Catholicism vs. Feminism
Just the Sources
Timothy and Stephanie Gordon
Rules for Retrogrades
March 2022
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Table of Contents
Holy Scripture vs. Feminism……………………………….………..4
The Popes vs. Feminism…………………………………………......13
The Church Fathers/Early Doctors vs. Feminism……….…….21
The Scholastics vs.
Feminism…………………...…………………………………..……….25
The Catechism vs. Feminism………………………...…..…………27
Short Replies to Common Feminist Objections………………..29
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Holy Scripture vs. Feminism
“Do whatever He tells you.”
—The Most Holy Virgin Mary
1. Ephesians 5: 23
“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.”
2. 1 Corinthians 11: 3-7
“But
I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the
head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But
every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having
her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a
disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. A man
ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.”
3. 1 Timothy 2:11
“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.”
4. 1 Timothy 2: 12
“Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”
5. Titus 2: 4-5
“Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure,
to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of
God.”
6. 1 Peter 3: 1-6
“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the
word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and
reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles
and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading
beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women
of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own
husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is
right and do not give way to fear.”
7. Colossians 3: 18
“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”
8. Ephesians 5: 33
“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her
husband.”
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9. Ephesians 5: 25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
10. 1 Peter 3: 7
“Husbands,
in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the
weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
11. Sirach 25: 16-25
“I would sooner keep house with a lion or a dragon than keep house with a spiteful wife. A woman's spite
changes her appearance and makes her face as grim as a bear's. When her husband goes out to dinner with
his neighbours, he cannot help heaving bitter sighs. No spite can approach the spite of a woman, may a
sinner's lot be hers! Like the climbing of a sandhill for elderly feet, such is a garrulous wife for a quiet
husband. Do not be taken in by a woman's beauty, never lose your head over a woman. Bad temper, insolence
and shame hold sway where the wife supports the husband. Low spirits, gloomy face, stricken heart: such is a
spiteful wife. Slack hands and sagging knees: such is the wife who does not make her husband happy. Sin
began with a woman, and thanks to her we must all die. Do not let water find a leak, nor a spiteful woman give
free rein to her tongue.”
12. 1 Timothy 5: 14
“I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the
adversary to speak reproachfully.”
13. Proverbs 31: 27
“She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
14. 1 Timothy 2: 11-15
“A
woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume
authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one
deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through
childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety.”
15. 1 Corinthians 14: 34-35
“Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as
the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is
disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”
16. Genesis 3: 16
“To the woman he said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you’.”
17. Genesis 2: 22-23
“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And
Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was
taken out of Man.”
18. Romans 7: 2
5
“For
example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies,
she is released from the law that binds her to him.”
19. 1 Timothy 5: 8
“But
if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is
worse than an infidel.”
20. 1 Corinthians 7: 1-4
“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a
woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each
woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to
her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the
husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except
perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together
again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
21. Leviticus 27: 3-5
“A boy between the ages of one month and five years is valued at five shekels of silver; a girl of that age is
valued at three shekels of silver.”
22. Numbers 30: 3-15
“If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her
youth, and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to
her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her
father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself
shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her because her father opposed her. If she marries a husband, while
under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, and her husband
hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by
which she has bound herself shall stand. But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes
her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she
bound herself. And the Lord will forgive her. (But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by
which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.) And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound
herself by a pledge with an oath, and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her,
then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband
makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning
her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord
will forgive her. Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, or her husband
may make void. But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all
her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he
heard of them. But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”
23. Judges 54-55
“Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman
killed him.’” So, his servant ran him through, and he died. When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead,
they went home.”
24. Judges 16:16
“She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it.”
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25. 2 Samuel 29
“May the house of Joab never be unafflicted by men who suffer from running sore or leprosy or effeminacy or
who are doomed to die by the sword or are in need of bread.”
26. Tobit 6:19
“Then when you are about to have intercourse with her, both of you must first get up to pray. Beg the Lord of
heaven that mercy and protection be granted you. Do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the
world existed. You will save her, and she will go with you. And I assume that you will have children by her,
and they will be like brothers for you. So do not worry.” When Tobiah heard Raphael’s words that she was his
kinswoman, and of the lineage of his ancestral house, he loved her deeply, and his heart was truly set on her.”
27. Esther 17-20
“For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and
say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ This very day
the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all
the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord. Therefore, if it pleases the
king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be
repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal
position to someone else who is better than she. Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his
vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.”
28. Esther 1:22
“He sent letters to all parts of the empire, to each province in its own script and language, proclaiming that
every man should be the ruler of his own home and should say whatever he pleases.”
29. Psalm 46:11
“Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.”
30. Psalm 128:3
“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your
table.”
31. Proverbs 5: 1-14
“My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is
smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.”
32. Proverbs 5: 18-23
“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated
with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? For your ways are in full view of
the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins
hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”
33. Proverbs 7: 11-13
“She was a wild and rebellious woman who would not stay at home. She walked the streets, always looking
for someone to trap.“
34. Proverbs 7: 21-23
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“With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird
darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.”
35. Proverbs 11:22
“Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”
36. Proverbs 12: 4
“A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.”
37. Proverbs 19: 13-14
“A foolish child is a father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like the constant dripping of a leaky roof. Houses
and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”
38. Proverbs 25: 24
“Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”
39. Proverbs 27: 15-16
“A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm; restraining her is like restraining the
wind or grasping oil with the hand.”
40. Proverbs 31: 10-31
“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and
flax and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She
rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a
field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and
makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at
night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and
reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are
clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is
known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them; she
delivers sashes to the merchant. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She
opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of
her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband
also, and he praises her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceitful,
and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let
her works praise her in the gates.”
41. Ecclesiastes 7:26
“And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso
pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.”
42. Ecclesiastes 9:9
“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee
under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest
under the sun.”
43. Song of Songs 2:3
“As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat
in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
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44. Wisdom 3: 11-19
“For whoever despises wisdom and instruction is miserable. Their hope is vain, their labors are unprofitable,
and their works are useless. Their wives are foolish, and their children evil; their offspring are accursed. For
blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled, who has not entered a sinful union; she will have fruit when
God examines souls. Blessed also is the eunuch whose hands have done no lawless deed, and who has not
devised wicked things against the Lord; for special favor will be shown him for his faithfulness, and a place of
great delight in the temple of the Lord. For the fruit of good labors is renowned, and the root of understanding
does not fail. But children of adulterers will not come to maturity, and the offspring of an unlawful union will
perish. Even if they live long, they will be held of no account, and finally their old age will be without honor. If
they die young, they will have no hope and no consolation in the day of decision. For the end of an unrighteous
generation is grievous.”
45. Wisdom 10:1-2
“Wisdom protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created; she delivered him
from his transgression and gave him strength to rule all things.”
46. Sirach: 7:18-20
“Do not barter a friend for money, or a true brother for the gold of Ophir. Do not reject a sensible wife; a
gracious wife is more precious than pearls. Do not mistreat a servant who works faithfully, or laborers who
devote themselves to their task.”
47. Sirach: 7:23-26
“Do you have sons? Correct them and cure their stubbornness in their early youth. Do you have daughters?
Keep them chaste, and do not be indulgent to them. Give your daughter in marriage, and a worry comes to an
end; but give her to a sensible man. Do you have a wife? Do not mistreat her, but do not trust the wife you
hate.”
48. Sirach: 9: 1-2
“Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom, lest you teach her to do evil against you. Do not give a woman
power over you to trample on your dignity.”
49. Sirach: 9: 8
“Avert your eyes from a shapely woman; do not gaze upon beauty that is not yours; Through woman’s beauty
many have been ruined, for love of it burns like fire.”
50. Sirach: 33: 19-20
“Listen to me, leaders of the people; rulers of the congregation, pay heed! Let neither son nor wife, neither
brother nor friend, have power over you as long as you live. While breath of life is still in you, let no one take
your place. Do not give your wealth to another, lest you must plead for support yourself.”
51. Sirach: 36: 26-32
“A woman will accept any man as a husband, yet one daughter will be preferable to another. A woman’s beauty
causes a man’s face to light up, and there is nothing a man desires more. And if, perchance, her speech is kind
and gentle, her husband is the most fortunate of men. A wife is her husband’s greatest treasure, a suitable
helper for him and a pillar to provide support. Where there is no fence, the property will be plundered; when a
man has no wife, he wanders about aimlessly and in misery. Who will trust an armed thief who shifts quickly
from city to city. So, it is with the man who has no nest but lodges wherever night overtakes him.”
