Studies in Feminist Heresies Research Who We Are: Questions and Answers
What type of Institute is the Studies in Feminist Heresies Research (SIFHR)?
SIFHR is a Think Tank.
What is a Think Tank?
A Think Tank is a group organized to investigate, research, and assess complex issues and to propose solutions to the problems arising from those issues. Think tanks use many different methods of creative thinking and creative problem solving. One such method is called brainstorming.
What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming is a method for developing creative solutions to problems. It works by focussing on a problem, and then spontaneously (or with serendipity) coming up with as many deliberately unusual solutions as possible and by pushing the ideas as far as possible. During the brainstorming session there is no criticism of ideas - the idea is to open up as many possibilities as possible no matter how silly or how offensive. This form of intellectual freedom and free-for-all atmosphere helps to break down preconceptions about the limits of the problem or about the limits of the solution.
Once this has been done the results of the brainstorming session can be analyzed and the best solutions can be explored either using further brainstorming or more conventional solutions methods.
In a way brainstorming is like prospecting for precious gemstones -- to get to the stone you have to dig through a LOT of dirt.
What is Our Mission Statement?
God created men and women from the very beginning of Creation to complement each other. While we are all made in the image of God, a more perfect image of God is found in marriage where man and woman become one and by that union have children. Thus a more complete image of God is the Family. In God's wise economy of creation, men and women are similar to each other and are equal in dignity, value, and merit - one is not inferior to the other - but also there is a profound difference. These differences that are inherent in the bio-chemistry, bio-physiology, and psychology of men and women are not, in their perfect expression, at odds with each other. Rather God created us in such a way to complement each other. We need each other. We need what men and what women can uniquely bring to the relationship, and by extension, to the culture. Focusing on one unique expression to the exclusion of the other destroys the complementary way God has created us.
The unique, but complementary, nature of men and women, therefore, implies that there are certain general ways of thinking and relating with the world that differ between men and women. These differences, which God created, and in which one is not inherently better than the other, led our Lord to institute marriage and the paterfamilias dynamics. Paterfamilias is father-family or the family headed by the father. This Paterfamilias dynamics is modeled by Jesus Himself in his submission to the Father and is taught and modeled throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
Some of the Scripture verses that teach us about the paterfamilias dynamics include:
Ephesians 5:15-16, 21-33
Colossians 3:18-19
1 Timothy 2:9-15
Galatians 3:26-28
In recent decades especially, this God-ordained foundation of proper relationships we call paterfamilias has been under severe attack. In fact, we would contend that by 1993 the worldview that rejects the paterfamilias actually replaced the 6000 year old Judeo-Christian worldview ordained by God.
Today we live in a prevailing worldview that is hostile to paterfamilias and that has brought the feminine worldview to the forefront and more, to the near exclusive way of thinking in our culture.
As mentioned earlier, the differing but complementary ways in which men and women view the world need to be in balance with each other. But that balance and mutual submission and complementarian relationship must come under the leadership of the paterfamilias. The Church teaches that emotions are a gift of God, even frosting on the cake, but that viewing the world through the subjective eyes of emotion will lead one into error. Emotions must always come under submission and guidance of reason.
Although it is simplistic to generalize in this following way, as a general broad-based tendency, men lend themselves more to viewing the world through the eyes of reason and women through the eyes of emotion and feelings. We need both. Both are valuable. But the more objective nature of reason must be the guide and leader. Emotions and feelings must stay under the wing of reason; and reason must be moderated by emotions and feelings. Therein lies the complementarian nature of how God created us.
The problem is when the feminization of culture begins to predominate there are certain characteristics that develop in the way we look at the world. The fundamental worldview created by the feminization of culture are thoroughly explained in the essay, Three Secret Strategies of Satan by John-Paul Ignatius. The three strategies or ways of thinking outlined in that essay form the very foundation of feminized thinking unchecked by reason.
The most dangerous threat to our culture and to our Church is not the traditional heresies. It is this feminization of our cultural worldview. We are ALL contaminated by this problematic worldview - even good orthodox Catholics. We all need to be on the lookout to see this faulty worldview in ourselves whenever it raises its ugly head, and to have the courage to exorcise that contamination from ourselves as best we can.
