VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Tesh|DATE|1378800988|CONTENT|Had never heard of this woman before  so went into Catholic Encyclopaedia. Usual sick-making stuff – dedicated virginal life of prayer,  learns to accept to wear a medal instead of pearls; a woman exactly where the Catholic church wants them – low, humble, unachieving  except in works of ‘charity’.  Said to have been born of poor parents but they were probably wealthy.  And if she ‘fed the hungry’ this assumes wealth for otherwise she is doing what countless of millions of poverty-stricken women throughout history have done – found a way to feed their families.   Reminded me of Theresa of Lisieux, one of the only four female “doctors of the church” – I challenge you to read her journal without asking for the sick-bag. 
When I was at secondary school I came to hate the ‘female reformers’, their boring faces and ghastly clothes,  and bitterly resented being born a woman.  I had respect for the Quaker prison reformer. Nobody told me about Hypatia.  Almost worse, nobody told me about Florence Nightingale’s “Rose Diagram” which is said to have saved millions of lives.  It took BBC4’s marvellous science series to reveal that to me -in my sixties!!   Nobody told us to become scientists and mathematicians but wouldn’t  it be nice to be a nurse?  [Nothing against nurses, I work with many of them now].  The Pope’s speech on that plane played the same game – women are far more important than men, far more important than men in the church, Mary is far more important than the apostles [so be like her, women, say “Yes” and be meek and mild].  Not a word about whether he was going to make any place of decision –making in the church. I shouldn’t  think he even sees the screaming absence in those photos of papal enclaves and ad limina visits – ie half the human race are missing, deliberately kept out – while they discuss things irrelevant to women like contraception , child-rearing and death!
|EMAIL|lornacrossman@yahoo.co.uk|IP-ADDRESS|86.142.185.192|MODERATIONFLAG|