52. Sirach: 37: 11
9
“Never consult with a woman about her rival or with a coward about war, with a merchant about business, or
with a buyer about selling, with a miser about generosity or with a cruel person about goodness of heart, with
an idler about any kind of work or with a casual worker about completing the job, with a lazy servant about a
large undertaking: do not depend on these for any counsel.”
53. Sirach: 40: 19
“Children and the founding of a city will preserve one’s name, but better than either is finding wisdom. Cattle
and orchards make a man well known, but better than either is a perfect wife.”
54. Sirach: 40: 23
“A friend and a companion are encountered in good time, but better than either is a sensible wife.”
55. Sirach: 42: 9-14
“A daughter is a treasure that makes her father anxious, and in his worry about her he loses sleep: when she is
young, for fear she may never marry, and when she is married, for fear her husband may hate her; when she is
a virgin, for fear she may be seduced and become pregnant in her father’s house; when she has a husband, for
fear she may prove unfaithful, and after marriage, for fear she may prove to be barren. Keep a close watch on a
headstrong daughter, lest she make you an object of ridicule to your enemies, causing you to be the talk of the
town, the subject of gossip, and an object of derision in public gatherings. Make sure that her room has no
lattice, no spot that overlooks the approaches to the house. Do not allow her to parade her beauty before any
man or spend her time with married women; for just as out of clothes comes the moth so from a woman comes
woman’s wickedness. Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman’s goodness, but better is a religious
daughter than a son without shame.”
56. Sirach: 45:25
“Just as a covenant was established with David, the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, that the royal succession
was always to pass from father to son, so the priestly succession was to pass from Aaron to his descendants.”
57. Sirach: 47:19-20
“However, you summoned women to be at your side and became subject to them as a result of your bodily
appetites. You soiled your reputation and sullied your family line bringing wrath upon your children and grief
at your folly.”
58. Isaiah: 4:
“In that day so few men will be left that seven women will fight for each man, saying, “Let us all marry you! We
will provide our own food and clothing. Only let us take your name so we won’t be mocked as old maids.”
59. Isaiah: 19: 16
“In that day the Egyptians will be as weak as women. They will cower in fear beneath the upraised fist of the
LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
60. Isaiah: 49: 15
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”
61. Jeremiah: 2: 1-2
“Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says: “I remember how eager you were to
please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.”
62. Jeremiah: 3: 1
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“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would
not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now
return to me?” declares the LORD.”
63. Jeremiah: 30: 6
“Now let me ask you a question: Do men give birth to babies? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,
hands pressed against their sides like a woman in labor?”
64. Jeremiah 44: 19
“Besides,” the women added, “do you suppose that we were burning incense and pouring out liquid offerings
to the Queen of Heaven, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and
helping us? Of course not!”
65. Lamentations 4: 3
“Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in
the desert.”
66. Ezekiel: 16:20
“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your
gods. Was your prostitution not enough?”
67. Ezekiel: 16:32
“’You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!”
68. Ezekiel: 16:44
“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.”
69. Hosea: 2: 4-25
“Accuse your mother, accuse! For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her
prostitution from her face. Her adultery from between her breasts, or I will strip her naked, leaving her as on
the day of her birth: I will make her like the wilderness, make her like an arid land, and let her die of thirst. I
will have no pity on her children, for they are children of prostitution. Yes, their mother has prostituted
herself; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my
bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.” Therefore, I will hedge in her way with thorns
and erect a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. If she runs after her lovers, she will not overtake
them; if she seeks them, she will not find them. Then she will say, “I will go back to my first husband, for I was
better off than now.” She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, I who
lavished upon her silver, and gold, which they used for Baal, therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and
my wine in its season; I will snatch away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will
lay bare her shame in full view of her lovers, and no one can deliver her out of my hand. I will put an end to all
her joy, her festivals, her new moons, her sabbaths—all her seasonal feasts. I will lay waste her vines and fig
trees, of which she said, “these are the fees my lovers have given me”; I will turn them into rank growth and
wild animals shall devour them. I will punish her for the days of the Baals, for whom she burnt incense, when
she decked herself out with her rings and her jewelry and went after her lovers—but me she forgot—oracle of
the lord. Therefore, I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her.
Then I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. There she will respond as
in the days of her youth, as on the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. On that day—oracle of
the lord—you shall call me “my husband, “and you shall never again call me “my Baal.” I will remove from her
mouth the names of the Baals; they shall no longer be mentioned by their name. I will make a covenant for
them on that day, with the wild animals, with the birds of the air, and with the things that crawl on the ground.
Bow and sword and warfare I will destroy from the land, and I will give them rest in safety. I will betroth you to
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me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will
betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the lord. On that day I will respond—oracle of the lord—
I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; the earth will respond to the grain, and wine,
and oil, and these will respond to Jezreel. I will sow her for myself in the land, and I will have pity on not-pitied,
I will say to not-my-people, “you are my people, “and he will say, “my god!”
70. Amos: 4: 1-3
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the
needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: “The
time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. You will each go
straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon, declares the Lord.”
71. Micah: 2:9-10
“You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing
from their children forever.”
72. Malachi: 2: 14-1
“You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been
unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made
you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your
guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says
the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your
guard, and do not be unfaithful.”
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Popes vs. Feminism
“It will redound to the credit of society to make it possible for a mother […] to
devote herself to taking care of her children and educating them in accordance
with their needs, which vary with age. Having to abandon these tasks in order
to take up paid work outside the home is wrong from the point of view of the
good of society and of the family when it contradicts or hinders these primary
goals of the mission of a mother.”
—Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens
1. Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Arcanum, February 10, 1880.
The wife must obey her husband:
“The mutual duties of husband and wife have been defined, and their several rights accurately established.
They are bound, namely, to have such feelings for one another as to cherish always very great mutual love, to
be ever faithful to their marriage vow, and to give one another an unfailing and unselfish help. The husband is
the chief of the family and the head of the wife. The woman, because she is flesh of his flesh, and bone of his
bone, must be subject to her husband and obey him; not, indeed, as a servant, but as a companion, so that her
obedience shall be wanting in neither honor nor dignity. Since the husband represents Christ, and since the
wife represents the Church, let there always be, both in him who commands and in her who obeys, a heavenborn love guiding both in their respective duties. For "the husband is the head of the wife; as Christ is the
head of the Church. . . Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to their husbands in all
things."
2. Leo XIII, Encyclical Arcanum, February 10, 1880.
The authority of the father over his family:
“Not only, in strict truth, was marriage instituted for the propagation of the human race, but also that the lives
of husbands and wives might be made better and happier. This comes about in many ways: by their lightening
each other's burdens through mutual help; by constant and faithful love; by having all their possessions in
common; and by the heavenly grace which flows from the sacrament. Marriage also can do much for the good
of families, for, so long as it is conformable to nature and in accordance with the counsels of God, it has power
to strengthen union of heart in the parents; to secure the holy education of children; to temper the authority of
the father by the example of the divine authority; to render children obedient to their parents and servants
obedient to their masters.”
3. Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae, January 10, 1890.
The husband is the head of his family:
“This is a suitable moment for us to exhort especially heads of families to govern their households.”
4. Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891.
The husband is the head of the wife:
“Secondly, the mutual duties of husband and wife have been defined, and their several rights accurately
established. They are bound, namely, to have such feelings for one another as to cherish always very great
mutual love, to be ever faithful to their marriage vow, and to give one another an unfailing and unselfish help.
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The husband is the chief of the family and the head of the wife. The woman, because she is flesh of his flesh,
and bone of his bone, must be subject to her husband and obey him; not, indeed, as a servant, but as a
companion, so that her obedience shall be wanting in neither honor nor dignity. Since the husband represents
Christ, and since the wife represents the Church, let there always be, both in him who commands and in her
who obeys, a heaven-born love guiding both in their respective duties. For “the husband is the head of the
wife; as Christ is the head of the Church…. Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to
their husbands in all things.”
5. Pius X, “Address to Delegation of the Union of Italian Catholic Ladies,”
April 21, 1909.
Woman’s dependence on man:
“After creating man, God created woman and determined her mission, namely, that of being man’s
companion, helpmeet, and consolation…It is a mistake, therefore, to maintain that woman’s rights are the
same as man’s. Women in war or parliament are outside their proper sphere, and their position there would
be the desperation and ruin of society. Woman, created as man’s companion, must so remain under the power
of love and affection, but always under his power. How mistaken, therefore, is that misguided feminism which
seeks to correct God’s work. It is like a mechanic trying to correct the signs and movements of the universe.