Then in addition to this generalized feminization of culture we also have the more overtly aggressive feminist who proposes direct heresies and heterodoxies. These must be opposed whenever found. But we would maintain that the generalized feminization of the prevailing worldview that infects us all is actually far more dangerous than the overt heresies of the feminist.
Thus the purpose of the Studies in Feminist Heresies Research Think Tank is to privately seek together among its members a comradery of reason to explore the effects and ramifications of this feminization -- to recognize its positive effects and to seek solutions to its negative effects.
The membership shall seek to offer solutions and to assert a proper worldview for our society from within the worldview of the Catholic Church, which holds the fullness of the faith, and within the paterfamilias dynamics infallibly and definitively taught by God and the Church.
You state the SIFHR is to privately seek together among its members. Does this mean that the Think Tank Private and and proceedings closed to the public? If so, why?
Yes, SIFHR proceedings are conducted privately and confidentially. The reason for this is because that is the only way that the members can feel the freedom needed to perform the brainstorming without holding back. Since much of the brainstorming can be silly, offensive, or even embarrassing it is only within a private and confidential setting that we can ensure the comfort-level needed to perform the process.
In addition, the members need to work on the projects unfettered by criticism and noise from the public. The members must be free to explore the issues and develop the solutions without pressure from outside forces.
It is only after the members have fully explored an issue and carefully formulated a position paper that exposure to public scrutiny and criticism is appropriate. It is when the members have a polished paper that they are then ready to defend its assertions. In addition, we do not wish to be sidetracked by petty arguments and defenses before the finished project.
This is no different that what women ask for themselves, by the way. Most women do not want to be seen by the public until they have their face on. They wish the public to see the finished and polished product and not the raw unpolished reality just waking up in the morning :-)
Other analogies are similar: don't take the bread out until it is ready; don't show the Christmas present to the person until it is put together and it is Christmas morning; don't take the mystery out of how an illusionist does his trick, but rather enjoy the effect; etc.
Another reason to have the Think Tank private is to control who becomes a member. Obviously, especially given the topic, there are many people who would wish to disrupt our proceedings and/or to sidetrack us as to deter us from our goals. We desire to keep such persons out of the Think Tank and to keep such influences from affecting our proceedings.
If the Think Tank is private and operated in a cloistered setting, will it publish its findings to the scrutiny of the general public?
Yes. Once the ideas explored through brainstorming and other methods are fully vetted, the group will commission a member to write an essay to present the problem and offer possible solutions that were agreed upon by the group. The essay will then be submitted to the group for editing before a decision is made for publication.
The resulting white papers or other essays, writings, and research findings will then be made available to the general public.
Please Tell Us More about What You Mean by a Feminized Worldview?
It is not possible to answer these sorts of questions in any detail in this small brochure. Thus, as mentioned above, the Think Tank will be publishing papers on its findings when such findings are ready for publication.
In the meantime, the Three Secret Strategies of Satan essay will provide the reader with an introduction into the essential meaning of a feminized worldview.
Please Tell Us More about What You Mean by Feminist Heresies?
Again, the future publications of the Think Tank will discuss further details, but we would recommend the book, Ungodly Rage, as an excellent journalistic treatise on the radical element of feminism in the Church. The link will take you to Amazon to purchase this book if you wish.
Also, the section in the Oath of Loyalty to the Church that all members of the Legion of St. Michael as well as members of this Think Tank must offer will serve as a brief synopsis to answer the question:
Feminism: I further declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the feminists, who hold a basic assumption of androgynous utopia in which specifically states that all forms of domination and oppression of man by man are social expressions of that dualism that is rooted more deeply than any others: the elevation of the male sex above the female (Catharina J.M. Halkes, God Does Not Only Have Strong Sons, 1980); and who holds a rejection of hierarchy in any structures of society or Church promoting the idea of a circular community and which believes that those who hold office are only the self-articulation of the life of the community negating the order of God in regard to creation, roles, function, and appointment and negating the proper dignity that God has given to women; and who holds the belief that experience takes priority against the administrative structures of the Church and religious teachings; and who assert inclusive language as a political instrument and in particular to subvert the paterfamilias nature of God and the Church; and who promote ideas of ecofeminism in relation with nature, asserting the idea that the ills of our earth come from the technological plundering of the earth allegedly traced back to a traditional understanding of an account of creation written by priests; and who hold the interpersonal community deriving from the self-experience of sisterly groups which leads to a feminist socialism; and who hold that the ecological concern of the experience of sisterhood evolves a new spirituality linked to a cult of mother earth where God is seen in terms of motherly images that effectively push His world-transcending authority into the background; and which finally may be summed up as being understood as calling into question the male cast of both the image of God and the office of priest (Women in the Priesthood by Fr. Manfred Hauke, 1988).
