VATICAN CITY — The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a letter last week which synthesizes Pope John Paul II's teachings on women, women's rights and marriage.

The document, called “On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World,” criticizes many tendencies within mainstream feminism: namely — the view that men and women are adversaries, as well as attempts by Western societies to negate differences between the sexes.

More than ever, this document celebrates what Pope John Paul II calls the “feminine genius” and the redemptive meaning found within Christian marriage.

“This is a masterpiece. It's like a bomb. It's incredible,” said Patricia Donahoe, mother of four and former collaborator at the Holy See Mission to the United Nations.

The letter, written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — basically clarifies many of the Holy Father's teachings about men and women.

“A lot of the Pope's works are hard to read,” said Donahoe. “This is clear as water. It encapsulates the Pope's teachings and makes them more accessible. It is finely tuned. It shows how important Pope John Paul II's teachings are on the theology of the body.”

The document discusses the notion that within our relationship with God, God is the initiator and we, his creatures, must learn to be receptive.

“What strikes me is that this document is not so much about women, but about our salvation and our relationship with God,” said Donahoe. “The point is that women have an edge on this. Men and the Church must look toward authentic femininity in order to understand how to be receptive to God's love. That is why Mary is our model. We look toward her fiat, her surrender. We have to let God love us.”

The idea of Christian marriage as a paradigm within which to understand salvation is another major theme.

“I love the part about God's relationship with his people,” said Prof. Laura Garcia, a philosophy professor at Boston College. “The document looks at the metaphor of the bridegroom and the bride in biblical terms, from the beginning of Genesis all the way to Revelation. The Bible is filled with this image, such that marriage becomes much more than a metaphor. The Pope is giving another picture of the relationship between men and women — one that is collaborative and deeply respectful of the other person with their dignity.”

Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice — an anti-Catholic pro-abortion lobby repeatedly denounced by Catholic bishops — was quoted as saying she felt she had passed through a time warp when she read the document, and that it seemed as though it were the 1960s and “Archie Bunker had been appointed theologian to the Pope.”

“That is so unfair,” stated Garcia. “Never has the relationship between men and women found a more beautiful expression than in the writings of this Pope. He says that women should not be coerced to be in a specific role. That they should be in more public roles. That society should change the way it views women. I know many, many professional women who have been blown away by Pope John Paul II's writings about women. If feminists are saying that women need to have a distinctive voice, the Holy Father is saying that too.”

Male and Female

This document is the first Vatican document which expressly criticizes the idea of gender as being merely a social construction.

“We are created male and female. If the relationship between the sexes is askew then our relationship with God is all wrong,” said Donahue. “Authentic Christian marriage existed before the Fall — it is the way it is supposed to be. If our understanding of marriage is distorted, than there is an obstacle between us and God.”

Moira Walsh, a former philosophy professor at Boston College who now works with the Murray Hill Institute in New York City, saw a further application of the document — to the marriage debate.

“The difference between men and women is deep and significant,” she said. “It's not just an accident. Being a man or a woman is so deep that it will be with us for all eternity. Those who say that marriage can be between two women or two men are saying that there is no significance to sex. That we are all just individuals.”

Marta Valle, a licentiate student in bioethics and philosophy at, respectively, Regina Apostolorum and the Lateran University in Rome, said this understanding of the difference in the sexes is a key teaching for women to learn about themselves.

“What's so beautiful is that the Church is acknowledging the differences between men and women,” she said. “But it's not as a negative thing but a positive thing. It is something that can enrich us both. The woman is the one who really lives for the other. It comes very natural to her. In this, she is an example for men. Though she herself constantly needs to be converted, needs to have grace, to live this out.”

Women in the Workplace

Another area which the document focuses on is women in the workplace, and the many problems which come with trying to manage family and a career.

“As the document says, women should not have to renounce family and their capacity for motherhood for the workplace,” said Walsh. “At the same time, the possibility of being a fulltime mom shouldn't be a luxury only for the wealthy. There should be structures in place to allow this for all women.”

Kathy Mylott, a stay-at-home mom in New York City who worked for 20 years as a manager with Fortune 500 companies, also agreed with the document's ideas regarding women in the work-place.

“I've been involved in the feminist struggle in the workplace,” said Mylott. “I've experienced the stress of trying to balance a professional life and a family. And I've seen my sisters and friends go through it. Can you do it all? Can you fulfill your obligations to family and work? You can't do both adequately.”

With a laugh, Mylott added that life in the workplace was far less strenuous. “When you are a mother, you are on call 24/7,” she said. “Sometimes, you are suddenly faced with life and death situations. You can't delegate that.”

The letter states that men and women should look toward Mary as a model: to learn intimacy with Christ, to learn how to receive the broken body of Christ and those who are wounded in this world.

However, Cardinal Ratzinger points out that imitating Mary does not mean adopting a “passivity inspired by an outdated conception of femininity …From the Son of God one learns that this ‘passivity’ is in reality the way of love.”

Sabrina Arena Ferrisi filed this story from New York.