The topic of transgenderism has invaded almost all aspects of the modern American experience in rather short order. Matt Walsh, a writer, podcaster and political commentator for The Daily Wire has taken the topic head-on in a recent documentary entitled “What is a Woman?”
Throughout the documentary, Walsh interviews professors, medical doctors, politicians and activists, asking them to define what a woman actually is. His position is that since we are now told that anyone can identify as a woman and society must automatically treat “her” as such, it should be a simple matter to clarify. However much of Walsh’s time is spent being stonewalled by his interviewees. They cannot or will not answer his straight-forward question.
This “trans issue” is certainly not the only one dividing us these days. However it’s hard to find another topic that causes such confusion among so many intelligent and well-meaning people.
And make no mistake, this phenomenon is permanently altering lives, breaking hearts and dividing families. And since lives and families are at stake, I figured I would look to the Church and some of her timeless wisdom, to cut through the confusion
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), you won’t find information on male and female chromosomes or the differences in anatomy. It’s not a medical journal. But since it is the indispensable companion to sacred Scripture, you will find the essential collection of the historic teachings of Jesus, the apostles and their successors – Church fathers, scholars and saints. It is for all people of all times, and you will always find within it a ready guide to assist you in discerning life’s biggest questions.
So what does the Church and her Catechism say?
She is a gift
Woman is the (ultimate) helper of man – CCC paragraph 1605 states: “Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: “It is not good that man should be alone.” The woman, “flesh of his flesh,” his counterpart, his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a “helpmate”; she thus represents God from whom comes our help” (emphasis added).
Notice that woman has a unique distinction in that God gives us additional insight as to why He made her. We already knew that man was made in the image and likeness of God. But Eve was also made for an additional purpose.
Does that mean that God saw Adam and realized that man was not fully capable? Of course not. CCC 343 states: “Man is the summit of the Creator’s work . . .”
Man was not a product launch that needed an upgrade or a recall after the rubber met the road. Eve was always a part of the divine plan, willed by God. From my perspective in the pews, I believe God just chose to give Adam some time to realize how much he really needed her.
She is the Apex of Creation
At the Conclusion of Creation, Eve appears. Humanity cannot be completed without her.
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” says Adam (Gen. 2:23).
CCC 2335 says “Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way.”
As the Life Bearer, woman is the world changer – all generations, all regeneration, comes through her. CCC 372 states “In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming “one flesh,” they can transmit human life: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as spouses and parents cooperate in a unique way in the Creator’s work.
She Has a Purpose
St. John Paul II spoke often of the “feminine genius” and wrote extensively about the dignity and vocation of women during his pontificate.
He was also quick to point to a Vatican II document, The Council’s Message to Women (December 8, 1965), in one of his most profound publications, MULIERIS DIGNITATEM (The Dignity and the Vocation of Women): 1 . . .”The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at his moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.”
John Paul II described the Feminine Genius as having four key attributes – receptivity, generosity, sensitivity and of course, maternity. These attributes, these strengths, are brought with women wherever they go, and are used to benefit their environments, whether that environment is the household, the classroom, the battlefield or the boardroom.
We see these attributes on display when we read about great female saints, like St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Joan of Arc. They accomplished things no man could ever do. They were, among other things, helpmates to God.
She is a Target
In the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, we see how the enemy sought to destroy mankind and was furious when his anticipated victory was snatched from his talons. “Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus” (Rev. 12:17).
Catholic commentary instructs that the figure of the woman in the story symbolizes the Church and her child represents mankind. But the scene from Revelation 12 also clearly alludes to Mary, the birth of Jesus and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt.
Back in the Garden of Eden, the enemy recognized how special Eve was, so he targeted her first. Since man and woman were made for unity with each other and with God, the devil anticipated that a properly executed attack on Eve could achieve a domino effect in separating her from Adam, and ultimately man and God.
After the deception, CCC 400 describes sin’s aftermath: “The harmony they [Adam and Eve] had found themselves, thanks to original justice [the unity between God and man], is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination” [emphasis added].
Consider Mary
Let’s address lust and domination in a moment. But first, we consider Mary.
Mary has always been especially despised by the devil. She not only is all a woman was intended to be by God, but she is also the Theotokos – the “God-bearer,” the Ark of the New Covenant, the Queen of Heaven, the Angels and Saints.