Scripture, and especially the three epistles of St. Paul, emphasizes woman’s dependence on man, her love and
assistance, but not her slavery to him.”
6. Pius X, The Oath Against Modernism, 1910.
Dogma cannot be tailored to meet the preferences of the day:
“I . . . firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the
unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the
errors of this day […] I entirely reject the heretical’ misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from
one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously […] I firmly hold, then, and
shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and
always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that
dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that
the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be
different, may never be understood in any other way.”
7. Benedict XV, Natalis Trecentesimi, December 27, 1917.
Women abandoning their duties to the home:
“With the decline in religion, cultured women have lost their sense of shame along with their piety. Many, in
order to take up occupations ill-befitting their sex, took to imitating men. Others abandoned the duties of the
housewife, for which they were fashioned, to cast themselves recklessly into the current of life.”
8. Benedict XV, "Woman's Mission in Modern Society", in Papal
Pronouncements, 131-132.
Woman’s duty is to her home and family:
“The changed conditions of the times have conferred upon woman functions and rights which were not
allowed her in former times, but no change in the opinions of men, no novelty of circumstances and events,
will ever remove woman, conscious of her mission, from her natural center, which is the family. At the
domestic hearth she is queen.... Hence, it may be justly said that the changed condition of the times have
enlarged the field of woman's activity. An apostolate of woman in the world has succeeded that more intimate
and restricted action which she formerly exercised within the domestic walls, but this apostolate must be
carried out in such a manner as to make it evident that woman, both outside and within the home, shall not
forget that it is her duty, even today, to consecrate her principal cares to the family.”
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9. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930.
Man is the head; woman is the heart:
“This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in
view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and
companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or with
the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons
who in law are called minors, to whom it is not customary to allow free exercise of their rights on account of
their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs. But it forbids that exaggerated liberty
which cares not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body, which is the family, the heart be
separated from the head to the great detriment of the whole body and the proximate danger of ruin. For if the
man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to
claim for herself the chief place in love.”
10. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930.
The great harm to the home when woman seeks outside work:
“If, however, for this purpose, private resources do not suffice, it is the duty of the public authority to supply
for the insufficient forces of individual effort, particularly in a matter which is of such importance to the
common weal, touching as it does the maintenance of the family and married people. If families, particularly
those in which there are many children, have not suitable dwellings; if the husband cannot find employment
and means of livelihood; if the necessities of life cannot be purchased except at exorbitant prices; if even the
mother of the family to the great harm of the home, is compelled to go forth and seek a living by her own
labor; if she, too, in the ordinary or even extraordinary labors of childbirth, is deprived of proper food,
medicine, and the assistance of a skilled physician, it is patent to all to what an extent married people may
lose heart, and how home life and the observance of God’s commands are rendered difficult for them; indeed
it is obvious how great a peril can arise to the public security and to the welfare and very life of civil society
itself when such men are reduced to that condition of desperation that, having nothing which they fear to
lose, they are emboldened to hope for chance advantage from the upheaval of the state and of established
order.”
11. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930.
Women’s false liberty and emancipation:
“This, however, is not the true emancipation of woman, nor that rational and exalted liberty which belongs to
the noble office of a Christian woman and wife; it is rather the debasing of the womanly character and the
dignity of motherhood, and indeed of the whole family, as a result of which the husband suffers the loss of his
wife, the children of their mother, and the home and the whole family of an ever watchful guardian. More than
this, this false liberty and unnatural equality with the husband is to the detriment of the woman herself, for if
the woman descends from her truly regal throne to which she has been raised within the walls of the home by
means of the Gospel, she will soon be reduced to the old state of slavery (if not in appearance, certainly in
reality) and become as amongst the pagans the mere instrument of man.”
He goes on to say:
“This equality of rights which is so much exaggerated and distorted, must indeed be recognized in those
rights which belong to the dignity of the human soul, and which are proper to the marriage contract and
inseparably bound up with wedlock. In such things undoubtedly both parties enjoy the same rights and are
bound by the same obligations; in other things there must be a certain inequality and due accommodation,
which is demanded by the good of the family and the right ordering and unity and stability of home life. As,
however, the social and economic conditions of the married woman must in some way be altered on account
of the changes in social intercourse, it is part of the office of the public authority to adapt the civil rights of the
wife to modern needs and requirements, keeping in view what the natural disposition and temperament of
the female sex, good morality, and the welfare of the family demands, and provided always that the essential
order of the domestic society remain intact, founded as it is on something higher than human authority and
wisdom, namely on the authority and wisdom of God, and so not changeable by public laws or at the pleasure
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of private individuals. These enemies of marriage go further, however, when they substitute for that true and
solid love, which is the basis of conjugal happiness, a certain vague compatibility of temperament. This they
call sympathy and assert that, since it is the only bond by which husband and wife are linked together, when
it ceases the marriage is completely dissolved. What else is this than to build a house upon sand? - a house
that in the words of Christ would forthwith be shaken and collapse, as soon as it was exposed to the waves of
adversity “and the winds blew and they beat upon that house. And it fell: and great was the fall thereof.” On
the other hand, the house built upon a rock, that is to say on mutual conjugal chastity and strengthened by a
deliberate and constant union of spirit, will not only never fall away but will never be shaken by adversity.”
12. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Lux Veritatis, December 25, 1931.
The dignity of motherhood, obedience:
“Our predecessor, Leo XIII of happy memory, says: “Fathers of families indeed have in Joseph a glorious
pattern of vigilance and paternal prudence; mothers have in the most holy Virgin Mother of God a remarkable
example of love and modesty and submission of mind, and of perfect faith; but the children of a family have in
Jesus, who was subject to them, a divine model of obedience, which they may admire, and worship and
imitate.” (Neminem fugit, 1/14/1882) But in a more special manner it is fitting that those mothers of this our
age, who being weary, whether of offspring or of the marriage bond, have the office they have undertaken
degraded and neglected, may look up to Mary and meditate intently on her who has raised this grave duty of
motherhood to such high nobility. For in this way there is hope that they may be led, by the help of grace of
the heavenly Queen, to feel shame for the dishonour done to the great sacrament of matrimony, and may
happily be stirred up to follow after the wondrous praise of her virtues, by every effort in their power.”
13. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931.
It’s an “intolerable abuse” for mothers work outside of the home:
“In the first place, the worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family. That the rest of
the family should also contribute to the common support, according to the capacity of each, is certainly right,
as can be observed especially in the families of farmers, but also in the families of many craftsmen and small
shopkeepers. But to abuse the years of childhood and the limited strength of women is grossly wrong.
Mothers, concentrating on household duties, should work primarily in the home or in its immediate vicinity.
It is an intolerable abuse, and to be abolished at all cost, for mothers on account of the father’s low wage to be
forced to engage in gainful occupations outside the home to the neglect of their proper cares and duties,
especially the training of children. Every effort must therefore be made that fathers of families receive a wage
large enough to meet ordinary family needs adequately. But if this cannot always be done under existing
circumstances, social justice demands that changes be introduced as soon as possible whereby such a wage
will be assured to every adult workingman.”
14. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, March 19, 1937.
Woman is bound to the family and the home:
“Communism is particularly characterized by the rejection of any link that binds woman to the family and the
home, and her emancipation is proclaimed as a basic principle. She is withdrawn from the family and the care
of her children, to be thrust instead into public life and collective production under the same conditions as
man. The care of home and children then devolves upon the collectivity.”
15. Pius XII, "Woman's Duties in Social and Political Life," in Papal
Pronouncements, 43-44.
Work away from the home degrades woman’s true dignity:
“Has woman's position been thereby improved? Equality of rights with man brought with it her abandonment
of the home where she reigned as queen, and her subjection to the same work strain and working hours. It
entails depreciation of her true dignity and the solid foundation of all her rights which is her characteristic
feminine role, and the intimate co-ordination of the two sexes. The end intended by God for the good of all
human society, especially for the family, is lost sight of. In concessions made to woman one can easily see not
16
respect for her dignity or her mission, but an attempt to foster the economic and military power of the
totalitarian state to which all must inexorably be subordinated. To restore as far as possible the honor of the
woman's and mother's place in the home: that is the watchword one hears now from many quarters like a cry
of alarm, as if the world were awakening, terrified by the fruits of material and scientific progress of which it
before was so proud.”
