40. The Ultimate Revolution: Can Women Become Men?

An Argument Against Priestesses

Just a few years ago, many Europeans celebrated the anniversary of the French Revolution. The Church was heavily criticized for not taking an active part in the festivities. Why did the Church refuse to join in the memorial of an uprising that espoused, "liberty-equality-fraternity"? Well, the answer went deeper than the religiosity of the fallen crown. Liberty for some meant persecution and death for others. Catholic priests were murdered by the thousands. Church properties were confiscated. The faith was mocked. No, the revolution might have been a watershed in French history, but it was also a tragedy of man's inhumanity to man. What does the Church have to show for this revolution? Less than 18% of the French go to Sunday Mass. The cathedrals are empty. Their over-emphasis upon individual freedom found its way into existentialist philosophy. Simone de Beauvoir wrote in her book, The Second Sex, that she envisioned young girls as "thwarted boys, that is, children that a re not permitted to be boys," and defined the adult female as an "abortive man." Akin to our radical feminists, although they deny it, she concludes that women can only achieve true emancipation by liberating themselves from their femininity. This changes the question, "Can women become priests?" to "Can women become men?" This is not a ridiculous question. The rectory cook tells me there was a talk-show just the other day that hosted a panel of women who through hormonal treatments and drugs had undergone sex changes. Men are also confused about gender and sexuality. Doctors are seriously considering experiments with the implantation of embryos into the stomach linings of homosexual men. Yes, they want to be mothers! It is in this context of gender confusion that the question of women priests arises. Many like yourself proceed with the untenuated assumption that sexual differentiation is primarily a sociological matter. Minimizing the underlying biology, the social roles a re interpreted as interchangeable. Feminist theology, analyzed within a Marxist matrix, is one of the contemporary liberation theologies. Its ultimate end is an androgynous utopia in which there is full "mathematical" equality between the expectations and assignments of the sexes. This is in contrast to the Christian goal of a state of holiness and the acquisition of the greatest good, God. This end is achieved by the grace of God and through the complementary (but not always identical) instrumentation of gender-differentiated human beings. I sometimes have to wonder if even in regard to their official feminist stratagem, if radical feminists are honest; is it really equality they want or superiority? How does the old song from a musical go? Ah, yes, "Anything you can do, I can do better than you!" I suspect this is part of their not so well disguised agenda.