The comments of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, closing the International Congress celebrating the 20th anniversary of Mulieris Dignitatem, revealed that he brought a deep and personal understanding of the Christian anthropology at the heart of the three day event. His dicastery, which sponsored the Congress, drew participants from forty countries and proved once more that the Catholic Church has a concrete appreciation of the gifts of women—coined by John Paul II as “the feminine genius.”
Cardinal Rylko summarized the overarching themes of the conference, reiterating the important and practical items to be implemented by each conference, and most importantly, reminding the participants that underlying all initiatives and agendas is the need to evangelise the world about the salvation and peace found only in Jesus Christ. In essence, cultures will only be truly transformed when Christians provide the salt and leaven of society—each in his or her courageous personal witness to the truth.
Collaboration
The most profound and subtle theme he highlighted was the living witness of the proceedings: an ecclesial event in which "we feel the Church, in her Marian dimension and in her Petrine dimension." Thus, he referred to the way in which women image the Church as the “bride of Christ,” bringing to light her feminine and maternal characteristics; and the way men are called to take up the mission of witnessing to the Christological reality of the Bridegroom. As one presenter explained it, it is similar to the vision provided by our two eyes—set slightly apart, but each essential to our ability to perceive depth. Only by receiving this truth of the creation of two sexes and their distinct vocations will there be fruit and joy.
Pope Benedict, who received the participants on Saturday, February 9th, had elaborated on this critical theme in these words. “The male-female relationship, in its respective specificity, reciprocity and complementarity, without a doubt constitutes a central point of the ‘anthropological question’ that is so decisive in contemporary culture.”
Indeed, such collaboration was only possible with the Judeo-Christian view of the fundamental equality of women that was so contrary to the established cultures of the ancient world. In this regard, Hanna Barbara Geri-Falkovitz of the University of Dresden had amply made the case for the new paradigm offered in the Old Testament. There we find a radical and welcome shift in premise—rejecting the prevailing fertility cults that combined with the notion that women were inferior possessions.
Enhanced wisdom
Rylko continued, noting that “There is a path of growth and maturity … in facing the question of woman.” A similar conference twenty years ago, he speculated, would have developed very differently. The decades of study and prayer took their impetus from the questions raised by Mulieris Dignitatem. As Benedict reminded the participants, “John Paul II wanted to delve into the fundamental anthropological truths of men and women, the equality in dignity and their unity, the rooted and profound difference between the masculine and the feminine and their vocation to reciprocity and complementarity, collaboration and communion” (cf. “Mulieris Dignitatem,” No. 6).
These anthropological truths were reflected in virtually every presentation and were, Rylko noted “not a theory, but a project of life.” Cardinal Cañizares of Toledo Spain spelled out these basic truths, in his remarks on February 7th, which include God’s creation of male and female, both being rational beings—with woman being "another self" to man, ending his primal solitude. Their shared humanity is the foundation of marriage, which in turn is the bedrock of society and through which they are called to reciprocal love and generosity, each for the other. Their conjugal act is a participation in the creative love of God and the family is a living reflection of Trinitarian love.
Because man, from the beginning, is ordered to eternity, he cannot properly understand himself outside of this paradigm, nor will the family grow without mutual love and respect, since "every person is a revelation of the absolute."
Practical application
The summary next turned to the call for each person to live this truth concretely. Cardinal Rylko stated clearly that "John Paul II's thought is like a compass that guides us in this conference." Truly, every sincere participant was gratefully aware of the tremendous wisdom in the document. Whereas our present generation is foundering in its understanding of the uni-duality of creation, the essential collaboration was shouldered without question, for example, in the faithful women of recusant England. Jack Scarisbrick gave a riveting talk on those heroic women who secretly harboured Catholic priests, safeguarded avenues for the reception of the sacraments, and who were, in many cases, martyred for their actions.