16. Pius XII, “Woman's Duties in Social and Political Life," in Papal
Pronouncements.
Woman’s abandonment of the home leads to misery:
“We see a woman who in order to augment her husband's earnings, betakes herself also to a factory, leaving
her house abandoned during her absence. The house, untidy and small perhaps before, becomes even more
miserable for lack of care. Members of the family work separately in four quarters of the city and with
different working hours. Scarcely ever do they find themselves together for dinner or rest after work still less
for prayer in common. What is left of family life? And what attractions can it offer to children?”
17. Pius XII, “Woman's Duties in Social and Political Life," in Papal
Pronouncements.
A woman’s wage is easily “swallowed up:”
“As to the working classes, forced to earn daily bread, a woman might, if she reflected, realize that not rarely
the supplementary wage which she earns by working outside the house is easily swallowed up by the other
expenses or even by waste which is ruinous to the family budget.... It is clear that woman's task thus
understood cannot be improvised. Motherly instinct is in her a human instinct, not determined by nature
down to the details of its application. It is directed by free will and this in turn is guided by intellect. Hence
comes its moral value and its dignity but also imperfection which must be compensated for and redeemed by
education.”
18. John XXIII, Encyclical Pacem in Terri’s, April 11, 1963.
Single, male income:
"The worker is likewise entitled to a wage that is determined in accordance with the precepts of justice. This
needs stressing. The amount a worker receives must be sufficient, in proportion to available funds, to allow
him and his family a standard of living consistent with human dignity.”
19. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes,
promulgated by Pope Paul VI (1965).
Children need the care of their mother at home:
“The family is a kind of school of deeper humanity. But if it is to achieve the full flowering of its life and
mission, it needs the kindly communion of minds and the joint deliberation of spouses, as well as the
painstaking cooperation of parents in the education of their children. The active presence of the father is
highly beneficial to their formation. The children, especially the younger among them, need the care of their
mother at home. This domestic role of hers must be safely preserved, though the legitimate social progress of
women should not be underrated on that account.”
20. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Inter Insigniores (October 15, 1976).
Distinction between man and woman:
“Could one say that, since Christ is now in the heavenly condition, from now on it is a matter of indifference
whether he be represented by a man or by a woman, since “at the resurrection men and women do not
marry” (Mat.22:30)? But this text does not mean that the distinction between man and women, insofar as it
determines the identity proper to the person, is suppressed in the glorified state; what holds for us also holds
for Christ. It is indeed evident that in human beings the difference of sex exercises an important influence,
much deeper than, for example, ethnic differences: the latter do not affect the human person as intimately as
17
the difference of sex, which is directly ordained both for the communion of persons and for the generation of
human beings. In Biblical Revelation this difference is the effect of God’s will from the beginning: “male and
female he created them” (Gen 1:27).”
21. Pope John Paul II, 1994 Letter to Families:
Mothering is a greater calling than a profession
“The “toil” of a woman who, having given birth to a child, nourishes and cares for that child and devotes herself
to its upbringing, particularly in the early years, is so great as to be comparable to any professional work.”
22. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens (September 14, 1981), §
19.
Mothers should not abandon the home to take up paid work:
“Experience confirms that there must be a social re-evaluation of the mother’s role, of the toil connected with
it, and of the need that children have for care, love and affection in order that they may develop into
responsible, morally and religiously mature and psychologically stable persons. It will redound to the credit
of society to make it possible for a mother—without inhibiting her freedom, without psychological or
practical discrimination, and without penalizing her as compared with other women—to devote herself to
taking care of her children and educating them in accordance with their needs, which vary with age. Having to
abandon these tasks in order to take up paid work outside the home is wrong from the point of view of the
good of society and of the family when it contradicts or hinders these primary goals of the mission of a
mother.”
23. John Paul Il, Encyclical Centesimus Annas (May 1, 1991), no. 8.
A single, male income ought to be sufficient:
"A workman's wages should be sufficient to enable him to support himself, his wife and his children. If through
necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor
will afford no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice."
24. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens (September 14, 1981)
no.19.
Single salary for the “head of the family:”
“Such remuneration can be given either through what is called a family wage—that is, a single salary given to
the head of the family for his work, sufficient for the needs of the family without the other spouse having to take
up gainful employment outside the home- or through other social measures such as family allowances or
grants to mothers devoting themselves exclusively to their families. These grants should correspond to the
actual needs, that is, to the number of dependents for as long as they are not in a position to assume proper
responsibility for their own lives." (Our emphasis in italics)
25. Pope John Paul II’s remarks during a visit to Limerick in 1979:
Nothing a married woman does in life is more important than mothering.
“Do not think that anything you will do in life is more important than to be a good Christian father or mother.
May Irish mothers, young women and girls not listen to those who tell them that working at a secular job,
succeeding in a secular profession, is more important than the vocation of giving life and caring for this life as
a mother. The future of the Church, the future of humanity depend in great part on parents and on the family
life that they build in their homes.”
26. Pope John Paul II February 1989 Letter to the United States Bishops:
Radical feminism degrades the dignity of women.
18
“However, a radical feminism which seeks the rights of women by attacking and denying fundamental, clear
and constant moral teaching does not reflect or promote the full reality and true dignity of women, who have
not only a temporal worth but also an eternal destiny in the Divine Plan. Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the
Church, woman par excellence, embodies that radical dignity of women.”
27. Pope John Paul II’s 1995 Letter to Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, Secretary
General of the Fourth World Conference on Women of the United Nations:
Women should not feel guilty for remaining at home.
“No response to women’s issues can ignore women’s role in the family or take lightly the fact that every new
life is totally entrusted to the protection and care of the woman carrying it in her womb (Cf. John Paul
II Evangelium Vitae, 58). In order to respect this natural order of things, it is necessary to counter the
misconception that the role of motherhood is oppressive to women, and that a commitment to her family,
particularly to her children, prevents a woman from reaching personal fulfilment, and women as a whole
from having an influence in society. It is a disservice not only to children, but also to women and society itself,
when a woman is made to feel guilty for wanting to remain in the home and nurture and care for her children.
A mother’s presence in the family, so critical to the stability and growth of that basic unity of society, should
instead be recognized, applauded and supported in every possible way.”
28. Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (December 21, 2012).
There are only two sexes:
“These words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term ‘gender’ as a new philosophy of
sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and
personally make sense of it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us
by society. The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is
obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a
defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously
given to them, but that they make it for themselves.”
29. Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” (January
19, 2013).
The dignity and beauty of marriage:
“The Christian vision of man is, in fact, a great ‘yes’ to the dignity of persons called to an intimate filial
communion of humility and faithfulness. The human being is not a self-sufficient individual nor an anonymous
element in the group. Rather he is a unique and unrepeatable person, intrinsically ordered to relationships and
sociability. Thus, the Church reaffirms her great ‘yes’ to the dignity and beauty of marriage as an expression of
the faithful and generous bond between man and woman, and her no to ‘gender’ philosophies, because the
reciprocity between male and female is an expression of the beauty of nature willed by the Creator.”
30. Pope Francis, Encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (2015) (No. 155).
There are only two sexes:
“Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize
myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of
another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude
which would seek to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it.”
31. Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (March 19, 2016),
No. 56.
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Respecting how we were created, male or female:
“Yet another challenge is posed by the various forms of an ideology of gender that ‘denies the difference and
reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual differences, thereby
eliminating the anthropological basis of the family. This ideology leads to educational programs and legislative
enactments that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological
difference between male and female. Consequently, human identity becomes the choice of the individual, one
which can also change over time.’ It is a source of concern that some ideologies of this sort, which seek to
respond to what are at times understandable aspirations, manage to assert themselves as absolute and
unquestionable, even dictating how children should be raised. It needs to be emphasized that ‘biological sex
and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated.’ ...It is one thing to be
understanding of human weakness and the complexities of life, and another to accept ideologies that attempt
to sunder what are inseparable aspects of reality. Let us not fall into the sin of trying to replace the Creator. We
are creatures, and not omnipotent. Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we
are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was
created.”
32. Pope Francis, Apostolic Constitution Vultum Dei Quaerere on Women’s
Contemplative Life (June 29, 2016).
On the importance of silence:
“Mary Most Holy can serve as your example. She was able to receive the Word because she was a woman of
silence – no barren or empty silence, but rather one rich and overflowing. The silence of the Virgin Mother was
also full of love, for love always prepares us to welcome the Other and others.”
