Circe Alice and the Wonderyes

Where and Why Feminism Fails in the Catholic Church
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-6951-2135-9
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 222 Seiten

The Catholic Church is the oldest male-dominated institution in the world - and feminism has so far had little impact on it. This book addresses the uncomfortable question: Why? Feminists such as Alice Schwarzer have shaped generations, broken taboos, and sparked debates. But ironically, it is precisely where women around the world are still structurally disenfranchised - in the Catholic Church - that mainstream feminism has remained surprisingly silent. "Alice and the Wonderyes" exposes the points of rupture: abortion, celibacy, women's ordination, sexual morality. It shows how reform movements such as Maria 2.0 dare to rebel - and where they are blocked. And it asks the pressing question: What would have to happen for feminism to finally wrest power from the Church, which has for centuries denied women control over their bodies, sexuality, and lives? Reflective, controversial, and enduringly effective - the arguments of (questioning) Critical Feminism are a call for change for all who believe that neither God nor society should be bound by patriarchal structures.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Circe, Eureka

Leseproben

Foreword and introduction: Tradition versus emancipation – feminism and the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, as a tradition-steeped institution, and the feminist movement, as a driving force for emancipation, have always been locked in a tense conflict. While one side clings to traditional principles, the other demands fundamental changes in favor of equality. This conflict came to a head in Germany in the early 1970s. A defining example was the conflict over the abortion paragraph §218 StGB (German Criminal Code), which marked an early culmination point between conservative church values and feminist demands.

Background: Tradition and emancipation in conflict

In 1971, 374 women – including prominent voices such as Senta Berger and Romy Schneider – publicly admitted in magazine that they had had illegal abortions. With this collective breaking of a taboo, they demanded the abolition of §218 and confidently proclaimed their right to self-determination. The campaign, initiated by Alice Schwarzer, among others, and based on the French model, struck like a bolt of lightning: it signaled the beginning of the new women's movement in the Federal Republic of Germany. It suddenly became clear that many women were no longer willing to make reproductive decisions in secret— , they brought the conflict over the right to their own bodies into the public eye.

The backlash was not long in coming and showed how deeply society was influenced by conservative church values at the time. Although the social-liberal government passed a moderate abortion law in 1974, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned this liberalization in February 1975. In the historic ruling – made by an all-male panel of judges – six constitutional judges declared the decriminalization of abortion in the first twelve weeks to be unconstitutional, citing the state's duty to protect unborn life.

From the perspective of the women's movement, this verdict confirmed their worst fears: the male decision-makers seemed determined "to prevent women's self-determination in the question of motherhood at all costs."

In fact, the only woman on the court, Judge Wiltraut Rupp-von Brünneck, voted against the majority opinion—a symbolic detail.

Conservative forces and church representatives, on the other hand, expressly welcomed the ruling. They emphasized that the state should not grant the right to "kill unborn life" and saw the decision as a victory for the duty to protect life required by .

Thus, even in this early conflict, two sets of values collided head-on: on the one hand, the call for women's autonomy over their own bodies; on the other, the appeal to divine or constitutional commandments to protect life. The conflict over Section 218 thus became a beacon: a beacon was originally a signal fire or a sign visible from afar that announced or triggered something significant. In a figurative sense refers to a dramatic, stirring sign or an event with a signaling effect that makes it clear The action of the 374 women in 1971 ("We have had abortions") was often described as a particularly exemplary beacon for the new women's movement—in other words, as a starting signal that made an entire movement visible. But political events such as the "Prague Spring" or the opening of the Berlin Wall are also sometimes described as beacons of profound social upheaval.

Here, it exemplified the gap between tradition and emancipation – a gap that continues to shape the relationship between the Church and feminism to this day.

Feminism and the Church: Ideological Fronts?

In this climate, modern feminism continued to take shape and gain strength. The second women's movement of the 1970s defined itself not least in opposition to what it perceived as patriarchal authority – and for many, the Catholic Church embodied precisely such authority. Feminist theses and demands – from gender equality and sexual self-determination to the questioning of traditional gender roles – were met by a Catholic Church that unwaveringly asserted its claim to moral authority. Both sides claimed to stand up for fundamental values: on the one hand, feminists who championed universal human rights, equality, and self-determination; on the other, the Church, which invoked centuries-old doctrines, divine order, and ethical principles. This confrontation between two worldviews inevitably led to ideological divisions, some of which continue to this day.

To this day, the Catholic Church remains a male-dominated institution, both structurally and doctrinally. Women are largely excluded from positions of power in the hierarchical order. To this day, Rome does not tolerate any female priests; the ordained ministries are reserved for men alone. This ban on the ordination of women is presented by the Church's magisterium as an immutable dogma, with reference to the fact that Jesus only called male apostles, which is why the Church has "no authority" to ordain women. For feminists, however, this is precisely a core criticism: the lack of women's participation in offices and decision-making power reveals a patriarchal power imbalance that is incompatible with both modern principles of equality and the principle of equal human dignity. The situation is similar when it comes to questions of sexual morality: the feminist movement has always propagated the right of women (and of humans in general) to sexual self-determination – whether in terms of contraception, abortion, extramarital sexuality, or the acceptance of same-sex love. The Catholic Church counters this with its traditional sexual ethics, which classify sex outside of marriage, and homosexual acts as sinful, among other...