The Authentic Catholic Woman

By Genevieve Kineke

Book Overview

What does it mean to be a woman today? Is there a one-size-fits-all answer? How can a woman be truly Catholic and truly feminine, hard-working and creative, and yet be at peace within? How does she nurture life at home, at school, on the job or in the culture?

In this profound yet practical guide, Genevieve Kineke invites women to consider the Church, the Bride of Christ, as the model for authentic Catholic womanhood. "The mission of women is inscribed in the mystery of the Church," Pope John Paul II said. The author explores facets of this mystery--the Church as mother, bride, spouse and teacher, as sacramental, as font of wisdom, source of culture, and life-giving sanctuary--and reveals how women mirror the Church in their core identity.

Faithful to this authentic identity, women will play a critical role in rebuilding a civilization of love and life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0867167688
• ISBN13: 9780867167689
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Servant Publications
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Great Way to Celebrate Dignity of Women

For anyone looking to find the perfect book to celebrate Mulieris Dignitatem this year (the 20th anniversary of JPII letter on the dignity and vocation of women), this is it! Highly recommended to get to the heart of who you are as a Catholic woman. Also loved Renewing Your Christian Self~wisdom from women in the Old and New Testaments~ A Woman's Bible Study, The Passions Of The Matriarchs, and From Pharaoh to the Father: A Journey Toward Freedom Through the Lord's Prayer

Woman as bride

"And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people: and God himself with them shall be their God." Apocalypse 21: 2-3 Having been bombarded with feminist literature in college, I have since made a point of avoiding books dealing with "women's issues," other than those that deal with pregnancy and childbirth. I often thought that someday I would write a book about Catholic womanhood, based on Scripture, church teachings and the writings of the saints. Genevieve Kineke's "The Authentic Catholic Woman" (Servant Books, 2006) is the book I would have wanted to have written myself. It is inspiring and current, but timeless, bringing the reader to the place where Heaven meets earth. A practical approach mingles with eschatology, making the church teaching applicable to the everyday lives of women. It is a fallen world, and yet we are each called to reach our fullest potential. Genevieve's book is a pondering of authentic femininity, of the ways in which women are called to model the Church as brides and mothers. Many books about women start from the point of view of radical feminism, judging women by the achievements they have made in professions which traditionally have belonged to men. One of the most appealing aspects of the work is that Genevieve approaches the role of women from the high ground of Church doctrine, as well as from the realities of daily existence. It is taken for granted that even women with demanding careers are still the ones who oversee the running of the house, the care of the children, and arrange for the needs of elderly parents. Some women are more burdened than ever before. As the author points out: "The final danger for women is to create for themselves unrealistic images of piety that no mortal can imitate....Many wrongly assume that authentic femininity means a blissful marriage, abundant pious (and well-mannered) children, a husband to rival Saint Joseph, an orderly home, a variety of community and parish activities, an even temperament, ample time for spiritual and corporal works of mercy, cheerful generosity toward extended family (also pious of course) and a prayer life patterned on that of any number of saints and mystics. This sort of conjecture can indeed be a woman's worst enemy." (p.6) Much of this mirrors some of my own experience of Catholic womanhood. We should all be striving for holiness, but many Catholic women take on too much. They are hard on themselves and on others. Ladies' church clubs and home-schooling groups are too often pervaded by a nit-picking, critical spirit about one another's homes, husbands and children. I have seen such attitudes (and the gossip which flows as a consequence) destroy relationships which could otherwise have been a source of moral and spiritual suppo

A Catholic take on the Woman Question

What's a woman to do? Where can she find stability and dignity in the world today? If you're a mom what do you want to point your children toward? And what is going to give you a good relationship with your husband? Enter Genevieve Kineke, Catholic wife, mother of 5, and author of The Authentic Catholic Woman. Plato investigated the just man by drawing up plans for the perfect society and saying the just man would be like the perfect society. Mrs. Kineke follows much the same procedure, but as a Catholic convert she has available a well-developed theory of the perfect society, the Church, and the further advantage that Catholic tradition explicitly represents the Church as Bride and Mother, and thus a natural model for women. So for the author the authentic Catholic woman, and thus the true woman (since she accepts authentic Catholicism as true), is an image of the Church. She picks up that ball and runs with it, or whatever the feminine equivalent of that operation may be. She actually does so quite successfully. The comparison of the Church with a woman is not just a conceit, but an analogy that has been found fruitful and illuminating throughout Christian history and before that among the Jews, with the Song of Songs and the personification of Jerusalem as a woman leading the way. So she's got a lot to draw on. She uses her materials to treat the ordinary tasks women take on, from scrubbing floors to feeding children to making nice with difficult people, as a type of the actions of the Church, and so raises them to a dignity denied by the hedonistic rationalism dominant today. Going beyond that she points to a grand role for woman as woman in the scheme of things: woman as sustainer, reconciler, teacher, source of culture and civilizational rebirth. She goes through the issues in some detail, with good sense as well as piety. Most men are somewhat alarmed by inspirational books with pink flowers on the cover written by women for women. They expect something soppy. She rises above that and has written a book that actually seems quite thoughtful and practical. Whether it actually works for women they'll have to decide themselves. She's perfectly aware of the pitfalls of feminine attempts at selfless love--the fears, the hidden motives, the lapses, the likelihood of burnout, ingratitude and resentment--but argues that identifying what one does with something much larger and more authoritative changes the situation so that actions becomes less a personal assertion and so are less troubled by such issues. In general, I'd describe her as an intelligent and practically-grounded JP II Catholic. She cites the late Pope's theology of the body a great deal, and doesn't much draw much on pre-Vatican II materials except the Bible and a couple of saints like Edith Stein. It's worth noting that she has no objection to male authority--if what women do has great intrinsic dignity it becomes less of a threat--and thereby deviates somewhat from the emphasis

A book for all women

Excellent! I loved this book. In brilliant detail, it describes how "woman's work" mirrors the work of the Church. Femininity makes sense in ways you may never have considered -- "authentic womanhood" is shown to be not only worthwhile, but vital and holy. Must-reading for Catholic women ... on second thought, for all women (and men.) Genevieve Kineke shows us a vision of *true* feminism, achieved through life in Christ.

Authentic Femininity images the Church

If you're looking for a cutsie "Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul" or a "Spirit of Vatican II" type book for women, this is not it. Genevieve Kineke is looking for an answer to the question "What does it mean to be a woman?" that transcends time, place, or state in life. She sees an answer in the image of the Church as a Woman - Mother, Teacher, and Bride, and gets theologically deep. She looks at the Sacraments - Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, and Reconcilliation, and explores how a woman's daily life mirrors those Sacraments. She also discusses how the vocation of women is linked to that of men (Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Consecrated Life)- and this may bristle many "21st Century" women who have been raised with a feminist mindset. She discusses the Church as Mother and Teacher, giving examples of women like Maria Montessori and Edith Stein. To illustrate the Church as Bride, she gives examples from the Old Testament. Finally, she presents the Church as builder of Culture, without which "faith cannot endure". Through all of this, she weaves the example of our mother Mary. In exploring this paradigm, Genevieve shows how women are invited to a unique, intimate relationship with Christ, and how the "genius of woman" can have a tremendous impact on the world. By her own admission, Genevieve's book only scratches the surface of this topic. But it is an excellent start, and complements John Paul II's Theology of the Body very well. This book is structured and written well, and comes with a bibliography. It is defnintely worth a second read.