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Church Fathers/Early Doctors vs.
Feminism
“As long as a woman is for birth and children, she is different from man as body is
from soul.”
—Saint Jerome
1. Polycarp, “The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians,” Bible Translation,
trans. David Robert Palmer, May 2015.
Wives ought to tenderly love their own husbands:
“But the love of money is the root of all evils.” Knowing, therefore, that “as we brought nothing into the world,
so we can carry nothing out,” let us arm ourselves with the armour of righteousness; and let us teach, first of
all, ourselves to walk in the commandments of the Lord. Next, [teach/instruct] your wives in the faith given in
all chastity; and to train up their children in the knowledge and fear of God. Teach the widows to be discreet
as respects the faith of the Lord, praying continually for all, being far from all slandering, evil-speaking, falsewitnessing, love of money, and every kind of evil; knowing that they are the altar of God, that He clearly
perceives all things, and that nothing is hid from Him, neither reasonings, nor reflections, nor any one of the
secret things of the heart.”
2. Saint Augustine of Hippo, De genesi ad litteram, 9, 5-9.
Woman is meant for procreation:
“I don’t see what sort of help woman was created to provide man with, if one excludes procreation. If woman
is not given to man for help in bearing children, for what help could she be? To till the earth together? If help
were needed for that, man would have been a better help for man. The same goes for comfort in solitude. How
much more pleasure is it for life and conversation when two friends live together than when a man and a
woman cohabitate?”
3. Saint Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (New York: Random House,
1993), 487.
The husband is to rule over his wife:
"'And thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' What is said to Cain about his sin, or
about the vicious concupiscence of his flesh, is here said of the woman who had sinned; and we are to
understand that the husband is to rule his wife as the soul rules the flesh." St. Thomas makes a highly similar
body-soul analogy on this the spousal relationship.”
4. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Marriage and Concupiscence 10.
Men should rule over women, nor women over men:
"Nor can it be doubted, that it is more consonant with the order of nature that men should bear rule over
women, than women over men."
21
5. Saint Augustine, Patience, tr.L. Heagher, The Fathers of the Church, Vol.
16 (New York, 1952), chp. 12, pp. 245-246.
On the temptation of Eve and weakness of Adam:
“Skilled in wrongdoing, the Devil had not deserted her [Job's wife] when he had destroyed her sons,
for he had learned with Eve how necessary woman was for the tempter. But this time he did not find another
Adam whom he could entice through a woman.”
6. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians III ch. 5.
Woman was created for birth and children:
“As long as a woman is for birth and children, she is different from man as body is from soul.”
7. Saint John Chrysostom, “From the Archives: The Wife’s Domain: Christian
History Magazine.” Christian History Institute.
Women are assigned to the household:
“Our life is customarily organized into two spheres: public affairs and private matters, both of which were
determined by God. To woman is assigned the presidency of the household, to man, all the business of state,
the marketplace, the administration of justice, government, the military, and all other such enterprises. A
woman is not able to hurl a spear or shoot an arrow, but she can grasp the distaff, weave at the loom; she
correctly disposes of all such tasks that pertain to the household. She cannot express her opinion in a
legislative assembly, but she can express it at home, and often she is more shrewd about household matters
than her husband. She cannot handle state business well, but she can raise children correctly, and children
are our principal wealth. At a glance she can detect the bad behavior of the servants and can manage them
carefully. She provides complete security for her husband and frees him from all such household concerns,
concerns about money, wool working, the preparation of food and decent clothing.”
8. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
114292-114311.
Women should “yield” to their husbands:
“See how again [St. Paul] has exhorted to reciprocity. As in the other case he enjoineth fear and love, so also
doth he here. For it is possible for one who loves even, to be bitter. What he saith then is this. Fight not; for
nothing is more bitter than this fighting when it takes place on the part of the husband toward the wife. For
the fightings which happen between beloved persons, these are bitter; and he shows that it ariseth from great
bitterness, when, saith he, any one is at variance with his own member. To love therefore is the husband's
part, to yield pertains to the other side. If then each one contributes his own part, all stands firm. From being
loved, the wife too becomes loving; and from her being submissive, the husband becomes yielding. And see
how in nature also it hath been so ordered, that the one should love, the other obey. For when the party
governing loves the governed, then everything stands fast."
9. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
120430-120441.
The wife is not to be treated as a slave:
“Though thou shouldest undergo all this, yet wilt thou not, no, not even then, have done anything like Christ.
For thou indeed art doing it for one to whom thou art already knit; but He for one who turned her back on
Him and hated Him. In the same way then as He laid at His feet her who turned her back on Him, who hated,
and spurned, and disdained Him, not by menaces, nor by violence, nor by terror, nor by anything else of the
kind, but by His unwearied affection; so also do thou behave thyself toward thy wife. Yea, though thou see her
looking down upon thee, and disdaining, and scorning thee, yet by thy great thoughtfulness for her, by
affection, by kindness, thou wilt be able to lay her at thy feet. For there is nothing more powerful to sway than
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these bonds, and especially for husband and wife. A servant, indeed, one will be able, perhaps, to bind down
by fear; nay not even him, for he will soon start away and be gone. But the partner of one's life, the mother of
one's children, the foundation of one's every joy, one ought never to chain down by fear and menaces, but
with love and good temper. For what sort of union is that, where the wife trembles at her husband? And what
sort of pleasure will the husband himself enjoy, if he dwells with his wife as with a slave, and not as with a
free-woman? Yea, though thou shouldest suffer anything on her account, not upbraid her; for neither did
Christ do this.”
He goes on to say:
The husband ought to teach his wife:
“Neither, however, let the husband, when he hears these things, on the score of his having the supreme
authority, betake himself to revilings and to blows; but let him exhort, let him admonish her, as being less
perfect, let him persuade her with arguments. Let him never once lift his hand -far be this from a noble spirit-no, nor give expression to insults, or taunts, or revillings; but let him regulate and direct her as being wanting
in wisdom. Yet how shall this be done? If she is instructed in the true riches, in the heavenly philosophy, she
will make no complaints like these. Let him teach her then, that poverty is no evil. Let him teach her, not by
what he says only, but also by what he does. Let him teach her to despise glory; and then his wife will speak of
nothing, and will desire nothing of the kind. Let him, as if he had an image given into his hands to mould, let
him, from that very evening on which he first receives her into the bridal chamber, teach her temperance,
gentleness, and how to live, casting down the love of money at once from the outset, and from the very
threshold.”
10. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
132419.1 32426.
Why the man has authority over his wife:
“If it be asked, what has this to do with women of the present day? It shows that the male sex enjoyed the
higher honor. Man was first formed; and elsewhere he shows their superiority. "Neither was the man created
for the woman, but the woman for the man." (1 Cor. xi. 9.) Why then does he say this? He wishes the man to
have the preeminence in every way; both for the reason given above, he means, let him have precedence, and
on account of what occurred afterwards. For the woman taught the man once, and made him guilty of
disobedience and wrought our ruin. Therefore, because she made a bad use of her power over the man, or
rather her equality with him, God made her subject to husband. "Thy desire shall be to thy husband?" (Gen. in.
16.) This had not been said to her before.”
11. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
132419.1 32426.
For an orderly home the wife must be subject to her husband’s authority:
“But if [the dominion/headship of home] be otherwise, all is turned upside down, and thrown into confusion.
And just as when the generals of an army are at peace one with another, all things are in due subordination,
whereas on the other hand, if they are at variance, everything is turned upside down; so, I say, is it also here.
Wherefore, saith he, "Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord."
12. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
132419.1 32426.
Eve was deceived by a lesser creature and, therefore, “ruined all:”
“Now it is not the same thing to be deceived by a fellow creature, one of the same kind, as by an inferior and
subordinate animal [the devil disguised as the snake in the garden]. This is truly to be deceived. Compared
therefore with the woman, he is spoken of as "not deceived." For she was beguiled by an inferior and subject,
he by an equal. Again, it is not said of the man, that he "saw the tree was good for food," but of the woman, and
that she "did eat, and gave it to her husband": so that he transgressed, not captivated by appetite, but merely
23
from the persuasion of his wife. The woman taught once and ruined all. On this account therefore he saith, let
her not teach.”
13. Saint John Chrysostom, Complete Works of Saint John Chrysostom, loc.
126558-126568.
