Catholic Sensibility

More on the CDF letter on women and men I had planned a thorough shakedown of this document, but as I read the many blogs who did such a better job than I could, I thought, "Why bother?" Lynn gives a thoughtful 3-part analysis here: http://www.notfrisco2.com/webzine/Lynn/. Jcecil, as always, provides deft insight: http://liberalcatholicnews.blogspot.com/. They say it so much better and more competently that I. I no longer have the patience for the diligent research of philosophy and Scripture others have put into this issue. Maybe it's a cop-out but I'm just a hard-science-trained musician who stumbled into pastoral ministry on his way to Saturn. So I'm going to approach this letter not from a perspective of dismantling its intellectual flaws, but rather a critique of its practicality. People learn by doing. I know I learned a lot about women and collaboration in the early years of my marriage. (Yes, I'm still learning today.) I can philosophize (or avoid, if you prefer) things like Ephesians 5, or ponder the wedding liturgy, but when you come right down to it, you have to live it before you can really absorb and understand it. It strikes me that somehow, a serious, sensible Catholic has to be incarnational. Like Jesus. The CDF has little or none of this incarnational experience in dealing with feminists. Their approach to the challenges of the modern relationship between men and women is as if the Second Person decided equality with the Father was something indeed to be grasped at. After all, God can observe and know all as easily as God can undergo a Divine Kenosis and become a slave, right? Why go to all the bother when you already have the answers? And for a CDF worldview that is narcissistic, and "aevangelical," it sort of works, doesn't it? The USCCB had it right all along in the late 80's: start with listening sessions with real women, even -- gasp! -- real feminists. I would trust what the CDF had to say about feminism about as much as I would trust what a radical feminist atheist would say about the Church. But if the good Cardinal Ratzinger had actually sought out Sr Joan Chittister for a little vino and a good plate of Italian pasta while discussing the challanges of Catholicism, well, would we have been any worse off? It is essential for Catholics to get out of their heads and their analysis, and confront the lived experience of faith. I know, I know: you're going to say experience isn't everything and it can be deceptive. True. The antidote to self-deception isn't hiding in the intellect, but in the process of discernment in a faith community. Someone who's full of spit isn't going to be convinced by the Catechism. The CCC doesn't care if you're full of spit. The people who have to put up with you care and will tell you how deep the spit is. Trust me: it happens. Instead, the CDF persists in encouraging a duality in the human approach to life. For them, it seems theology exists on a separate plane from lived reality. This letter says nothing new. It breaks no new ground. It will convert no feminists. It will convince few doubters. The sense of security it will give Catholic loyalists will also be deeply flawed, widening and deepening the rift between Catholics who will accept any utterance from a magisterial person as gospel and look with suspicion upon any sister or brother who has the audacity to say, "But ..." I'm not the slightest bit angry with the CDF letter. Really. I'm disappointed, certainly: another missed opportunity. If the CDF wanted to give answers, it would be practical (sensible, if you will) in suggesting ways in which men and women could collaborate in the faith. It would say, "We've tried this way, this thing, and that method, and amazingly enough: they worked okay." It would hold up concrete examples (like one can find in the Lives of the Saints) and say, this is how we/they did it. Real radical feminists (not straw marxists and deconstructionists) could stroke their chins in wonder. Ordinary lay people would have some practical guidance on negotiating a ceasefire in the battle of the sexes. We would know it was more than just words, words, words. As it is, this letter is a perfect example of the CDF abdicating their role. Once again, the Catholic laity are left to sort through the chaff to find the path. Why would I expect anything different?