A feminist attacks Mary (UNITED STATES).New York--Sister of St. Joseph, Elizabeth Johnson, a professor of theology at the Jesuit Fordham University Fordham University (fôr`dəm), in New York City; Jesuit; coeducational; founded as St. John's College 1841, chartered as a university 1846; renamed 1907. Fordham College for men and Thomas More College for women merged in 1974. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , spoke at the university in February about the Blessed Virgin Mary Blessed Virgin Mary n. The Virgin Mary. . She said that Mary should not be considered our patron, but just our companion in life. Making Mary a model for all other women, Sister said, blocks the personal development of women. When questioned about Mary's physical virginity Virginity See also Chastity, Purity. Agnes, St. patron saint of virgins. [Christian Hagiog.: Brewer Dictionary, 16] Atala Indian maiden learns too late she can be released from her vow to remain a virgin. [Fr. Lit. before and after the birth of Jesus, she answered: "What Mary did with her sexuality is nobody's business. I don't want to know." The Catholic weekly published by New York Jesuits, America, printed the lecture as a serious contribution to theology (June 17). Acknowledging that Mary, "Mother of the Christ", has been honoured in a thousand different ways, the author quickly turns to the question that if "Miriam of Nazareth" has been hailed in liturgy and art, in architecture and poetry, in spiritual writings and in doctrine in the past, then how should she be treated today, in our modern democratic culture? The answers come quickly. First, she must come down from her pedestal pedestal In Classical architecture, a support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. It may be square, octagonal, or circular. A single pedestal may also support a group of columns, or colonnade (see podium). and join the ranks of the ordinary saints, which, we learn, include ourselves as people of faith. Secondly, there should be no patron-client relationship. This is undemocratic and developed only after the Church became recognized in the Roman Empire. No, there must only be equality among the saints, dead and living. Once relieved of being given divine qualities, and of being the ideal feminine woman, well then, the girl from Nazareth can relax and finally be herself. No more patriarchal theology of God, no more exaggerated medieval and pre-modern devotions. Most readers will know that according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the ordinary and universal teaching of the Church, Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, is not just our companion in life, but our highest human patron in heaven, mediatrix of a multitude of graces. Again, it is an infallible in·fal·li·ble adj. 1. Incapable of erring: an infallible guide; an infallible source of information. 2. doctrine of the Church that Mary was perpetually a virgin, and that this is not 'a take it or leave it' affair. |
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