Women ought to be “keepers of the home:”
"To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good." All these spring from love. They become “good, and keepers
at home," from affection to their husbands. "Obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not
blasphemed." She who despises her husband, neglects also her house; but from love springs great soberness,
and all contention is done away. And if he be a Heathen, he will soon be persuaded; and if he be a Christian, he
will become a better man. Seest thou the condescension of Paul? He who in everything would withdraw us
from worldly concerns, here bestows his consideration upon domestic affairs. For when these are well
conducted, there will be room for spiritual things, but otherwise, they too will be marred. For she who keeps
at home will be also sober, she that keeps at home will be also a prudent manager, she will have no inclination
for luxury, unseasonable expenses, and other such things.”
14. Saint Jerome, Homilies, #66.
The wife is subject to her husband as the Church is to Christ:
“Adam’s rib fashioned into a woman signifies Christ and His Church.”
15. Clement of Alexandria, Writings of Clement of Alexandria: vol. 1 (Nabu,
2012), pp. 310–11.
The woman is to occupy herself as a housekeeper and helpmate to her husband:
“Nor are women to be deprived of bodily exercise. But they are not to be encouraged to engage in wrestling or
running, but are to exercise themselves in spinning, and weaving, and superintending the cooking if
necessary. And they are, with their own hand, to fetch from the store what we require. And it is no disgrace
for them to apply themselves to the mill. Nor is it a reproach to a wife—housekeeper and helpmeet—to
occupy herself in cooking, so that it may be palatable to her husband. And if she shake up the couch, reach
drink to her husband when thirsty, set food on the table as neatly as possible, and so give herself exercise
tending to sound health, the Instructor will approve of a woman like this, who stretches forth her arms to
useful tasks, rests her hands on the distaff, opens her hand to the pool, and extends her wrist to the beggar.
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Scholastics vs. Feminism
“The Philosopher [Aristotle] says that the dominion of women is the death of a
family, as tyrants of a commonwealth."
—Saint Thomas Aquinas
1. Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I q. 92, a.3.
Women should not have authority over man:
“I answer that, it was right for the woman to be made from a rib of man. First, to signify the social union
of man and woman, for the woman should neither use authority over man, and so she was not made from
his head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man’s contempt as his slave, and so she was not made
from his feet.”
2. Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I, q.92, a. 1, ad 2.
Woman is naturally subject to man:
“Good order would have been wanting in the human family if some were not governed by others wiser
than themselves. So, by such a kind of subjection woman is naturally subject to man, because in man the
discretion of reason predominates.”
3. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the
Galatians and Ephesians, trans. ER. Lacher, O.P, and Matthew Lamb
(Lander, WY; Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine,
2012), 318.
Woman is to be subject to man:
“According to the Philosopher [Aristotle] in his Politics, a home must possess three relationships if it is to
be complete, namely, that of the husband and wife, of the father and the children, and that between the
master and his servants. Hence these three are dealt with when the Apostle instructs: First, the husband
and wife; second the father and child, at "children obey" (6:1); third, the servants and masters, at "slaves,
be obedient" (Eph 6:5). The first has two divisions: First, he cautions the women to be subject; Second, he
admonishes the men to love, at "husbands, love".
4. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians, 226227.
Women veil to show their subjection to the authority of man and God:
“We must consider why man should not veil his head, but the woman. This can be taken in two ways:
first, because a veil put on the head designates the power of another over the head of a person existing in
the order of nature. Therefore, the man existing under God should not have a covering over his head to
show that he is immediately subject to God; but the woman should wear a covering to show that besides
God she is naturally subject to another. Hence a stop is put to the objection about servant and subject,
because this subjection is not natural.”
25
5. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the
Philignians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon,
trans. FR. Lacher, OP. (Lander, WY: Aquinas Institute for the Study of
Sacred Doctrine, 2012), 272.
Women should not have dominion over their families:
“The Philosopher [Aristotle] says that the dominion of women is the death of a family, as tyrants of a
commonwealth."
6. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians, 272273.
Eve was tempted because she was “weaker” than Adam:
“But sin is the ceasing to be of a nature. Therefore, coming to be first begins from Adam, and ceasing to be
from the woman. Hence St. Paul says, "Adam was not seduced," i.e., first, because he was the stronger; but
the tempter approached the weaker in order that the stronger be seduced more readily. Here he alludes
to Adam's words in Genesis. For when the Lord rebuked Adam, he said: the woman whom you gave me to
be my companion, gave me of the tree and I did eat (Gen. 3:12). That is why he says, Adam was not
seduced; but the woman.”
7. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians, 437.
Women should be subordinate to their husbands:
“First, St. Paul states what should be entrusted to their care; second, how to exercise care; third, the
reason behind this advice. In regard to the first he says, "having a care of the house": the wisdom of a
woman builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down (Prov 14:1). But in exercising care a
woman should observe two things, for women are easily angered: there is no anger above the anger of a
woman (Sir 25:23); therefore, he says, “gentle". As if to say: let them govern in meekness. The other thing
she must observe is subordination, because when a woman has power she tries to oppose her husband's
plans: a woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband (Sir 25:30). Therefore, he says,
"obedient to their husbands", hence it is said: your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule
over you (Gen 3:16). And this, "that the word of God be not blasphemed," i.e., that their disobedience not
be an occasion for blasphemy.”
8. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians, 437.
Deborah’s learning was through the spirit of prophecy, not public teaching:
“Consequently, he forbids women to teach. Against this, the vision wherewith his mother instructed him
(Prov 31:1), I answer that some teaching is public, and this does not belong to woman, and thus he says in
the church, some is private, and by this a mother teaches her son. But we read that Deborah taught the
people of Israel (Judg. 5:7). The answer is that her learning came through the spirit of prophecy, and the
grace of the Holy Spirit does not distinguish between man and woman; furthermore, she did not preach
publicly, but gave advice under the influence of the Holy Spirit.”
9. Peter Lombard: Libri Quatuor Sententiarum {Sentences}, Bk. 2,
Distinction 18, Ch. 2, from Latin trans. Silano (2007) Bk. 2, p. 77.
Eve was formed from Adam’s side to be his helpmate:
“She [Eve] was formed not from just any part of his body, but from his side, so that it should be shown
that she was created for the partnership of love, lest, if perhaps she had been made from his head, she
should be perceived as set over man in domination; or if from his feet, as if subject to him in servitude.
Therefore, since she was made neither to dominate, nor to serve the man, but as his partner, she had to
be produced neither from his head, nor from his feet, but from his side, so that he would know that she
was to be placed beside himself.”
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Catechisms vs. Feminism
“The husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church”
—The Catechism of Trent
1. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1st ed. (Baronius Press, 2018).
“The Duties of Wives:”
“On the other hand, the duties of a wife are thus summed up by the Prince of the Apostles: Let wives be
subject to their husbands, that if any believe not the word, they may be won without the word by the
conversation of the wives, considering your chaste conversation with fear. Let not their adorning be the
outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel: but the hidden man of the
heart in the incorruptibility of a quiet and meek spirit, which is rich in the sight of God. For after this manner
heretofore the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own
husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. To train their children in the practice of virtue and
to pay particular attention to their domestic concerns should also be especial objects of their attention. The
wife should love to remain at home, unless compelled by necessity to go out; and she should never presume
to leave home without her husband’s consent. Again, and in this the conjugal union chiefly consists, let
wives never forget that next to God they are to love their husbands, to esteem them above all others,
yielding to them in all things not inconsistent with Christian piety, a willing and ready obedience.”
2. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1st ed. (Baronius Press, 2018).
“Instituted by God:”
“The faithful, therefore, are to be taught in the first place that marriage was instituted by God. We read in
Genesis that God created them male and female, and blessed them, saying: "Increase and multiply"; and
also: "It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.,' And a little further on:
But for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam;
and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built a rib
which he took from Adam. into a woman, and brought her to Adam; and Adam said: "This is now bone of
my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man: wherefore
a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh,"
These words, according to the authority of our Lord Himself, as we read in St. Matthew, prove the divine
institution. of Matrimony.”
3. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1st ed. (Baronius Press, 2018).
