Crosses to bear

Today's treeware effort was really a synthesis of recent blog posts about International Women's Day, the Vatican's disapproval of a 9 year old girl getting an abortion after being impregnated with twins "allegedly'' by her abusive stepfather, the Iranian women sentenced to be stoned to death, the Syrian woman in Saudi Arabia who faces the lash ... you know, all the fun stuff ''the weaker sex'' enjoys.

Here it is, in toto, with linky goodness for the doubters over at The Star's main website comments section.

Yesterday, a reader emailed me a "terrorism awareness" video titled "The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam."

It depicts the now much-publicized horrors of repressive regimes and tribal ways in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan – in order to justify invasions and war for oil, territory and other material gain on the broken backs of women who are stoned, whipped, beheaded, mutilated and murdered "for honour."

Never mind that none of these swivel chair soldiers gave a rat's ass about women's rights in these and other places – including our "friends'' and "allies'' Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – before George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror."

It took female journalists such as Canada's Sally Armstrong, then editor of Homemakers magazine, and filmmaker Shelley Saywell to put out the word.

And still, the cry goes out, whenever these pajamahadeen want to attack Islam, where are the feminists? Where are the moderate Muslims to denounce these heinous crimes?

Yes, well, it's been that kind of week, again, in the world of women.

In Iran, eight women now face death by stoning, a torturous form of execution that can last half an hour or more.

This is especially discriminatory not only because women have fewer rights to begin with – and therefore are more likely to be found guilty of "crimes" – but also because they get buried deeper in the ground for the stoning than men do, with less chance of escape.

You see, if you can get out of the hole they dig for you, you can make a clean getaway.

Also this week, in Saudi Arabia, a 75-year-old Syrian woman has been sentenced to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation for unlawful contact with two young men reportedly delivering bread to her.

Women there, you see, are legally "chattel," like furniture and livestock, and may not mingle with unrelated men without the presence of a male family member.

But before you whip yourself into a lather over all that, here's a little-known fact from UNICEF: Every year, 500,000 women die in childbirth, mostly because they have no choice, no contraception, and no access to reproductive medicine.

Thanks to the dictates of the Vatican, many of these women are Catholic.

Case in point: In Brazil last week, the doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old girl who was pregnant with twins after years of "alleged" sexual abuse by her stepfather, were, along with the child's mother, excommunicated.

The rapist remains a good Catholic, according to the Vatican.

"It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated," Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told the Italian daily La Stampa.

"Life must always be protected."

Never mind that the life of a child, whose body would not bear one fetus, let alone two, was at stake. Never mind the emotional and physical trauma she has already, and would have in future, endured. Never mind that, as she told authorities, she had been abused, along with her disabled sister, since the age of 6.

According to the Church, she is but a mere fetus colony who, by the way, could not have used contraception even if she wanted to because, the Pope says nope to that, too.

Said Saint Augustine: "Any woman who acts in such a way that she cannot give birth to as many children as she is capable of, makes herself guilty of that many murders."

So where are the moderate Roman Catholics to denounce these heinous crimes?

No wonder International Women's Day this year rated only 23 hours.

For the record, I searched a number of Catholic websites and came up short on statements.

Needless, to say, I got a lot of mail on this one, most of it positive.

Here's my favourite:

From: Carter J. Lowry [mailto:carter@netscape.ca]
Sent: Wed 3/11/2009 12:47 PM
To: Zerbisias, Antonia
Subject: Re: shame

  I have stopped reading the dribble that you spew.
  You and all the other feminists out there need to go home, have a baby, and get into the kitchen and do what GOD intended you to do.
  Girly, your opinions and those of your sisters just have no relevance to homemaking, which is what you should be doing!!!
  Serve your man and kids and you will have a fulfilling life. Stop the bitching, really, noone cares.

By the way, he is totally serious. This was only one missive in our exchange.

Nice to know that what I write is still relevant.

Finally, I thought I would include what the ''pro-life'' people think of the case in Brazil:

For the Church life is sacred. In addition to killing the unborn children, abortion hurts the women, and in this case, for the girl who undergoes the procedure, it has physical, psychological and spiritual consequences.

The poor girl already went through the trauma of rape, now they put her through the trauma of abortion.  Abortion was much more dangerous to her health than birth.

Thank you Dr. Fetus Fetishist, who is intimately acquainted with the small physique and well-being of this child -- and knows so much better than her mother, Brazilian health officers and medical practitioners on the spot.

OOPSY DAISY DATE: Almost forgot this letter from the editor of the Catholic education site Tomorrow's Trust.

From: John Borst [mailto:jborst@drytel.net]
Sent: Wed 3/11/2009 9:45 AM
To: Zerbisias, Antonia
Subject: Where are the moderate Catholics

Antonia,

They are out there (or is it here)! There are in fact lots of them.
Unfortunately, many of them are not as vociferous as the religious pro-life
wing nuts. And neither do they have the media's attention like the Vatican
can command.

One site trying to be moderate and do something about it is the education
site Tomorrow's Trust: A Review of Catholic Education.  I know lots of
Catholics who are trying to voice their opposition and how we stay with the
church some days is nothing short of a miracle.  If we leave, however,
nothing will change; it will only get worse.

Keep up the good work.  As my friend who sent me the link to your piece
said:

...the Star today (by Antonia Zerbisias) just s***ting on the Vatican for
excommunicating  a mother and doctor in Brazil for cooperating on an
abortion on a 9-year-old made pregnant by sexual abuse... and leaving the
sire as a Catholic "in good standing."  Plus lots of other fair-game
comments.

John Borst, editor, Tomorrow's Trust

UPPITY WOMEN DATE: Thanks to Mirabile Dictu, this excellent account of the Brazil case by a feminist theologian.

My sadness in this case comes not only from what has been done in the name of God to people who are living a nightmare, but from what might have been done to help. Sexual abuse, especially incest, is hard to stop. But once perpetrated it need not be made worse by ecclesial sanction.

A proper pastoral response would include: support for the pregnant child as she lives through an abortion; care for the mother who is responsible for the child and the rest of the family; protection for the family from the stepfather whose arrest may trigger backlash behavior; sensitive work with the other daughter who has also been sexually abused; HIV and venereal disease testing for the girls and the mother; economic support for the family; counseling for the family, the community, even the neighbors and parishioners who have been affected by this trauma; prayer and pastoral attention, including reception of the sacraments according to the family’s wishes. They need a spiritual community more than ever. Instead they got excommunication. “Is there anyone among you, who if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?” (Matthew 7:9). Apparently there are several in Rome and Brazil.

Excommunication is a recognition that a person has acted in a way that violates the Roman Catholic Church’s rules. In the case of abortion, it is latae sententaite, that is, the “crime” is so serious that the person incurs it automatically rather than having anyone impose it. Much ink has spilled over this matter through the centuries, but wouldn’t you think in a case as tragic as the Brazilian one that good taste—to say nothing of human compassion—would have zipped the lips of the bishops? We teach children that it is better to say nothing than something hurtful; bishops, apparently, are exempt from common courtesy.

Meanwhile ...

Roman Catholic and Orthodox Jewish officials in New York are mounting an intense lobbying effort to block a bill before the State Legislature that would temporarily lift the statute of limitations for lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of children.

Comments

[Michelle]

Bravo!