- David Martin | The Daily Knight
Feminism Warring Against the Church
David Martin | The Daily Knight
In 1982, Cardinal Carlo Caffara, founding President of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family was told by Sr. Lucy of Fatima that “the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.”
Sr. Lucy’s prophecy is unfolding in our time, evidenced by Rome’s present-day collusion with U.N. abortion advocates who seek to make “Mother Earth” a safer place through population control. Since 2013, the Vatican has repeatedly invited U.N. population-control experts like Jeffrey Sachs and Paul Ehrlich to speak to the Church about their vision of a safer and better world through contraception and abortion.
Hence defense of life must be a priority among the militant defenders of the Faith who have come forward to defend the Church against modernism. Defending life is essential in defending the Faith today.
Defending Life Means Denouncing Feminism
But defending life means denouncing feminism because feminism is the foundation of abortion. There is an urgent need to reiterate the Church's continuous teaching that the man is the head of the household. “Because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man.” (1 Cor. 11: 7-9)
A woman's vocation as wife is to submit to her husband, not to compete with him as an equal. Adherence to this rule is what will effectively offset the ensuing culture of death that feminism has brought with it, whereas encouraging feminism will only continue to nourish the tumor of antilife that is threatening the Church.
Feminist Agenda at Vatican II
Unfortunately, Vatican II helped to spawn today’s culture of death, because the seeds of feminism were planted in the conciliar documents. In Gaudium et Spes, it states for instance:
“Women claim parity with men in fact as well as in rights, where they have not already obtained it.” [9] “It is regrettable that those basic personal rights are not yet being respected everywhere, as in the case with women who are denied the chance to freely choose.” [29]
What is reflected here is the basic protest or "dogma" of the feminist, not the dogma of Faith. In God's eyes women do not stand at “parity” with men, nor must they assert themselves as men, whether in the home, in society, or in the Church. St. Paul says, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence.” (1 Timothy 2:12) The woman is the husband's helpmate, not his equal. And whereas she is to be treated with love and respect, she is not to compete with her husband, because God first created the man to his own image (Genesis 2:7), and then he formed the woman from the man, and for the man. (Genesis 2: 21-25)
The majority of divorces and broken homes today are due to the fact that women generally no longer submit their husbands. St. Paul teaches that in the same way the church must be subject to Christ, wives must be subject to their husbands. “Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord: Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body.” (Ephesians 5: 22,23)
In the Vatican II statements on marriage, there is absolutely nothing stated along these lines. The documents make no mention of this essential teaching, but rather lay the groundwork for feminism. The Council denounces “underrating women's legitimate social advancement” (GS- 52) and cites it the duty of all to “ensure the recognition and implementation everywhere of the right of every person to human and civil culture in harmony with the dignity of the human person, without distinction of race, sex, nation, religion, or social circumstances.” (GS-60)
The Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, Apostolicam Actuositatem, states: “Since in our days women are taking an increasingly active share in the whole life of society, it is very important that their participation in the various sectors of the Church's apostolate should likewise develop.” (AA-9) Here the Council advocates that the Church should follow worldly guidelines concerning the role of women, yet in his encyclical “Quadragesima Anno,” Pope Pius XI condemned women's participation in ministry as “a grave disorder to eliminate at all cost” since it “takes mothers of families” away from their duties at home. (AAS-23)
Consistent with this is the fact that many cardinals at Vatican II spoke up in favor of artificial contraception—a treasonous act that triggered backlash from Pope Paul VI—and it was this conciliar fight over contraception that eventually led to the issuance of Humanae Vitae on July 25, 1968.
Breeds Rebellion
What the Vatican II feminist agenda produced was a spirit of rebellion. The Church was called to be the Spouse of Christ without blemish, but at the Council she ‘threw off her wedding veil’ and began flirting with world religions. Consequently, a spirit of infidelity has set in, evidenced by the way women no longer cover their heads in Church. The eternal mandates for women set forth in 1 Corinthians 11 to wear head coverings during prayer are no longer observed and are even rejected by many priests and nuns, some of whom are now involved with abortion. It's all part of the false religious liberty that was a central theme of the Second Vatican Council—a discordant theme that didn't harmonize with God's plan for life.
When God's plan for the sanctification of women is again promoted from the pulpit, abortion will decrease and the bountiful fruits of life will again be evident as before the Council. God's plan in no way deprives women of their privilege to advance on the path of true success and liberty, but it must be done on God’s terms. What the Lord has endowed women with is the right to do what is right, that they might be liberated from wrong. St. Paul says, “She shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.” (1 Timothy 2:15)
It is God above all who seeks the honor and sanctification of women, and what He requires is that women submit to their husbands and remember their place in the home with their children.
No Women on the Altar
Accordingly, women must remain off the altar and remain silent in the Church, remembering the words of Holy Scripture: “Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject.” (1 Corinthians 14: 34)
This is not to imply that women should be recessive in proclaiming the truth in our discordant world. On the contrary, we need fighters from the ranks of women who will stand up against today’s Feminazis and break their horns before the public. God's will for women is their sanctification, so we need more Joan of Arcs who will come forward to thunder against feminism and proclaim family values. The Lord wants women to be strong, which will never happen as long as they surrender to the weakness of pride.
NOW is the time to declare that the women's rights movement that began fifty years ago has ruined it for women, their children, and society. Women today are discouraged about their identity where they feel they must be ashamed of their gender, and this poor example of mothers is what has turned many a young man against women where they now seek illicit relations with the same sex (homosexuality). The sex-abuse scandal among the clergy is the sorrowful end of this curse, so if women truly want to be “actively involved” with the good of the Church, they must embrace family values in the home and look to the husband as the head of the household.
For their encouragement, let them look to the example of the Blessed Virgin, who was never once seen on a soapbox preaching in public. She left this to the men, and her humility is what gave her the power to crush the head of Satan.
True Liberation
By following the example of Our Lady, women too can share in this power over Satan and be liberated from this fear that compels them to impress men with their “equality.” When faith and love reign in the heart there is no need to impress anyone, since we live for God, being dead to the world.
What today’s sophisticated woman needs is liberation from silliness, and a true pastor will always encourage this and remind her that a woman should never feel ashamed of her womanhood but should be proud to be woman, i.e. that she shouldn’t try to be a man.
Women Scandalized
Why then are so many bishops bent on conferring priestly dignities on women? And why did Pope Francis recently issue a motu proprio that now admits women to the ministries of lector and acolyte? Traditionally, an acolyte is a preparatory step to the diaconate, which in turn is a preparatory step to the priesthood. Allowing women to be acolytes fosters the idea of women deacons and priests, which is a scandal to women.
Unfortunately, Francis cites Vatican II as his defense in updating the Church to the liking of modernists and feminists, which is why it is important that Catholics be aware of the historic coup d’ etat at Vatican II, through which it went from being a legitimate Council to a revolution. According to Professor Romano Amerio who contributed significantly to the original Vatican II outline, “This departure from the original plan” came about “by an act breaking the Council’s legal framework” so that “the Council was self-created, atypical, and unforeseen.” (Iota Unum, 1985)
In future posts we will follow up by providing a documented account of what happened at the Council, but for the moment it suffices to quote Pope Paul VI’s explanation as to why Vatican II failed, when he famously said: “From some fissure the smoke of satan entered into the temple of God.” (June 19, 1972)
