From
Bryan Cones at US Catholic:
I suppose this whole thing would be a little comic--the USCCB
investigating the Girl Scouts sounds more like an article in The Onion
than one in the Associated Press--except for the fact that the Girl
Scouts do such great work in helping girls defend themselves from a
consumer culture that encourages them to think of themselves as sex
objects with credit cards (as we explored in our May issue cover story).
The bishops with this move also manage to irritate the last segment of
the female population still available to offend: preadolescent girls and
teens (having already tweaked both women of childbearing age on
contraception, and religious women for whatever it is the sisters have
been doing at their annual meetings).
Seriously, some honcho at the USCCB needs to put a stop to this. It looks a little, um, unhinged.
The overreach by the bishops for some sort of nebulous purity within the church begins to look like the spreading madness of an inquisition. What an embarrassment to thinking Roman Catholics. Who's next on the bishops' hit list?
Click on the cartoon for the larger view.
Actually in my life this has been going on since the dark age of my elementary school days. (Like the 1950's). I was not allowed to join the girl scouts because GASP they said PROTESTANT prayers. Heaven forefend that we should be sullied and brainwashed by protestant prayers.
ReplyDeleteBoth of my daughters were girl scouts. Of course, I got to be the cookie chairman for each of them in turn. And we all said protest*ant prayers. Their troop leader was a fellow Episcopalian. And my youngest daughter and one of her daughters have been bestest friends since kindergarten. Now in their mid thirties.
Bonnie, I suppose you're right. Perhaps we took the oppression for granted back in the day, but these are supposed to be more enlightened times.
ReplyDeleteI think we did take the oppression for granted. Our immature minds just didn't know it was oppression. I can't speak for others but "obedient to a fault" was a concept I was raised with. "The good sisters." "The good fathers." To be out of step with that was to be bad.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should send the good bishops some Thin Mints with instructions. Take two at bedtime with a glass of warm milk.
Bonnie, a thin mint for the bishops doesn't work the way an aspirin does for the sisters (one held firmly between the knees). I would suggest instead a cold shower, such as monks would receive before the onslaught of civilization.
ReplyDeleteMimi, the bishops' inquisition is nearly complete. They only have themselves to examine now, if they will. It will only take one to start the process.
Apologies for perhaps hogging the blog but I have a real problem laying my thougts and heart right out there.
ReplyDeleteSo, here IMHO is what I think the bishops should try to assimilate. The bishops do not get that women are not lesser men but the PERFECT complement. God did not create lesser beings but PERFECT complements to his first creation. If the RCC wishes to really witness to Jesus they will follow his example. Women were never lesser beings in his ministry or lesser beings in God's creation. In fact, no one was a lesser being in his ministry, nothing a lesser creation. Everyone, everything--the WE in all the differences of God's creation. Which IMHO he came to help us understand.
I guess the bottom line is pray for the RCC. But the cookies and milk won't hurt either.
By Jove, I think you've got it, Pfalz prophet. When there's no one left to investigate the inquisitors will turn on each other. One tiny leak, and the whole dam could break,
ReplyDeleteBonnie, tell it sistah. No apologies necessary. Men who look down on women are insecure creatures. Their feelings of inadequacy are at the root of their sexism.
By the grace of God, or fate, or luck, I never thought women were lesser, despite the way I was taught and the manner in which I was treated. I was a feminist before I even knew the word existed.
I have never wanted to be a Priest (of Any denomination,) but I did want to be a religious educator and because those jobs were practically non existent in TEC, I swam the famous Tibor and entered a strange land. A land where the boy scouts were forbidden in one parish because they were "secular humanists". so this latest isn't a surprise, in a way. but this onslaught was started apparently.by this young politician whose mouth got all out of control as he tried to out conserve the conservatives.
ReplyDeleteWhat does give me the giggles is the question of how the bishop will accomplish this investigation? Will one or more of them dress in drag ( more drag than usual) and join a troop? will they send in girl spies wearing a 'wire'? will they train selected volunteer women to become troop leaders? will they peruse the official book for spiritual moments which is so bland that it could be considered vocalizing good wishes instead of prayers? will they haul in troop leaders and force them to 'confess'?
tune in, fascinated inquirers want to know!
Nij (former troop leader)
The oppression of women in the RC church continues because "thinking Catholics" are not rising up in HUGE NUMBERS to protest the sick behavior of the hierarchy. As long as they continue to enable this behavior it will never stop.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is it that the conservatives want to conserve? The Republicans of today look to me like radicals who wish to destroy what's left of decency in our society.
ReplyDeleteNij, the 'investigation' of the Girl Scouts should be an interesting show. One wishes the GS would just tell the bishops to bugger off.
whiteycat, I don't know why the laity don't rise up. I rose up before I left, but I stood alone. There was no movement for me to join.
Mimi, I think conservatives back in the day wanted to conserve life and the world of finance as it was. men out working, mothers at home -homemaking and watching Phil Donahue. Not too much gov.interference in ANYTHING, segregation full tilt. this was "the American way". It sure was the American scene for a long time. but things have changed, we know now the dark side of the way things were and the population has grown, the needs have changed and that old picture doesn 'tfit the country anymore. so that 'ts all smoke and mirrors now. hey 're using that old scene to try to get away with ecological disaster, taking more women out of the workplace and ditto minorities. the sad thing is that they know what they r doing and they know that it won't work, but they just REALLY don't care about anything but their bottom line.
ReplyDeleteNij
@Nij, actually men can now be Girl Scout co-leaders just not the only leader(s) in a troop (not ideal for some girls as in some places the only person willing to volunteer for that position is a girl's father).
ReplyDeleteThe campaign against Girl Scouts has been going on for some time from various conservative groups.
I note btw that the current CEO of the Girl Scouts, Anna Maria Chavez, is Catholic (or at least raised Catholic) and has been personally criticized by some Catholic groups.
thanks for that info, Erp. that is a big change.
ReplyDeleteThat Conservative RC people really want to attack the Girl Scouts is astonishing, why? all of this exclusivity closes a child inaworld where they experience only family and church. How will these children ever cope with the world? I would think that children raised in a way that forbids the most ordinary groups in society would become fearful and prone to paranoid thinking! super control freaks for sure!
Happy Mother' s Day to all Moms and their families!
Nij
Nij, exactly. I suspect a good many of the conservatives wish to return to the fantasy halcyon days that never were...the days when the entire US lived like the folks in 'Father Knows Best', 'The Donna Reed Show', and 'Leave it to Beaver', all the while, ignoring the dark side of those times.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the fundamentalist home schoolers? What a shock for the kids when they get out of their small, protected world into the real world.
I might suggest a campaign to "friend" the Girl Scouts on FB
ReplyDeletesusankay, now that's a thought. I searched on Facebook, and I see groups for regional GS troops but none for GS overall.
ReplyDeleteTwo days late and two dollars short, but still....
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere this "investigation" was prompted by internet rumors of connections between the GS and Planned Parenthood (Gasp!), and other similarly well-founded allegations.
What's truly amusing is to see "US Catholic" telling the Bishops to get a clue. Mimi, you know what I mean when I say Amanda would be shocked!
The story of the connection between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood is not true, but once the rumor gets going....
ReplyDeleteEgads! Amanda might be forced to rethink.