Man And Female

Just in case you think Catholicism is “backward”

I will not be able to trace the links, so you will have to trust me on this. However, on the same day I read two articles about religion: one said that, among Protestants (I think particularly Southern Baptists) there were more women living their congregation than men. The other was a regressive whining about the very noticeable march of Tradition inside the Catholic Church. We know the second phenomenon is vastly exaggerated, but still existing and undeniable. The first was a surprise to me.

My, very general reflection, about the matter is that the only way how I think this could have happened is because some Protestant congregations are starting to mess with wrong ideas about what it is to be a man, or a woman.

The two sexes are wired in a fundamentally different way, and this must be part and parcel of Christian education. “Man and female God made them”.

The more clearly the difference is explained and understood, the less likely it is that women feel “discriminated against” and end up “emancipating” themselves from Truth. Conversely, the more a congregation speaks of “empowerment” and such like stuff – implying that “all a man can do, you can do, too” – the more likely it is that said women will ill digest and not understand why the same people who talk to them about empowerment do not empower them.

In fact, every Protestant sect should have a very strong interest in making this very clear, as those groups live and die according to the number of paying members they have. But this is a strategy that works only in the long term. In the short term, a congregation may well be tempted to insert “buzz words” in its “recruitment” efforts, for example stressing how “empowered” a woman will “feel” if she joins the group.

Is this the reason for the reported increase in female churchxit? I don’t know, but I see how dangerous such talks is even in our Catholic Church, supported by a 2000 years tradition in the matter. Why would things be different the other side of the Tiber?

And still, we see that this unquestionable, literally unassailable (if you are serious) Catholic tradition is slowly but surely turning the tide in the right way, with the, say, 2060 Catholic population in Britain being most likely much smaller, and not unlikely persecuted; but, on average, far more Catholic than it is today.

There is nothing like tradition – and, in fact, Tradition – to promote the right ideas. Two thousand years of tradition will, in the hands of a good priest, always work better than the zeal of Pastor Dr. P.R. Oddie, thundering against sin and modern and old vices in his community founded in… 2014.

This is (also) why the Church can afford to be so bad without dying: because it is Indefectible, of course; but also because the depositum fidei is readily available to everyone, no matter how bad Father Seamus Faggot is.

Man and Female, as a simple concept, are now subject to the biggest challenge in 2000 years, from several angles ranging from “emancipation” to abortion.

The best defence for them is found in 2000 years of Catholic tradition, rather than in the emotional appeals of Protestant sects.