Thanks for your email.
Glad to hear of the community garden.
Good work!
Concerning separation-by-sex...
Almost always, men and women self-segregate even when they attend "promiscuous" events. http://www.etymonline.
Consider.
"The sexes" often eat together on big holidays; then, when dinner is done, the men "watch football/baseball/basketball/
If you practice something, you get good at it.
And once you're good at it, exhibiting one's skill produces a gratifying display of competence.
If you practice something, you get good at it.
And once you're good at it, exhibiting one's skill produces a gratifying display of competence.
By my lights, many Catholic clerics -- men and women -- should self-segregate by self-chosen "orders" just as they always done.
Women "get themselves to a nunnery" and men "join monastery-man-caves."
Women "get themselves to a nunnery" and men "join monastery-man-caves."
Although I see room for other forms of gender segregation in clerical Catholicism (e.g., parish priests who chose celibacy as distinct from those who don't) the church itself -- "the assembly" -- is no place for segregation.
As James Joyce observed: Catholicism means "Here comes everybody."
Bring 'em on!
Let the tumult mix!
***
In related vein...
I've recommended Ivan Illich's "Gender" before.
I've recommended Ivan Illich's "Gender" before.
I think you will love this exploration of sex roles but even if "Gender" does not lead to "romance" you will be fascinated by Illich's incisive investigation of the subject. ("Gender" is the only book Illich's circle of friends urged him NOT to publish.)
"Gender" is not available online but David Apple (who provides a fine hyperlinked bibliography athttp://www.davidtinapple.
"Gender," Ivan Illich
Gender And Division Of Labor
Ivan Illich Compendium
"The People's Priest," An Ivan Illich "Obituary" From "The American Conservative"
Or, since the United States is already morphing into matriarchy, we could just go ahead and "make it official."
Then the nuns who were deprived of their seats in New York City would relinquish them to the priests out of noblesse oblige.
If Catholic Parishes Don't Change, "Lapsed" Catholics Will Not Find The Home Francis Describes
Pax tecum
Alan
On Sun, Sep 27, 2015 at 12:04 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
I hope the good sisters who got re-seated have their own special place as well.I serve on the board of the garden. The board is five men. without formally declaring ourselves to be all-male we have quietly managed to keep it that way, except for Hugh, who once made a pathetic appeal for diversity -- meaning women, I suppose. Hugh was hooted down. I pointed out that we had diversity already, having two Catholics, two Jews, and an atheist on the board as it is presently constituted. And the two Catholics are of greatly divergent views on matters of faith.I'm sorry that the women at the cathedral were re-seated for the pope's visit.But for me the Catholic church is a male refuge. I work at the community garden on the grounds of Holy Cross church. The garden is formally secular, and many non-Catholics come there as volunteers, but being on church property, the vibe is ever-present.Having all-male leadership in the community garden makes me feel especially welcome when I go there to do chores or just to relax. It is our place.
L'havdil is the Jewish concept of beneficial distinction and separation
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