Church Honors Mary and All Women

"Pope John Paul II's person and life was fashioned and inspired by a life-giving spring which was neither hidden nor a simple psychological device. It was plainly visible on his coat of arms as pope, and held in the short and challenging motto ‘Totus tuus.’ ‘Totus tuus’ is the abbreviated version of the Marian consecration according to de Montfort. Karol Wojtyla made the total consecration to Mary at the age of 15, vowing: ‘I am totally yours (totus tuus), and all that I possess is yours. I accept you in all that is mine. Give me your heart, O Mary.’"

These words were written by Father Johann G. Roten, S.M., director of the Marian Library and International Marian Research Institute in Dayton. Father Roten is a priest in the Marianist order.

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I had the privilege of attending an all boys Catholic prep school in Mineola, N.Y. — Chaminade High School — run by the Marianist order. The school excelled in scholastic achievement, athletics and in developing "well-rounded, faith-filled Catholic men."

Not only were all the students male, but all the teachers were men, most of them Marianist brothers. Consequently, the atmosphere at Chaminade was profoundly masculine.

Just as profound, however, was the reverence, deliberately fostered by Chaminade, for the Blessed Mother. A statue of her stood in Mary’s Courtyard at the back of the school. Tradition required anyone passing that statue to stop and say a Hail Mary, even if the first bell had rung and you were about to be late for class – no small matter at Chaminade.

Late arrivals could only enter their classrooms with a form signed by the Vice Principal, Brother Nath, a large, red-headed Irishman with a severe disposition. One did not want to have to deal with Brother Nath too often.

Nevertheless, Chaminade students always stopped to say a prayer in Mary’s Courtyard – even when it meant a trip to see the dreaded Brother Nath. Such was the respect at Chaminade for the most revered woman in human history.

I am often reminded of my high school days when I encounter one of the more constant anti-Catholic themes of secular entertainment and commentary — the misogyny accusation. It rears its ugly head frequently, as in a recent Newsweek article by Anna Quindlan that compares the Catholic Church’s attitude toward women to segregationist rationale employed by white racists.

Or in the ridiculous theories espoused by Dan Brown in his best seller and soon to be movie The Da Vinci Code, which claims that Vatican misogynists opposed to something called the "sacred feminine" bestowed godhood on Jesus while denigrating his wife, Mary Magdalene. The big budget movie – which bills itself as being about a secret that "could shake the foundations of Christianity" — is scheduled for release next year during Lent.

There are non-Catholics as well as Catholics (Quindlan calls herself Catholic) who believe that the Church, because of its positions on women priests, contraception and abortion, is inherently anti-women. They are wrong.

Feminists like Quindlan reject the notion that women are inherently different than men, designed by God to play a unique role in human salvation. They contend that women are basically men in different form, that they are just as good as men. The feminists sell women short. Women are much more than that.

Our Church tells us that our Savior, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was made man through a woman, Mary, who gave to her divine Son the human part of His nature. We honor Mary, the mother of Jesus, as an exemplar not only for women, but for mankind.

History tells us that societies that respect, honor and treat women well tend to be more hospitable, more civilized, less brutal and more respectful of human life in all its forms and conditions. It also tells us that societies that treat their women badly tend to be less hospitable, less civilized, more brutal, and much less respectful of human life.

In the last three decades in our own country we have witnessed a paradigm shift in our cultural mores, much of that shift attributable to a radical feminist movement determined to eradicate traditional concepts of womanhood. The result has been increased brutality toward women, vulgarity and pornography passed off as entertainment, the destabilization of family life, the coarsening of our language and the devaluation of human life.

Radical feminists and other Church haters simply don’t get it. The Catholic Church, through its teachings and its traditions, especially through its Marian devotions, is profoundly pro-feminine. We even set aside the entire month of May to honor the Blessed Mother.

It’s a custom that dates back over 700 years to the late 13th century when the Church sought to Christianize spring celebrations of long standing that existed in many cultures. Marian devotion during May was officially honored by Pope Pius VII in 1815 as a partial indulgence and again in 1859 as a plenary indulgence by Pope Pius IX. And as recently as May 2002, Pope John Paul II acknowledged May as Mary’s month when he said: "Today we begin the month dedicated to Our Lady . . . In accord with a long-standing tradition of devotion, parishes and families continue to make the month of May a "Marian" month, celebrating it with many devout liturgical, catechetical and pastoral initiatives!"

One can’t help but wonder if, as Dan Brown has written, the Catholic Church has always been led by people who were inherently misogynists, why they didn’t dedicate the month of May, or any month for that matter, to a man – one of the apostles perhaps, or one of the early doctors of the Church.

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