EAST GREENWICH – Pope Benedict XVI's bookshelf now features a local author. Genevive Kineke, a member of Our Lady of Mercy parish, visited Rome in early February. She presented the Pope with a copy of her most recent book, “The Authentic Catholic Woman,” which proposes to help Catholic women understand God's plan for them, when she was invited to meet him during the Congress.
“He told me he would read it immediately,” she said, although she has a feeling that he was just being polite because the Pontiff's reading list is likely very long already. But, she said, “It was such a privilege, there were so few who were presented.”
Kineke was in Rome to speak at a Congress marking the 20th anniversary of the late Pope John Paul II's 1988 Apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem in which he wrote about the dignity and vocation of women in the Catholic Church. Kineke has devoted her professional life to exploring this topic in her writing and research.
At the Congress, held February 7-9, Kineke spoke on the topic of women's dignity in a technological and consumeristic society. Women today, Kineke said in an interview, “have to go back and grab our dignity again.” She said that today's world is over-sexualized and consumer-driven and that women “are not standing up for our dignity, we're not standing up for purity or modesty.”
She acknowledged that many believe the Catholic Church to be
a sexist, or at least anti-feminist, institution. But, she said, “the Church actually is an institution that provides a paradigm for women with great breadth to it.”
Since converting to Catholicism as a college student, Kineke has devoted much of her time to exploring the history and future of women in the Church. “My driving quest was 'how do women live in the image and likeness of God',” she said. “A lot of people think that the Catholic version of feminism is barefoot and pregnant,” she added. But the rich history of female saints, women in holy orders, and the Church's Marian traditions all counter that limited view, she said.
“Women are fundamentally equal and bring unique gifts and talents to the world and collaborate richly with the vocation of men,” Kineke said.
The answer to questions about the role of women in the Church is not, she said, to adopt the gender-neutral stance that many world governments do. Rather, as Pope John Paul II wrote in his Mulieries Dignitatem, the role of women can be fully understood and appreciated only when the complementarity of the sexes is considered in the context of faith.
“Only within the fullness of faith are the gifts of women truly appreciated,” she said.
The year 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of this important document and the time that has passed has increased understanding of its message, she said. “We've had 20 years to really think about this.”
“With this anniversary year we're really encouraging women to read the document,” Kineke added.
For more information about the Congress, her book, or Mulieris Dignitatem, visit Kineke's web site:
www.feminine-genius.com.