The full text of this Oath of Loyalty can be found by clicking here.
Does all this mean that you believe that husbands can boss their wives around to treat them with patronizing paternalism as if they were children?
Absolutely not! The paterfamilias relationship has NOTHING whatsoever to do with anyone bossing anyone around, or with who takes out the trash or mows the lawn, who cleans the toilet, who cooks supper, or who is the breadwinner. Marriage is about a mutual self-giving in which both parties are equal in dignity and spirit before God and before the world. Such trivial role assignments cannot be set as a formula, in any event, since such roles may vary widely from culture to culture and from one time period to another, and, of course, may find different expressions according to personal circumstances and dynamics within the particular family.
But we must accept and recognize the undeniable truth that men cannot be mothers, although they might perform mothering tasks; and women cannot be fathers, although they may perform fatherly tasks. Each person, the father and the mother, contributes in a unique and non-substituting way to the upbringing, to the psychological and intellectual and creative development, and to the spiritual health of the child. Study after study has proven that children are missing an important element in their development if either of their parents are missing from their lives. This does not mean that the single parent cannot raise a child well, but it is a fact that God intended a child to be raised by a mother and father who each contribute in a unique way to the health and upbringing of the child. Anything less than God's intention for the family affects the family dynamics and each individual within that family. But God in His love, and a single parent in their faith, can make lemonade out of the lemon of not having both a mother and father present in the home who love each other and who loves the children.
The paterfamilias recognizes the undeniable uniqueness and contribution of the mother and the father, but does not demand the stereotypical negative treatment of one spouse over another. Paterfamilias recognizes God's ordained intention that the father is the high priest of the home, the spiritual leader. This self-same father may also change diapers and clean the toilet while his wife makes the money.
Another way to look at this relationship is that the husband is the first among equals. Like one of the titles of the Pope, the husband as spiritual leader is a servant of servants, not a dictator. The role and responsibility of being a first among equals is, however, much more intense than merely being a servant of servants. The husband must love his wife as he does himself, even more, he must love his wife as Christ loves the Church. This is an awesome responsibility.
Within this commandment to love his wife as Christ loves the Church, no man can possibly treat his wife in a subservient, patronizing, or abusive manner if he is to truly accept the teaching of Christ.
I have additional questions about what you do in this Think Tank or about some of the things you say or publish on this topic?
At this time, we will not entertain questions from the public. All that we need to say publicly is found on this page and in the essays that we publicly publish -- such as the Three Secret Strategies essay.
At some future date we may offer a Comment Book where people may leave their comments and impressions of our work, but we have no plans of interactive dialogue with the general public.
Thus please do not email us with questions or comments. Any emails we receive that asks us questions about the work we are doing in the Think Tank, or asking us to explain ourselves or our essays will be deleted unread.
What are the Qualifications for Membership?
Men qualified to join this Think Tank are those who have a thorough understanding of the issues and the problems inherent in a feminization of our culture. In addition, such candidates for membership must have a deep concern and a sense of alarm at the fact that not only has our culture become feminized, but that a feminine worldview has become the prevailing worldview of our society, replacing the paterfamilies worldview instituted by God, taught in Holy Scriptures, and practiced, albeit imperfectly, by the Judeo-Christian world for 6000 years.
You Say men. Is this Think Tank open only to men?
Yes. For now the membership is restricted to men.
How do I apply for membership?
Membership is essentially by invitation only. Candidates for membership are mostly brought to our attention through recommendations from the members of the Think Tank
However, we will consider some memberships that are not personally recommended by our membership. Those interested in participating in this private, membership only, Think Tank should contact Bro. John-Paul Ignatius at legion@saint-mike.org
Current Think Tank Topics
Feminization of America Feminism in the Church The Feminine Worldview vs. Catholic Worldview Effects of a Feminized Society.
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