Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
Let Us Be Manly Men!
The crisis in society and in the human element of the Church is principally caused by men much more than women or children. Men are the evil “fathers” of feminism and each of the principal evils of civil society and of the human element of the Catholic Church.
God made men to lead society, much more by their greater strength of mind than by their greater strength of body. Here is one way Catholic Candle stated this fact in the past:
A manly man must not be selfish, nor carried away by his emotions or passions. He must control himself and always live according to his reason. That is why a man can be a manly man and can show the truth of manliness even when he is 106 years old and is wheelchair-bound.1
Here is how St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, teaches this same truth:
Because we have strength of body, we are not therefore manly men. For he alone hath this virtue [viz., manliness] –yes, though he be confined to his bed — whose strength is from within; since without this, though a man should tear-up a mountain by his strength of body, I would call him nothing stronger than a girl.2
1 Quoted from: The Crisis in Society is Caused by Unmanly Men, which can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/07/22/the-crisis-in-society-is-caused-by-unmanly-men/
2 St. John Chrysostom, on the Epistle for the Feast of St. Lawrence, part of sermon 19 on 2nd Cor. 9:6-9 (bracketed words added to show context).