Should mothers work outside the home? If you want an answer more solid than groundless internet opinion or conveniently vague appeals to personal discernment, this is the podcast for you.

Margaret McCarthy joins the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss her essay on why anti-sex-discrimination law's treatment of the sexes as abstract interchangeable units hurts real women, real men, and real children (and real workplaces!). Then we dive into the neglected teachings of John Paul II and earlier popes on the objectively different relationships that men and women have to the home and to work outside the home.

Margaret Harper McCarthy is associate professor of theological anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family, at the Catholic University of America. She is the editor of Humanum: Issues in Family, Culture, and Science, serves on the editorial board of the English edition of Communio: International Catholic Review, is a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, and is a consultant to the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine.

00:00 Introduction

2:30 Anti-discrimination law discriminates against real women, children, men, and workplaces

34:30 Sex difference: division of labor and customs

1:03:43 Catholic teaching on working mothers

1:33:08 Contraception and public life vs. the real feminine genius

Links

Margaret H. McCarthy, "The Case for (Just) Sex Discrimination" https://newpolity.com/blog/sex-discrimination

Thomas's article citing John Paul II and earlier popes on working mothers https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/why-young-catholics-are-rejecting-feminism-pt-2/

Humanum Review https://humanumreview.com/

Some other articles mentioned:

Helen Andrews, "Lean Out" https://americanmind.org/features/rule-not-by-lies/lean-out/

Maria Baer, "Maybe Women Can Have It All—But Can Their Kids?" https://ifstudies.org/blog/maybe-women-can-have-it-all-but-can-their-kids

Matthew Mehan, "Wanted: Men of Purpose" https://americanmind.org/features/restoring-single-sex-education-at-vmi-and-beyond/wanted-men-of-purpose/

Magisterial texts mentioned:

Rerum Novarum, Divini Illius Magistri, Quadragesimo Anno, Laborem Exercens, Familiaris Consortio

Pope Pius XII's addresses to married couples, Dear Newlyweds https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12716

Ratzinger/CDF, "On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World" https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040731_collaboration_en.html

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An episode from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, too good not to share for Catholic Culture Podcast listeners!

Anthony D'Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to produce this independent film with a low budget, high artistic standards, and deep Catholic spirituality.

Film is an expensive medium. Since a high budget requires one to calculate mainstream appeal in order to make one's money back, a low budget can leave more room for artistic and spiritual integrity. Though the production faced many hardships, it was buoyed up by the hope that the project could break a new path for other Catholic filmmakers to follow.

Triumph of the Heart is available to screen at your parish, and will start streaming on its official website November 1.

Links

Show Triumph of the Heart at your parish https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/

Our review of Triumph of the Heart https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/triumph-heart-is-film-worthy-its-subject-st-maximilian-kolbe/

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Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com

Highlight clips from two episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and one episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast – links to full episodes below.

83 The American Founding's Medieval Roots – Robert Reilly https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-83-american-foundings-medieval-roots-robert-reilly/

85 Three-Fifths of Our Band Got Ordained - Luxury https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/85-three-fifths-our-band-got-ordained-luxury/

Are Heist Films Moral? The Lavender Hill Mob https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/lavender-hill-mob-1951/

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newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio