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I so enjoyed reading this! A couple thoughts...As a former Protestant who is married, I had not ever considered that we effectively said God's grace was not enough to redeem marriage when teaching that husbands "are the boss" (although that was called headship) and women are to be the submissive ones. I think some of that thinking may go back to the Protestant understanding of creation...that Adam was first and Eve came from Adam. It was presented as if she was made for him, without any independence or autonomy of her own. I recently took a course through Notre Dame's STEP program on Theology of the Body and learned of Original Solitude. It was enlightening to read that Adam's joy upon seeing/meeting Eve was not necessarily sexual (the whole wo-man! joke in church) but that she was a human, one of him, as opposed to the other animals that were present. Here was someone he could truly commune with. Such a completely new (and welcomed) perspective for me.

While I'm sure there are some slices of Protestants that the essay describes well, I have not personally experienced being ruled or controlled and found that part to be a bit extreme with the "always" and "never." I see how it could develop if the teaching is taken to its extreme but it wasn't like that for everyone.

I was surprised to read that the Church teaches it is wrong for economic issues to force the mother to leave her young children for the workforce. It was surprising because it can appear that it is well accepted amongst Catholics for the woman to work outside the home and that maybe staying home wasn't the goal since a woman isn't just made for the man. So the emphasis that the mother should be able to be with her children is refreshing. I found this to ring true to my experience-my desire was to be with my kids. Today, I think it takes some real untangling of desires to determine if it is economic demands or something more personal that leads women outside the home. I say that as a married woman with kids who works outside the home.

Thank you for so much to consider and pray over!

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