And sexist culture continues strongly in Catholicism today. Pope Francis just made clear the other day, for example, that women will never hold the office of deacon.
In the Catholic Church, women serve and men rule —propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding.
Last year, the Press made a big deal (because the Vatican wanted them to) about a few women participating in last year's major synod, an important conference about Catholic Church doctrine and practice.
Despite all the ballyhoo, the number of women participating was tiny, and of no significant consequence to the decisions of the synod, formed and voted on almost entirely by men. No woman's vote mattered in the synod, and no women exercised genuine power in the synod.
In fact, the Roman Catholic Church is responsible for developing the doctrine of complementarianism, which has been adopted wholeheartedly by Evangelical Protestants in the United States.
The doctrine holds that God created men and women to be fundamentally different from one another and to serve different roles in church and in society.
A practical effect of this doctrine is segregation by sex. The men who developed the doctrine developed it explicitly to claim that men are "created" to lead and women are "created" to serve. The god of their imagination is an explicit sexist.
We had a bit of public controversy about that not too long ago here in the United States when a respected sports figure stood up at a Catholic university graduation and urged the graduating women to serve instead of lead.
He told them their lives would be more fulfilling caring for children and cooking for men.
Lots of people protested his speech, but lots more people are saying he has a right to his religious beliefs, and that we should respect him for his beliefs, apparently notwithstanding the substance of his belief.
To hell with that.
Demanding respect for religious belief as a categorically protected form of belief shuts down valid criticism and stops discussion. No other form of human thinking is held up as privileged that way.
We need to stop doing that.
Thank you for your clear and compelling story, and thank you for not upholding the idea that religious belief should be off limits to criticism.
