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Boys Club

Men Not God

Priests Defy Vatican on Women’s Ordination NYTimes

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois has received letters from the Vatican threatening dismissal for his role in a ceremony that purported to ordain Janice Sevre-Duszynska, far right, as a priest.Image Robert A. Pohowsky.Ironically, Anne wrote of revolt in the Catholic Church on her FB page yesterday, threading her comments into conversation about yesterday’s poll of Americans that included several questions about God’s approval rating on economic matters, natural disasters and other American events for which God is given credit for intervention.

Many of her FB friends are Catholics who don’t believe in the church patriarchy, people like the Rev. Roy Bourgeois who elicited a surprising statement of support from 157 priests who support his work ordaining women priests. (See Call to Action devoted to church reform.) The group Roman Catholic Womenpriests claims to have 120 female priests and five bishops — all automatically excommunicated from the church.

“I see this very clearly as an issue of sexism, and like racism, it’s a sin,” (Rev Bougeois) said in an interview this week from his home in Georgia. “It cannot be justified, no matter how hard we priests and church leaders, beginning with the pope, might try to justify the exclusion of women as equals. It is not the way of God. It is the way of men.”

The American priests’ action comes on the heels of a ‘Call to Disobedience’ issued in Austria last month by more than 300 priests and deacons. Bishops were shocked with their seven-point pledge that includes actively promoting women priests and married men, and reciting a public prayer for “church reform” in every Mass.

Brainiacs

Baby blues The Economist

Studying the cycle of abuse from mother to children as future parents, Axel Meyer, Thomas Elbert and their colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, points to a phenomenon called epigenetics as the likely explanation for the inheritance of abusiveness.

Stone Age erotic art found in Germany AFP

A first discovery of Stone Age cave art in Germany includes carvings of nude women that may have been used in fertility rites. The cave is located near the southern city of Bamberg and has been the focus of an extensive search. 

Researchers believe the cave to be 12,000 years old, making it young compared to the 30,000 year-old cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d’Arc murals in southern France. German director Werner Herzog’s most recent documentary, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”, is based on this oldest discovery.

Fellow Friday with Genevieve von Petzinger TED Blog

Genevieve von Petzinger’s database of prehistoric geometric shapes in cave art reveals some startling insights. More than mere doodles, the signs used across geological boundaries suggest there may have been a common iconography before people first moved out of Africa. When did people begin graphic communication, and what was its purpose? Genevieve studies these questions of our common heritage.

Tough Titty: On Feminist Mothering and the Breastfeeding Doll AlterNet

Now that we understand fully the health benefits of breastfeeding, should American women be compelled to breast feed? If a woman just can’t make the decision to breastfeed for her own reasons, should she not become a mother at all?

Thoughtful analysis of the latest news around the breastfeeding doll and the complex messages it sends to all females.

Speaking of Wives

This Year’s Model: The Trophy Wife vs the Tiger Wife Vanity Fair

Many a man watched endless clips of Wendi Deng Murdoch leaping to her husband’s defense in London this week, strong-arming the shaving cream pie assailant who dishonored her husband Rupert. “I want one of those babes,” lips murmurred in circles endowed with men intelligent enough to understand the value of a Tiger wife.

Bruce Feirsten compares the perhaps dullard-man concept of the Tropy Wife with the thinking man’s vision of the Tiger Wife. It would be unkind to line up Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie to help us understand the difference, but you get our drift. Both are first-class women, of course, but there is a Smart Sensuality difference: sexy (both) brainiacs (Angelina has the edge) with heart (Angelina wins with adoptions, philanthropy and showing up in one disaster zone after another.)

QVC Cancelled Jane Fonda? (We’re checking this out.)

Jane Fonda Claims QVC Cancelled Appearance Because of Her Politics WSJ Speakeasy