Comments on: Where Have All the Real Men Gone?

By: Guest

Guest — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 06:34:01 +0000

RE: Wild at Heart
Wonderful book that takes Dr Mango’s great article to a more detailed level. I am currently reading The Way of The wild Heart, which is a continuation of the former. If you, as a man would like to learn how to overcome the shortcomings of your masculinity, up-bringing and heal the wounds left by our fathers, please read these books.
They will allow you to be a man!

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:34:01 +0000

Talking about Christianity being counter cultural … I love Christ’s teaching of the Beatitudes. Through Jesus’s grace may we all seek to follow them in this our fallen world.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
10 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

GK – God is good!

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:55:01 +0000

I love what Protect the Rock said — our society as a whole has lost respect for the dignity of the individual person, created in the image of God. It is a a culture of death so pervasive that it influences our most personal decisions about our partners, our families, our very gender identity. We keep asking ourselves what mold we fit into instead of using the discernment process to find the path and role God has planned for each of us. Christianity is counter-cultural, and in this culture I think that means loving the individual, including ourselves, enough to allow authentic, loving relationships of mutual respect grow and flourish. By falling into hair-splitting arguments about who isn’t living up to the ideal of manhood or womanhood is playing right into this culture. We shouldn’t be aiming for an accepted role as a man or woman, but instead the role God had planned for us since the beginning of time.

There are two Marys in the Gospels — one was the loving mother, and one was the first witness to the Resurrection. Each had particular gifts and our Lord made it very clear that each was to be respected. “Manhood” or “womanhood” were not terms that mattered. Being true to the call of God was and is what is most important.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:08:01 +0000

I read articles posing this question all the time. What I’d really like to know is, where have all the real women gone?

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:31:01 +0000

Dr. Mango spoke at this year’s Couple-to-Couple League (CCL) Convention in Arkansas this past June, raising exactly these points that Ms. Bennett so eloquently relates in her article.

Indeed we need to be heroes: for ourselves; for our wives (or our spouse, the Church, as the case may be); for our children, whether begotten from the union of Matrimony or the spiritual union of Holy Orders. The question often is how to be heroic? And a part of the answer, at the least, is that we must undertake those risks necessary to discover this answer, put it into practice, and amend it when, inevitably (and it is to be hoped, temporarily) we err.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:29:01 +0000

Not sure what to think about the aforementioned example either. Discernment isn’t so clear as it may seem externally. It doesn’t always end up with a clear yes or no. Not all who discern end up getting a “yes” in response, and for those who don’t, there my not be a clear “no” either. For such men there may always be questions looming – discernment will continue until vows are taken one way or another. In such a case, what is a man to do? Is it ‘heroic’ to stop there, not moving on in either direction? Not to sound unheroic, but life is not always so clear cut.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:02:01 +0000

Perhaps an article on how the emasculation of men has harmed our male priests and bishops, eh? Few warriors there… Most are content to be a counselor only, but when the need to lay down one’s life for the Truth presents itself, they back away.

Esto vir!

St. Josemaria Escriva, pray for us!

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:41:01 +0000

Interesting piece.

I agree with elkabrikir that the first example in the article is poor one to use. There are plenty of examples of men who are not real men out there, but this is not one of them. It is a better example of a woman who doesn’t understand vocation. She is not competing with God. God is calling — whether to a married state or to religious vows is not a contest, but a discernment of one’s state in life. God is calling in both states, the question is to which?

As a culture we have forgotten that is precisely what courtship is for — discerning whether or not this person is the one God is calling for your state in life.

Good manners, while a worthy thing, are not the fix. Bad manners are a symptom of a society which does not know that human persons all have a dignity which requires respect. The problem is so basic, it requires different thinking about what a person is, what a man is, what a woman is, and what a family is. These are things the Church has always taught, but must be re-discovered.

I’m not sure what to say about using another poor example, that of the woman frustrated at not having a man she met at a bar at night walk her to her car. My limited experience is that women who are looking for a good man are not going to find one by going to bars alone at night. And women who go to bars alone at night are generally not going to find a good man. Regardless,a woman leaving a bar at night with a man she did not come in with means something, and it’s not good manners. Having a man walk her to her car is likely to get her more than just a walk to the car.

There are definitely fundamental problems with manhood as well as womanhood and familyhood in western society these days.

Again — interesting piece. Thanks CE!

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:17:01 +0000

In “Wild at Heart,” John Elderidge brought up these same topics only expounding upon them more deeply (he wrote a whole book on the subject!). Read it–just overlook the Protestant incompleteness (e.g. priest’s are not warriors; nothing could be further from the truth if you know your Lives of the Saints!).

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:14:01 +0000

I agree with “wilsone”! When women lost humility (displayed in church by no longer covering their heads), is when men started being pushed out of(or gave up)the manly role. If women want real men, real men need women to be real women, so when “females” take of the pants and put the dress back on, and start acting like real women men will start treating them the way they should be treated. We (men) are tired (scared) of being accused, sued, and stomped on. And by the way, the church hierarchy may be all male, but women are running the church, they control the education, the parish councils, the diocesan offices etc., etc., and the church is not in very good shape right now, as any “awake” Catholic knows. “Real men” for the most part no longer exist in the clergy either, men of all walks of life are running scared from the female attacks…..even the Bishops are hiding. Women need to be more like the Blessed Virgin Mary (humble and submissive),so that men can be more like St. Joseph (caring and protective). Because of todays social climate, the women have to take the lead on this and give men a chance to be what they ought to be. You have been challenged to put your skirt back on, and let us wear the pants you took from us when you decided to hang up your skirts. God has assigned roles to women and men, and when we ignore His assignment things just don’t go right. Women need to be mothers, and men need to be providers. May all take their proper role, and live according to God’s plan, we’ll have a better society.