Beyond Womanhood The feminine genius of womanhood is more than a trademark

Following a recent viral speech which touched on many sensitive issues, I found myself overwhelmed with a bar-rage of reactions and messaging. Knowing that I work for the Church, some reached out to me to ask my thoughts. This prompted me to investigate the matter more closely.

What I concluded disappointed those on both “sides” of the issue. To me, the issue at hand was not about supporter condemnation or even the particular speech at hand. It was and is far bigger than that. What many in our society are genuinely grappling with is what is means to be a wife, mother and a woman, in general.

In the Catholic sphere, these are even more pressing questions as we realize the eternal weight of all such decisions. Our vocation matters and get-ting it “right” weighs on us heavily. We desperately seek guidance when dealing with the delicate matters of man, woman, parenthood and childrearing and this is the arena where commentators enter to offer guidance on how precisely to get it “right.”

On the one hand, we have those who advocate for becoming a “girl boss,” having it all and juggling career, marriage and children. On the other, we have the “domestic goddess,” baking her own bread while keeping a perfectly orderly house, and everything in-between. To be clear, all of these can be good, to a certain extent. This is not a condemnation of any of these choices. The problem, rather, is when strong opinions on either side of the spectrum lead to what I call, “Womanhood™,” with each side possessing its own set of tenets and claims to definitive authority.

Within Catholic circles, a particular brand can be easily theologized, even if not directly in alignment with what our Church teaches. More than ever, as Catholics, we must be able to hone in on the beautiful truths about woman that our Church gives us. Only in doing so, can we effectively navigate the external chatter and be able to discern what must be received and what must be discarded.

Perhaps a good place to start is in looking to the history of our Church and the many female saints who are held upas paradigms of holiness. To name a few, we have women such as St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Joan of Arc, St. Edith Steinand St. Gianna Molla (not with standing our Blessed Mother, Queen of the Angels and Saints!).

These women are striking in their uniqueness and evade any particular “box” or category. They are united, how-ever, in their ability to discern God’s call for them and to live according to their particular missions, as mediated by their gifts and talents. They exemplify what St. John Paul II called, “the feminine genius.”

Though difficult to define, JPII explained that women possess certain gifts that enable them to prioritize human beings over “things” and external accomplishments. This ability to focus on the centrality of the human person is ex-pressed particularly through gifts such as receptivity, sensitivity and maternity, to name a few. Certainly, this does not mean that men do not or should not cultivate such qualities, but, rather, that women most naturally and often effortlessly embody these qualities since they are writ-ten into the very fabric of womanhood.

A woman’s very body is created with the capacity to receive and to bear new life itself. While physical motherhood perhaps most readily comes to mind, this ability to give life is not simply restricted to those blessed with children. Rather, all women are called to exercise maternity proper to their particular state in life. Just as our Blessed Mother discerned the needs of the couple at Cana, so too are women called to be attentive to the needs of the human person and to bring the light of Christ into the various circumstances of everyday life.

The contribution of women, in fact, is so vital to society that Pope St. Paul VI once stated that “women impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.”

Pope St. John Paul II further echoed and emphasized this sentiment by claiming that “without the contribution of women, society is less alive, culture impoverished, and peace less stable...” Far from reducing women to certain roles in society, both St. John Paul II and St. Paul VI emphasize the vital importance of the feminine genius in shaping the whole of culture.

Women in relationship with Christ are able to bring their uniquely feminine gifts into a world which desperately needs holy examples of femininity. Furthermore, and more fundamentally, the gifts of woman are needed in order to make those in our world more seen, known and understood for who they are irrespective of what they do.
To bring us back to our earlier question of what it means to be a woman, or more specifically, a Catholic woman in 21st century society, we must move beyond the categories imposed by superficial and reductive discussions from secular and (even some Catholic) media and get to the heart of the matter.

As women, we are given the task of discerning how best to use our gifts for the good of humanity as so many saints and holy women have done before us. We must realize that our contributions to society may look different and that that is ok. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to Catholic womanhood, provided that we are faithful to our particular vocations.

God has created us uniquely and it is through our relationship with him that we are able to discern how we may best flourish. On a personal note, I have often been struck by the thought that we tend to devalue the small, hidden contributions of both women and men in favor of “greater” things.

The quiet sufferings of a mother suffering from sleeplessness, for instance, are not inferior to those of someone in amore publicly influential role. However, the opposite is also true. Catholic women are not called to aspire to hiddenness if they are called to do something more public. A friend of mine once told me that “some people have public gifts and some people have private gifts.” Both are needed to build up the kingdom of God and no suffering or sacrifice is wasted.

It all depends on one’s particular mission from God. We must move be-yond Womanhood™ and remember that both Therese of Lisieux and Joan of Arcare saints experiencing the joy of heaven. They had the courage to embrace their unique callings and our world has been forever changed. For all of the women reading this, I pray that you are able To do the same, for as St. Paul VI states, “itis for you to save the peace of the world.”

Cristina D’Averso-Collins serves as diocesan director, Office of Family Life.