The Nun Revolt: Why Benedict's Own "War On Women" Has Backfired.

Update re: Nuns On The Bus

DES MOINES, Iowa (The Blaze/AP) — A group of Roman Catholic nuns who have come under fire aren’t quieting down. In fact, they’re doing quite the opposite, as they began a nine-state bus tour on Monday protesting proposed federal budget cute. The women said they weren’t trying to flout recent Vatican criticisms of socially active nuns but felt called to show how Republican policies are affecting low-income families.

The most frequent method in disposing of strong-willed or inconvenient women has been to send them to a convent: "Get thee to a nunnery" was a phrase that voiced exasperation and contempt for the "uppity" or unmarriagable female. Indeed, the restrictions of the confines of a prison with the inmates subservient to the dictates of a distant male hierarchy. 

It was this image of total subservience that permeated western civilization's psyche*, so ideas of leadership, authority or initiative were always relegated to the absurd. Mother Theresa aside, nuns have had exceptionally few chances to make a difference.





The New American Nun and "Radical Feminist Doctrines"

As with all Catholic controversies these days, Pope Benedict XVI is at the center: from condoms to corruption, "Papa Ratzi" has had a direct hand, especially in the realm of Church doctrine. Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was, after all, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, rooting out heresies and advocating strict adherence to policy. So it comes as no surprise that Benedict disapproves of actions by nuns that the Church deems "inappropriate."

And America's nuns have been "inappropriate" for years:

[The latest, yet-unpublished] report approved by Pope Benedict XVI, claims that vast majority of American nuns are pushing “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” But rather than preaching against Church doctrine, the sisters are often just staying silent on the church’s pet issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the ordination of women. Their silence is interpreted as endorsement so by not speaking out against such evils, the report says the sisters are effectively showing their approval.,

Deja vu: the same image crisis occurred with librarians decades ago as "book people" started exhibiting a very liberal streak - e.g. the fallout from carrying Heather Has Two Mommies was the image of the meek, quiet, benign little woman. Overnight, they turned into "radical feminists." Now, like their librarian counterparts, nuns actively participating in social issues are painted as "commie pinko" rabble-rousers, as this tweet from an associate of NOM (National Organization for Marriage) can attest:




Because those "radical feminist themes" are actually akin to the dreaded themes of "social justice" feared by today's Christian Right. The "silence" on gay issues and the rumblings of women in the clergy along with the Vatican's own "war on women" threaten to undermine two misogynistic millenniums determined to keep women in their place: both the Leadership Conference of Women Religious LCWR) and the National Coalition of American nuns have veered away from the issues of abortion and homosexuality in favor of taking overt action against issues like cuts in government programs for the poor and disenfranchised.

And then there's Sister Margaret Farley:

Coming as it does in the wake of the rebukedelivered last month to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the censure of Sister Farley’s book Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, is enough to make one wonder if there are doctrinal risks taken simply by being Catholic while female.

The Vatican has now censured Sister Margaret Farley and threatens dire consequences to the LCWR if it does not clean up its act: within the next five years it is instructed to formulate new rules and regulations - even a stricter dress code - to conform with what the Vatican deems "appropriate." In other words, American nuns have to shut up and go back to the 15th century where they belong.

The LCWR, needless to say, is not taking this lying down and will soon come up with a strategy to counter the Vatican's demands: a "nun war" may be looming.

Instead of nuns on buses, we may yet see nuns on tanks.


*Of course the image of the tough-as-nails teaching nun will always veer to the absurd as well: the most humorous novel to ever touch upon the subject of nuns - John Powers' Last Catholic In America - exploded the myth of the quiet, acquiescent nun and portrayed her as a bully taking out her frustrations on every male ever created:


[Sister] Boom Boom Bernardine liked to grab guys by the ears and bang their heads against the wall whenever they annoyed her. Fortunately for Boom Boom, most of the kids at St. Bastion Grammar School weren't too bright to begin with, so if there was any brain damage, it was years before anyone realized it. At the peak of her career, Boom Boom Bernadine got over-zealous and ripped an arm muscle while bashing some head against a banister. Never again were her hands to crunch a set of earlobes. The arm muscle refused to heal. For Boom Boom Bernadine, banging heads against walls was what being a nun was all about. She left the school, never to be seen or heard from again, though there are some graduates of St. Bastion's who still hear her name whenever they brush their hair or other wise touch their heads.

Rut! Rabbit! Rut!

Just in time for Easter, Bryan Fischer talks about bunnies and black people, while exhibiting a bit of penis envy and eliciting boredom.


Black People Rut Like Rabbits

"Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits." - American Family Association spokesbigot Bryan Fischer

We all know that Bryan I-am-not-a-hate-group Fischer hates gays, native Americans, immigrants, and feminists, so his comment about African-American welfare moms should not be surprising. His timing, however, may be a bit off, unless his intention was to equate Easter's Peter Cottontail with a deadbeat dad.   

One problem with Fischer's statement is his passion for the prurient: for someone so seemingly virtuous, he dwells on the subject of sex more than Howard Stern. In fact, Fischer reminds me of John Powers' character, Felix the Filth Fiend Lindor,* who "had enough dirt in his mind to apply for statehood." I could start on the subject of penis envy, but don't have the space or the time. Suffice it to say Fischer's compensating: every group/stereotype that he targets has more sex than he could ever dream of. Encouraging sex of any kind reminds him of his shortcomings as a straight white male.


Another problem is that his sociopathic tendencies are so strong you wonder if he has actually liked anyone in his past. Even he admits that he is the real reason the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the American Family Association a hate group. Ever the iconoclast, he eschews the rules of hunting his wild enemies in a group, choosing to target whole groups by himself: gays, feminists, Native Americans, African Americans, progressive Christians. 


Now his prey is the African American welfare mom: "we have incentivized fornication." The only thing new about Fischer's philosophy is the word "incentivized" - it's not in any dictionary, but Fischer needed to sound scientific in his rant. Unfortunately, the debate about welfare moms has been around for decades and not even Ann Coulter has come up with anything new.** Ever the chauvinist, Fischer never once mentions shiftless deadbeat dads or abusive husbands - those jerks the welfare moms never want to see again. They are left in the shadows (but are more real than all the fictional gay black men who lure them away from fatherhood). Meanwhile, Fischer drums away at the economic drain upon good, virtuous family-values (and obviously sexless) Christians. 


When reports of his racist comments caused some stir in the internet media, he shot back:

I was commenting on the effect of our misguided welfare policies across the board, and was not singling out the African-American community in particular, although the consequences of our disastrous welfare policies are felt most acutely there. I was speaking generally to the fact that fallen human nature is going to gravitate to whatever behavior government rewards, even if the behavior itself is self-destructive.

The American Family Association edited his initial remarks, removing the "rut like rabbits" end and replacing it with " engage in random and reckless promiscuity, whether they are Caucasian, Hispanic, or African...Because we are subsidizing fornication and illegitimacy - every illegitimate baby means more taxpayer money for the mother."

In other words, "we're pro-birth and not pro-life, after your illegitimate brat is born, you pay for it."

Hateful humdrum: Fischer is teetering on the brink of irrelevancy, but doesn't seem to care. He thinks that hosting Presidential hopefuls and cartoon characters like Rick Santorum will carry his show over the next several years. It might not.

Bryan Fischer is in a rut. 

*John Powers, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?"
** While hawking her latest book on The View, Coulter expounded upon the subject by stating that almost all illegitimate children wound up becoming criminals.