When you add up all the titles Mary has been adorned with (Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Mary of the Assumption, Mary Queen of Apostles, etc.), more Churches are dedicated to the Mother of God than any other saint. Last but not least, she possesses something the demons cannot, a quality that both strengthens and exults her: humility.
There is no creature, no soul the devil hates more.
Tactics of the Evil One
Since the devil can’t touch Mary, he takes great pride in distorting and disordering all women away from God’s divine plan. He revels in any woman who forsakes her own feminine genius.
And as the Catechism illuminated, the discord, distortion and disorder between man and woman is always characterized by lust and dominance.
Just as in the garden, when Eve was first deceived, the devil brings swift destruction to anyone who falls for his lies. The lie he told Eve, and still tells women today, is that they may be God’s final creation, but they are still “not enough.”
Satan uses those tensions between men and women, lust and dominance, and subverts or hijacks authentic feminism to destroy the feminine genius, especially its maternal uniqueness. The good intentions of standing for equality, dignity, and respect by women have been turned into a rejection of their own feminine attributes.
As a result, this world’s disordered “sexual revolution” disfigures women, and furthers the divides between women, men, and God. The primary implements of self-destruction in the revolution are artificial contraception, abortion, various forms of “adult entertainment” and especially pornography, along with an obsession with, and glorification of “masculine” sins.
Have sex like a man. Objectify others and fight like men do. And above all, reject motherhood. Only then can a woman reach her true potential, whispers the devil at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And then out of left field comes the trans issue. What was once a legitimate and rare psychological condition has now become a social contagion. Many young women, still immature and vulnerable, buy into the lie that they are “not enough.” They are manipulated into making life altering decisions before they fully realize what they even are.
One Unique Human Nature
See the devil isn’t satisfied with separating man from God, and man and woman from each other, he wants to also separate us from ourselves, body from soul.
Human persons aren’t a spirit that just uses a body as a vehicle in the world. Rather, the Catechism teaches that soul and body together form one unique human nature.
CCC 364 further explains: “. . . Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”
Why would mankind’s enemy go to such lengths? Because unfortunately for us, he understands our happiness better than we do: CCC 1057 – “Hell’s principle punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs” [emphasis added].
Conclusion
CCC 2393 – “Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.
CCC 369 – “ . . . In their “being man” and “being woman,” they reflect the Creator’s wisdom and goodness.”
It is only by embracing the truth about our identities that men and women can live as abundantly as God desires and ultimately find peace and happiness.
St. Catherine of Siena said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the whole world on fire.” In our modern woke world, how can we use the above truths to help women, especially those we love, to reject the lie that they are not enough?
5 thoughts on “What is a Woman? The Catechism Responds”
A woman is that which is still human but lower than a man. Man is the apex of creation for scripture not pedofile popes saith “The man is head over the woman.” Catholicism tries to reverse this by pretending Mary had any authority over Christ as an adult and that she still does. Catholicism is a cult of vagina worship and its no wonder that it has spawned transgenderism which is a desire of men to become women because of how women are more honored in a Catholic corrupted society.
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One of the most important thing that parents can do for their children is to confirm their identity as sons or daughters of the living God. It’s so important that God himself demonstrated this (Matthew 3:17, Mark 9:7) do you think Jesus didn’t know who he was? Of course he did! Yet his own Father deemed it necessary to verbally and publicly affirm Him. Without knowing who you are, it’s impossible to take the next step, “why am I here”. The outcome of not clearly answering question number one is horrific and has resulted in confusion, depression, bodily mutilation and now government and parental approved child abuse in the form of life-changing drugs and operations on minors.
“What is a woman?”
The only people to whom this question is important are those trying to return to male headship. This might sound odd to you but the rest of us aren’t interested in it; in fact, asking it is a red flag (like a stranger asking about your skin color). People are who they are.
The question was certainly not important to Jesus.
To think this was not important to Jesus is to not have ever read scripture. Jesus refers to his own Mother as “woman” at the Cross. It is vitally important to know what that means, as Mary is the “woman clothed in the sun.” He also refers to the Samaritan woman as “woman”. There is always deep meaning in Jesus’ words. Being woman is profound, but you can’t know that if you are confused about what it actually means. Jesus also defines marriage very clearly in the Gospel of Matthew. The people who are interested in asking the question are actually seeking what is true.