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A woman’s voice vs. "Papa Ratzi’s" |
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 by Krip Yuson
Someone in a Fil-Am e-group seemed to have gotten rather irate over a column I
wrote for this magazine a month ago, where I lauded the Pinoy Divorce bill
submitted in Congress by Rep. Liza Maza.
The fellow was apoplectic, as evidenced by his salutation in his e-mailed
posting. “Ano ka, gaga!?” was how he (I assume that only a masculine dolt would
start a reaction letter that way) initially let on about his sense of outrage.
It was also typically chauvinistic of this high-cholesterol type to presume, if
mistakenly, that the columnist he was reacting to was
of the feminine gender, just because he (!) praised the initiative on liberating
women, as well as men, from disastrous unions.
Well, obviously the macho was also what we call “Catolico cerrado.” Vigorously
if not quite memorably did he defend the faith’s obligation to let no man put
asunder what a certain God has put together, even if the official, sacramental
coupling turned out to be unfortunate. Or, well, hell, it just didn’t work out.
But enough of such blocks, such stones of ye olde medieval mindset. I can only
hope that this column gets his gander up anew, and he stomps his foot (when it’s
not in his mouth) on the ground so hard he disappears like Rumpelstilstkin.
Remember that fabular character, who was so frustrated by the “womanly wiles”
effectively practiced by a magnificently tressed Rapunzel?
Certainly a case has to be made for the need of certain bigots to disappear from
the face of the earth. Or at least have their retrogressive mindsets be
swallowed up whole, by a landfill.
So here’s riling him/them further. I share excerpts from yet another liberally
educated, assiduously thinking lady who may just be another square peg in the
black hole that is our Congress. I’m grateful for the happenstance arrival of
this text, via another e-loop. The full copy I cannot provide this magazine’s
readers.
The following is excerpted from Rep. Riza Hontiveros Baraquel’s privilege speech
titled “Feminism Versus Humanism,” delivered on August 9, 2004, commenting on
the "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men
and Women in the Church and in the World" — which was drafted by then Cardinal
Ratzinger, now the newly installed “Papa Ratizi.”
“My party, Akbayan, deeply protests the "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic
Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World"
written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger … last 31 May 2004 in Rome and approved and
ordered to be published by Pope John Paul II.
“In the spirit of sisterly correction, I ask why, in the latter years of a Pope
who has meant so much to us in many of humanity's struggles for democratization,
social justice and a humanist culture and ecological healing, among others, the
Vatican has seen fit to reaffirm its earlier, painful marginalization of the
feminist movement from these parallel strivings for a fully human life. Just
like all sisters living under Islam, all sisters practicing the indigenous
spiritualities of their ancestors, all feminists who profess a faith and whose
political consciousness and social involvement were formed in
great part by this influence, I say, we, too, are Church. We appeal to its
leadership not to turn a blind eye to the role and gains of the feminist
movement in building more humane societies, and to re-examine the virtual
abandonment of this movement embodied in the Cardinal 's letter….
“The Cardinal wrote of feminism that it "lead(s) to harmful confusion regarding
the human person, which has its most immediate and lethal effects in the
structure of the family, its natural two-parent structure of father and mother,
and make(s) homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new
model of polymorphous sexuality." Can the Cardinal not concede that women and
feminists also have clarity and insight regarding the human person, equal to and
as deep as his? More than its structure, feminism recognizes and appreciates the
spirit of the family, its traditional and alternative models of human beings in
committed relationships of mutual caring, building homes together and bringing
forth new generations to inhabit the earth. These are diverse expressions of
human solidarity that feminism celebrates.
“The Cardinal wrote of feminism that "in this perspective, physical difference,
termed sex, is minimized, while the purely cultural element, termed gender, is
emphasized to the maximum and held to be primary." On the contrary, the first
thing inquired about a new-born baby is precisely his or her sex. Whatever
family, school, economic sector or community we
are a part of, a large part of our history, opportunities and destiny is tied up
with whether we are female or male. The seed of women's captivity and liberation
of our selves and of others is embedded in our womanhood, whatever our location
in society. Feminists challenge society's cultural constructs as they entrench
political and economic structures and strive
to create new constructs and radically reform structures through gender
sensitivity and justice….”
“President Macapagal-Arroyo signed Proclamation 622 on 29 April 2004 declaring
the year 2005 as the centennial year of the feminist movement in the
Philippines. May she hold fast and not be deterred by the Vatican's criticism of
feminism, as she had been wont in the past to buckle to pressure from Catholic
Church leaders on gender issues. To borrow from one of the greatest public
servants in the Catholic tradition, she may be the Church hierarchy's dutiful
daughter, but she is the people's servant first.”
Brava! Why, this is not strident feminism, but thinking feminism. Readers
interested in appreciating the full speech can check it out at www.akbayan.org/privspeech-risa.htm
As a footnote, the fellow who posted it (thanks, Al Alegre) informs us that
“Risa is a product of the Benedictines (St. Scho), where Sr. Mary John Mananzan
also serves. The latter made a comment in the Inquirer, … on Papa Ratzi's
election (paraphrase): "I believe in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit more than in
human judgment…” :-)
Hay, naku. There are women, and there are women.
Thanks for the above, Rep. Riza. Mabuhay ka. Mabuhay kayong mga kababaihan na
nag-iisip at di lang puros sampalataya.
* * *
Posted in Gutom.org with permission from Krip Yuson.
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Posted on Thursday, May 19 @ 14:52:53 CDT by don |
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