Similarly, Helen Alvare spoke of the need of contemporary women to stand against the current in which women are objectified by the mass media, and the entertainment and fashion industries. Alvare, former pro-life spokeswoman for the US bishops' conference, and a law professor at the Catholic University of America, pointed out that women are actually collaborating with the objectives of pornographers. "[O]rdinary women across the continent buy clothing designed to emphasize or expose those parts of their bodies associated with sex. Many women often also debase themselves with their speech, or by exposing themselves to media which gradually desensitizes them to the proposal that women are beautiful, sexualized objects for consumption." She indicated a practical need to curb the influence of this degrading culture and to restore the inherent dignity of femininity. Otherwise, in the words of Benedict, men and women will be reduced “to an oppressive solitude,” whereby they do not share a mission and a common good, but work at odds with each other.
Challenging ideologies
Any practical considerations have to take into account the pernicious challenge of gender feminism, which has made inroads everywhere in the world, from international political bodies to localised educational systems. Cardinal Cañizares drew attention to this ideology which carries within it a hidden idea—the elimination of the two sexes. Using the Marxist dialectic which pits an oppressor (understood as patriarchy) against the oppressed (women), gender feminism seeks a new androgynous synthesis, and is already well-represented in portions of the mass media committed to this powerful, world-wide revolution. In this alternate view, “liberty” is attained by rejecting the existing moral order, by emphasizing individuality at the expense of community, by deconstructing family and marriage as “social constructs, and by excluding any reference to the transcendental origins of man.
To allow this construct to become entrenched would be tragic, according to Benedict. In his remarks, he counseled resisting such an ideology, which is ultimately “avoiding an indistinct uniformity and flattened-out and impoverished equality” (cf. JP2’s “Letter to Women,” No. 8). Rather, we are called to “recall the design of God that created the human being male and female, with a unity and at the same time an original and complementary difference.”
Contributions, not Criticisms
The beauty of the Church is her ability to provide a counterweight to such insidious agendas, offering a serene and confident response based on the Gospel. Underlining the need to avoid complaints, idle criticisms, or nostalgia, Cardinal Rylko summarized the mission of the women present. Without demonising the world, he said, "we have been sent … to preach the good news of redemption." Through positive arguments, persuasive examples and a mature witness, men and women must restore an authentic understanding of creation.
As Benedict phrased it earlier in the day, “In the face of such grave and persistent phenomena, the commitment of Christians appears all the more urgent, so that they become everywhere the promoters of a culture that recognizes the dignity that belongs to women in law and in reality.”
The closing remarks called to mind the Gospel we are called to preach, which is “a great Yes given by God to man and woman and sealed by the blood of Christ.” This “opens a horizon of holiness,” giving the message of the conference to be one of hope. The surprising beauty of the Gospel of Christ compels us to “return home transformed; a true missionary sending out, enriched by our experience.”
Prophetic times
There was indeed a pervasive spirit of hope, of a shared mission, and an urgency to spread the Christian anthropological message. The participants were likened to the apostles at the Transfiguration who now must courageously descend the mountain and preach the Good News to the ends of the earth. Knowing that we are called to be a sign of contradiction—as our Master was—our world would be insipid without the salt and leaven of our witness.
There is the double-edged sword of technology and material richness which must be harnessed for the good. There are countless areas of the globe where the legitimate rights of women are ignored, and so many are impoverished and marginalized by cultures that are variously misogynistic, utilitarian, or crushingly secular. What is offered, though, is a deeper understanding of the essential gifts of women, the rich communion offered through family life, and unmerited grace for the asking.
Women, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel (cf. Closing Documents of the 2nd Vatican Council) have found one another, basked in the rich truth’s concerning their femininity, and resolved to take that treasure to the ends of the earth. We live in challenging times, but the prophetic call to women has been sounded clearly—and the Word of God will not return to Him empty.
Mrs. Kineke, syndicated columnist and author of The Authentic Catholic Women, was a delegate and presenter to this International Congress. She is the mother of five and lives in the United States. This article was originally printed in the March 2008 issue of Inside the Vatican.
Mrs. Kineke is the author of The Authentic Catholic Woman (Servant Books).