(Untitled)

[artemis2560]

I know that I am often very vocally critical of the Catholic Church, particularly our hierarchy. But I am concerned for our Pope, because I love him and love what he has done. His outreach to the young people, his outreach to the rest of the world, and the loving attitude he has taken towards people of all faiths has brought the Church into the

Comments

[faerieofthenite]

I just have a bad taste in my mouth from the pope because he was sexist. Jesus always said treat others the way you would want to be treated and restricting people on the basis of gender/sex(a social construct b/c there are pseudo-hermaprodites) is a way that I would not like to be treated. It's funny that St. Paul's rules are more important than God's. I hope the next pope takes that into account but no that isn't going to happen, which is one of the primary reasons that I have a problem with the church.

[artemis2560]

See, that's what I don't like about the Catholic Church, but he did a lot to elevate women; he wrote a number of encyclicals, which created doctrine that solidified women's dignity as human beings, and has also been a champion of women in the secular world. I think that women will someday become clergy, and contraception will someday become ok, but the Church is a huge organization that needs to be changed very slowly over centuries.

[philosophking]

What does contraception have to do with being sexist? And do you mean "contraception will someday become ok" in the Catholic Church because of the acts of its priests?

I admit I don't know much about the Pope/Catholic Church, so I was just wondering about these things.

[artemis2560]

Well, the case with contraception is that it is commonly percieved as a women's health issue, which it is. Birth control is legitimately used in many cases for hormone imbalances and other health issues suchas endometriosis. And in many cases, a pregnancy is detrimental to a woman's health, or to her lifestyle. And by saying the Church's stance is sexist, it is because it is discussing these things without bringing women to the table, because women (aside from nuns) are relegated to the laity and are therefore underrepresented in ecclesiastical decision-making. In reality, I think the Church needs to revisit its theological stance towards sex and sexuality, because sex for humans goes far deeper than procreation, in making our relationships healthy. Unfortunately, in the west we are locked into a much sterner point of view, largely determined by the theology of Augustine.