Another article on Catholicism's masculinity crisis

This one was shared with me by a friend. It's by William Kilpatrick and appeared in Crisis Magazine. I was underwhelmed.

Here is what I wrote back to my friend:

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. That said, the linked article is really about politics in general with only tangential reference to the Catholic Church. Indeed, the author seems chiefly interested in having a more masculine church as a way of influencing the larger culture. He isn’t so much intent on improving matters in the Catholic Church as in encouraging the Catholic Church to fight the culture war more effectively.

I regularly attend sessions organized by Catholic men who are also worried about the Church’s man crisis. Unfortunately, while these men recognize there is a problem, they don’t seem to have any notion of what a masculine expression of the faith should look like. I saw a video series a while ago where a prominent Catholic speaker talked about the lack of manly Catholics for two videos and then suggested Mother Theresa as a role model for men. When I ask Catholic men what sort of manly things they do as Catholics they often tell me they say the rosary. To which I reply that while the rosary is a great prayer there is nothing specifically masculine about it. At which point they look at me with vaguely hurt and frightened expressions. They have nothing and they know it.

Every time I ask Catholic men about what it is to be a Catholic man, their answer is just another variation on being a good and obedient little boy. It’s as if Catholic men are so feminized, they can’t remember how to be men.