Sigh.

Once again, I'm embarrassed by a stand taken by the Catholic Church. This really pisses me off. I was raised Catholic but have been forced to collapse because their doctrine is so out of touch with my personal values and beliefs. If you want to read more about this personal predicament, peruse "Catholic Boy", an entry I wrote exactly one year ago yesterday.

An article in the Sunday Herald entitled "Pope: feminism weakens family and promotes homosexuality" explains the most recent cause of my frustration.

A damning critique of modern feminism from the Vatican yesterday was published with the blessing of Pope John Paul II. The 37-page document, On The Collaboration Of Men And Women In The Church And In The World, accuses the feminist revolution of "antagonism" and of creating a spirit of competition between men and women.

The Pope will send the report to every Catholic bishop in the world. It marks another move by the church to solidify traditional family life and Christian values.

The report says: "Faced with the abuse of power, the answer is for women to seek power. This process leads to opposition between men and women...which has its most immediate and lethal effects in the structure of the family."

It goes on: "In order to avoid the domination of one sex or the other, their differences tend to be denied...[this] has in reality inspired ideologies which, for example, make homosexuality and hetero sexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality". It then calls for the fundamental differences between men and women to be recognised.

I am a lapsed Catholic because I have no other choice. I hate it, but the total hypocrisy of the alternative would be far too much to bear. Seriously, what choice do I have? Reports like this that are blessed by the Pope and shared with every Catholic bishop in the world are designed to limit and judge. I liked this quote from Erin Pizzey, founder of the international women's refuge movement: "I don't think the Catholic Church - whose own priests and bishops cannot marry - is in a position to make such statements. It is one of the most emotionally illiterate organizations I know, and they need to put their own house in order first."

Amen.