be a culture of life, and there are many different events and projects that help to promote this in various way, including the March for Life, 40 Days for Life, and various other initiatives at the local level.

There is one initiative that's recently been discovered that began last year called “1000 Moms” which offers a unique approach to creating a culture of life that is geared especially at giving busy moms the time and opportunities to help build this culture, no matter how busy they are, or what their current situation is. (Read more)

Pro-life Catholics, joining forces

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0500

By Mary Hasson

My recent column (‘Do we want to know?’) seems to have touched a nerve in ways unintended. I challenged progressive Catholics to speak “the truth” about abortion and “about Obama’s abortion agenda,” regardless of whether doing so would “derail Catholic support” for the rest of his progressive program.

Melinda Henneberger of the Washington Post, and Michael SeanWinters of the National Catholic Reporter take exception to my piece, reducing it to an argument over whether they oppose abortion.

Henneberger chides me for saying that she and Michael Sean Winters were “late to the ‘culture war,’ and rather reluctant combatants” in it, noting that, “I've been writing about this issue for years.” Winters, too, protests that, “I am not soul searching on the issue of abortion. I am not reluctant to address the issue.” (Read more)