“Marriage is a Sacrament:”
“That Matrimony is a Sacrament the Church, following the authority of the Apostle, has always held to be
certain and incontestable. In his Epistle to the Ephesians he writes: Men should love their wives as their
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it
and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall adhere to his wife, and they shall
be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the church. Now his expression,
this is a great sacrament, undoubtedly refers to Matrimony, and must be taken to mean that the union of
man and wife, which has God for its Author, is a Sacrament, that is, a sacred sign of that most holy union
that binds Christ our Lord to His Church. That this is the true and proper meaning of the Apostle's words
27
is shown by the ancient holy Fathers who have interpreted them, and by the explanation furnished by the
Council of Trent. It is indubitable, therefore, that the Apostle compares the husband to Christ, and the
wife to the Church; that the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church; and that for
this very reason the husband should love his wife and the wife love and respect her husband. For Christ
loved his church, and gave himself for her; while as the same Apostle teaches, the church is subject to
Christ.”
4. Catechism #305, Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic
Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
Men and women are equal in dignity:
“Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as
human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or "being
woman" is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity
which comes to them immediately from God their Creator. Man and woman are both with one and the
same dignity "in the image of God". In their "being-man" and "being-woman", they reflect the Creator's
wisdom and goodness.”
5. Catechism #1577, Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic
Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
Women cannot be ordained priests:
"Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination." The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of
the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in
their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the
college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes
herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is
not possible.”
6. Catechism #1605, Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic
Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
Woman was created to be man’s “helpmate:”
“Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man
should be alone." The woman, "flesh of his flesh," 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. "Therefore a man leaves his father
and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The Lord himself shows that this
signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in
the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."
7. Catechism #2333, Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic
Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
Men and women were created to be complimentary (not the same):
“Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and
spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing
of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”
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Short Replies to Common Feminist
Objections:
“It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they
serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”
—G.K Chesterton
1. Are single women permitted to work?
Yes. The Catholic Church teaches that single women, women religious, widows, and women with severely ill
husbands may work to provide for themselves or their families.
The distinction is that a married woman, under normal circumstances, must “love to remain at home.” Recall
the Catechism of Trent on the matter:
“The wife should love to remain at home, unless compelled by necessity to go out; and she should never
presume to leave home without her husband’s consent. Again, and in this the conjugal union chiefly consists,
let wives never forget that next to God they are to love their husbands, to esteem them above all others, yielding
to them in all things not inconsistent with Christian piety, a willing and ready obedience.”
2. Doesn’t JP2’s Letter to women allow for working wives?
Catholic working wives often use JP2’s Letter to Women as a hall pass to excuse working outside of the home.
Here is an excerpt from the letter, Pope John Paul II, Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women (Washington, D.C.:
United States Catholic Conference, 1995):
“Thank you, women who work! You are present and active in every area of life—social, economic, cultural,
artistic, and political. In this way you make an indispensable contribution to the growth of a culture which
unites reason and feeling, to a model of life ever open to the sense of ‘mystery’, to the establishment of
economic and political structures ever more worthy of humanity.”
Note how JP2 never says “married women,” and he never specifies “work outside the home.” Presumably, he
means single women. Moreover, even if we assumed that JP2 were violating the Catholic teaching, it should
be obvious to contumacious advocates for working wives that, in this case, JP2 would be supplanting all the
evidence provided above (Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium) with one solitary pope’s private opinion.
Popes are permitted to hold private opinions—even erroneous ones. A pope’s private opinion does not
supplant Holy Scripture, Magisterium, or Tradition. In other words, the Holy word of God is timeless and has
a higher weight than a mere letter from a Pope. But again, JP2 doesn’t say what they say he says, anyway.
3. Doesn’t Scripture specifically mention working women?
Yes, it does, but are the real questions are:
• Are the women mentioned “working” in the Bible married or single women?
• Is the “work” being referenced paid work outside of the home or rather chores, crafts, trades, being
done inside the home (or its near vicinity)?
29
Let’s examine the following verses that seem to mention “working women”:
“The Bible mentions women who worked in commercial trade (Prov. 31:16a, 24; Acts 16:14), in agriculture
(Josh. 15:17-19; Ruth 2:8; Prov. 31:16b), as millers (Exod. 11:5; Matt. 24:41), as shepherds (Gen. 29:9; Exod.
2:16), as artisans, especially in textiles (Exod. 26:1 NIV; Tobit 2:11ff NRSV; Acts 18:3), as perfumers and cooks
(1 Sam. 8:13), as midwives (Exod. 1:15ff), as nurses (Gen. 35:8; Exod. 2:7; 2 Sam. 4:4; 1 Kings 1:4), as
domestic servants (Acts 12:13, etc), and as professional mourners (Jer. 9:17). Women could also be patrons
(Acts 16:40; Rom. 16:1-2), leaders (Judg. ch 4-5; 2 Sam. 20:16) and ruling queens (1 Kings 10:1ff; Acts 8:27).
One Bible woman even built towns (1 Chron. 7:24).” (Working Women in the NT: Priscilla, Lydia and Phoebe,
Marg Mowczko (blog), November 1, 2011.)
Keep in mind that these Scriptural verses do not necessarily describe married working women—widows,
single women, and women with disabled husbands are permitted to work. Also, the everyday word used in
Scripture for “wife” also means “woman” in Greek (γυνή) and in Hebrew (‫)ִאָשּׁה‬, so again, marital status is
difficult to ascertain each instance a working “woman” is mentioned in Scripture (unless her husband is
specifically mentioned).
Scripture, however, is very consistent about the proper role of married women. That is, that they are to tend
the affairs of the home under their husband’s headship. Further, many of the tasks mentioned in Scripture as
“work” are feminine chores done around the home, farm, or homestead. Naturally, such chores are permitted
by Scripture since the married woman is completing them within the “vicinity of the home.”
4. Wasn’t Saint Gianna a working mother?
Keep in mind that not everything a saint does in his or her lifetime is “saintly.” Catholic history is riddled with
men and women who learned from their mistakes to later become inspirational saints. Such is the case with
Saint Gianna Molla.
Many people are unaware that Saint Gianna stopped working during her last pregnancy because her work life
was overshadowing her home life. According to her husband in his book: Pietro Molla, Elio Guerriero, and
James G. Colbert, Saint Gianna Molla: Wife, Mother, Doctor (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2004):
“Already during our engagement, Gianna had asked me about continuing her profession at least as long as her
obligations as wife and above all as mother allowed it. I did not oppose that because I knew well how
enthusiastically she practiced medicine, how attached she was to her patients. Later, by mutual agreement,
we made the decision that she would stop at the birth of our fourth child. In this understanding, she
continued her profession until her last confinement.”
This is confirmed in Saint Gianna’s biography: Giuliana Pelucchi, Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla: A Woman’s
Life, 1922-1962 (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2002):
“After returning to Ponte Nuovo, Gianna tried to reorganize her life, wanting to find time for everything:
Pietro and her children, the management of her household, and her medical practice. Pietro saw how busy she
always was and asked if she would consider giving up her practice. The look Gianna gave him in response,
however, discouraged Pietro from asking again. ‘I promise you,’ she told him one day, ‘that when we have one
more child, I will stop my medical work and will be a full-time mother, even though that will be difficult for
me.’”
In other words, Saint Gianna Molla eventually accepted she had to give up her employment to be a “full-time
mother,” but it’s evident that she took far too long to do so, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church
disclosed above. This doesn’t mean she’s not a saint.
5. What about women “warriors” like Saint Joan of Arc or Judith?
Saint Joan of Arc never fought in a battle. However, she was an inspiration for the men who did fight.
30
“While commander of the French army, Joan of Arc didn't participate in active combat. Though remembered
as a fearless warrior and considered a heroine of the Hundred Years' War between France and England, Joan
never actually fought in battle or killed an opponent.” (7 Surprising Facts about Joan of Arc, Jennie Cohen,
(February 26, 2021). History.com)
Moving onto to Judith, Judith also never fought in a battle. Rather, she had to use her “feminine wiles” in
combination with man’s weakness to sneak into the Canaanite general Sisera’s tent—while he was sleeping
and drunk—to kill him.
History is riddled with such women, dissimulating and concocting creative methods to murder men due to
their generally weaker physique and their generic inability to physically overpower males.
6. What about mutual submission? Aren’t the husband and wife called to be
mutually submissive to each other?
Consider this article, Does Ephesians 5 Teach Mutual Submission, from The Council on Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood by Denney Burke, August 21, 2019:
“Submit to one another in the fear of Christ, wives, to your own husbands as to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:21-22 In Ephesians 5:22-25, Paul directs wives to “submit” to their husbands,
and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Traditionally, this text has been
understood to teach that a husband should be the leader of his family and that a wife should
follow the leadership of her husband.
A newer interpretation, however, says that the command in verse 21 shows the older view to
be wrong-headed. For in verse 21, Paul says, “submit to one another in the fear of Christ.”
According to this view, the “one another” clearly makes submission a mutual obligation for
husbands and wives. In other words, Paul is calling for mutual submission. Husbands must
submit to their wives, and wives must submit to their husbands in the sense that they serve
one another and put one another’s needs before the other. It’s mutual submission because
the service they render to one another is completely reciprocal. This view of mutual
submission means that a husband is not in fact called to be the leader of his family nor is a
wife called to follow her husband’s leadership.
So which interpretation is right? How is the word of God teaching us to order our families? Is
the husband supposed to be the leader, or does the Bible designate no leader? I think a closer
look shows that the mutual submission interpretation has misunderstood what Paul means
by “submit to one another.”
The Greek word translated as “submit” is hupotasso. It is a word that denotes ordered
relationships, especially where one party submits to another. Nowhere in the New
Testament does this word ever get softened to mean serving someone else or putting their
needs first (see BDAG). While those are good things, that simply is not what the word means.
In the New Testament, the word always indicates authority and submission (cf. Titus 2:9; 1
Pet. 2:18). And of course, that meaning is confirmed in Ephesians 5:21 by the immediate
context which clarifies, “As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their
husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:24).
The word translated “one another” is the Greek term allelois, and its use in the New
Testament often has nothing to do with individual, reciprocal action. Here are some
examples:1 Corinthians 7:5, “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time
that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again lest Satan tempt you
because of your lack of self-control.” 1 Corinthians 11:33, “So then, my brethren, when you
come together to eat, wait for one another.” Matthew 24:10, “And at that time many will fall
31
away and will deliver up one another and hate one another.” Luke 12:1, “Under these
circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they
were stepping on one another.” Acts 19:38, “The courts are in session . . . let them bring
charges against one another.” Revelation 6:4 “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one.
Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To
him was given a large sword.”
In each one of these texts, the term “one another” is used, and it is clear that reciprocal action
is not in view. One party is performing some action and another party is receiving the action.
Take for example the phrase “kill each other” in Revelation 6:4. Clearly, this text is not
teaching that two or more individuals kill each other at the same time. No, the killing
involved one party taking action against another. The context makes that clear. Just as the
“one anothers” in the texts above would make no sense at all as reciprocal actions, so it is
also in Ephesians 5:21. The context makes it clear that Paul uses “one another” in the nonreciprocal sense, for the very next verse specifies who is to submit to whom, “wives to your
own husbands as to the Lord” (v. 22).
The command to submit is not directed to the husbands. In the Greek text, the verb for
submit appears in verse 21 but not in verse 22. Verse 22 specifies what this submission is
supposed to look like: “Wives to your own husbands.” When Paul begins instructing the
husbands in verse 25, he moves to a totally different verb–love. There is no specific
command to the husbands to submit. Only the wives receive such instruction.
So, what is the text teaching? It teaches that husbands are to love their wives self-sacrificially
and that wives are to follow the leadership of their husbands. Paul says this relationship is
patterned after Christ’s relationship to His church.
Ephesians 5:23-25 “The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the
church, . . . as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands
in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her.”
The pattern for a husband’s headship is Christ’s headship over his bride, the church. There is
no reciprocal submission between Christ and his bride; neither is there to be such between
husbands and their wives. Are there mutual obligations for husbands and wives? Yes. Is
there mutual submission in the reciprocal sense? No. On the contrary, Paul calls on wives to
affirm and support the headship of their husbands, and he calls on husbands to love their
wives self-sacrificially.
7. If women are not permitted to teach, then what about the women
doctors of the Church, Saint Edith Stine, or the apparitions of Our Lady?
Did you know that the Church first declared any women “doctors of the Church” only beginning four or five
years after the close of the council?
• Theresa of Avila & Catherine of Siena were both elevated to Doctors of the Church in 1970 by Pope
Paul VI
• Theresa of Lisieux was elevated in 1997 by JP2
• Hildegard of Bingen was elevated in 2012 by Benedict XVI
Regardless of when these great Catholic women were elevated, they did not teach in the same sense as the
male Doctors of the Church taught. The female doctors of the Church taught privately (mainly through
intimate written correspondences). It was later that the Church elevated their intimate correspondences.
Remember, single women—as in the case of each female doctor of the Church—are permitted to teach
women. Saint Edith Stine, a Discalced Carmelite nun, would fall into that category. The Church bears the
prudential discretion to elevate subsequently these private teachings or epistolary urgings.
Conversely, the male doctors of the Church pontificated, preached, taught, and wrote publicly to crowds.
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Further, many people wonder if the apparitions of Our Lady qualify as public instances of women teaching or
evangelizing. Akin to the female Doctors of the Church, Our Lady only spoke in private settings to
individuals—it was the Church who later elevated what was spoken or written in private to be read by the
public. Again, only male doctors of the Church were licitly able to preach the Gospel to crowds.
Another objection to women being forbidden from public teaching centers around Deborah, a prophet of the
Old Testament. Wasn’t she a public teacher in the Jewish tradition? Recall what Aquinas says in the
Commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians, 437: “I answer that some teaching is public, and this does not
belong to woman, and thus he says in the church, some is private, and by this a mother teaches her son. But
we read that Deborah taught the people of Israel (Judg.5:7). The answer is that her learning came through the
spirit of prophecy, and the grace of the Holy Spirit does not distinguish between man and woman;
furthermore, she did not preach publicly, but gave advice under the influence of the Holy Spirit.”
8. All the evidence you have provided against feminism was what was
expected of biblical women “back then,” but times have changed.
The answer is very simple: Scripture’s requirement doesn’t change to befit the preferences of the day; unless
it stipulates that a specific proposition is time-sensitive, it is presumed to be eternal.
9. What if my husband prefers that I should run the household or gives me
permission to work?
Even a Catholic head of the household, if able-bodied, cannot give his wife permission to do what Scripture,
Magisterium, Tradition has forbidden. Although the husband is the head of the home, God is still the ultimate
authority of the husband.
10. Wasn’t Eve being created from Adam’s side a sign of her equality with
him, not her submission to him?
You are confusing equality of rank with that of dignity. The Church teaches that all persons enjoy the same
dignity (i.e. how much God loves us), but that we do not share the same equality of rank. For example, the
Pope and your parish priest enjoy the same dignity, however they do not share the same rank. Your parish
priest must submit himself to the authority of the Pope. The same principle applies to husbands and wives.
Concerning Eve being made from Adam’s rib—not his head or feet—please recall the words of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, ST I q. 92, a.3.:
“I answer that, it was right for the woman to be made from a rib of man. First, to signify the social union of
man and woman, for the woman should neither use authority over man, and so she was not made from his
head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man’s contempt as his slave, and so she was not made from his
feet.”
This follows upon scores of insistences by Thomas that such a wife is ranked beneath her husband, in nature
and in the family. For Eve to be of equal rank to Adam she would have to have been made from Adam’s
head—which destroys the logic of “headship” since there cannot be two heads. Not only was woman created
from and for man, but she was named by him as we have read in Genesis 2: 22-23: “And the rib, which the Lord
God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
11. Don’t newer catechisms replace older ones?
New Catechisms do NOT abrogate older Catechisms (Trent) unless a new Catechism clarifies an older
teaching or Catechism. If an older teaching or catechism is not clarified by a newer Catechism (i.e. the “Duties
of Wives” in Trent is not clarified in any newer Catechisms), then the previous teaching stands.
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The newer Catechism states: “This catechism is NOT intended to replace the local Catechisms duly approved
by ecclesiastical authorities, the diocesan Bishops and the Episcopal Conferences especially if they have been
approved by the Apostolic See.”
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Catholicism vs. Feminism: Just the Sources
Timothy and Stephanie Gordon compiled the best sources to combat feminism in both of their anti-feminist books:
The Case for the Patriarchy (Sophia Press, 2021) and Ask Your Husband (self-published, 2022).
This pamphlet is intended to assist all who wish to competently battle the diabolical notion that one can be a Catholic
and a feminist. In this pamphlet you will find 74 references to dispel the myth that one can be a “Catholic Feminist.”
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72 Scriptural references
32 papal references
15 Church doctor/early Church Fathers references
7 scholastic references
11 short replies to common feminist objections
Contact Us
Timothy & Stephanie Gordon
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Rules for Retrogrades, 2022
Timothy & Stephanie Gordon
PO Box #18488
Hattiesburg, MS 39404
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