Book reviews

Helping to Eradicate Anti-Christian Feminism

Tesa Becica

Book Review of The Anti-Mary Exposed, Rescuing
the Culture from Toxic femininity by Carrie Gress,TAN Books, 2019, 199 pp.

This small book of 199 pages is so packed with information that it is extremely difficult to choose which points I want to discuss. It highlights our blatant post-Christian society, which is unduly Protestant influenced, unrecognizable to most of us who have grown up with a Catholic mindset. Our country has turned its back on Christ and targeted His Blessed Mother for derision and ridicule.

Pointing out “the direct attack on the Virgin Mother and those who follow her model of womanhood,” author Carrie Gress notes: “There has also been a significant rise in the occult and pagan-goddess worship among women.” (p. xvi) Mainline stores now advertise basic witchcraft items, Halloween costumes and Satan-promoting products.

“White magic” and Wicca became popular in the 1970s, whose anti-Marian roots are entrenched in those goddess movements. Estimated witches in the US number 1.5 million, more than the 1.4 mainline Presbyterians nationwide!

“Mary is the anti-Eve,” Gress states. (p 5) “It was her fiat that reversed Eve’s rejection of God. Mary assisted God in the redemption of man through her cooperation. Revelation itself relates that Mary will crush Satan under her feet.

Witchcraft is on the rise,
among all ages & classes of women

The mother/Son relationship is so important and her power is so great that exorcists report that when invoking her name during an exorcism “demons are often angrier and more furious in Mary’s regard than that of God Himself.” (1) Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger has also exorcised the demon of Lilith, whom he describes as “one of the top five, very strong, and difficult to get out,” Gress reports.

Anton LaVey (high priest of Satan's church) predicted the ushering in of the age of Lilith back in 1966. Lilith has been dubbed the wife of Satan, and James Joyce called her the patroness of abortion. Lilith is a strong woman figure for those ignorant of her evilness and bereft of the knowledge of our Catholic patrimony.

Bad fruit of the feminist movement

The “equalization” of the sexes has led to the breakup of the home, men being targeted as oppressors and transformed into de-masculinized wimps, and women suffering increased violence. Now even men can "become mothers" with legal adoption permitted for sodomite couples.

The modern woman is unhappy,
riddled with anxieties & anger

For all the so-called progress women have made through laws and social conventions, there is no evidence of increased happiness. Divorce rates are staggering (70 % are initiated by women), suicide rates up, drug and alcohol addiction rates have skyrocketed, depression and anxiety are common place.

The author points out that there are definite differences in men and women, despite the strife to eradicate those God-given variations; in disasters it is still the men who take the heroic role of rescuing victims or using their bodies as shields to protect women from bullets.

Despite women claiming they want to be like men, they insist that men change because of their hatred of males, which they describe as “toxic masculinity.” When women have achieved feminist goals, such as being named high-public office or heads of corporations – like Sarah Palin or Melania Trump – if she is conservative, she is vilified by the feminists. However, the author fails to point out that these conservative models still are not feminine ideals, but advocate careers and equality for women.

A commonality between radical feminism and homosexuality arise from the error of the demonization of the opposite sex. This idea of the homogenization of the sexes did not arise from any of the major religions. In fact, it was Catholicism that venerated women as an object of reverent homage and raised her status to more than a chattel, slave or plaything.

This was due to the way Christ treated women, and the veneration of our Blessed Mother. Of course in their hatred of the Catholic Church, the feminists ignore that “the first group of professional women was Catholic nuns” who offered their lives in the service of others and the conversion of souls. (p 95)

Since the start of the feminist movement, abortion rights has been a key issue

One of Karl Marx’s main goals was to eradicate traditional society, family, religion (in particular the Catholic Church), and remake human nature, making everyone the same. He attempted to erase all natural or societal differences. The notion that human nature can be changed is erroneous, as we are all born with original sin. Even Aristotle, born 384 BC, warned against such nonsense: “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

In communist countries where these classless societies were touted, there emerged two classes: the ruling power elites with the money, and the proletariats who struggle for their livelihoods and are poor.

Another of the tactics was to legalize and push abortion. “Vicki Thorn, founder of Project Rachel, reports that one woman [in Russia] admitted having 80 abortions.” Vicki consulted “a doctor to verify that such a number was even physically possible. Yes, the doctor said, and not as uncommon as one might think.” (p 52)

They all found one topic to which they could hitch their wagons: abortion. (p xi) The feminists claim it has saved countless lives of women (ignoring the millions of murdered children). However, Gress reports that “today abortion is by far the leading cause of death in the United States annually, significantly outpacing heart disease and cancer.” (p xii)

The pill, before legalized abortion, was the easy method to reject children and motherhood. The sexual promiscuity ushered in by the pill has morphed into more exotic forms of eroticism, such as sodomy and lesbianism, and the rise of the acceptance of LGBT rights, and now transgenderism.

The deep roots of Feminism

Radical feminism has roots stretching a long way back. Like most other societal shifts, it made headway in a slippery-slope fashion. The two world wars not only worked to eradicate monarchies and the Catholic Church, but also families – the bedrock of any society. One interesting aside: during WWII, Britain devised ways to conserve fabric for uniforms and other wartime products. It became illegal to manufacture women’s clothing with full skirts, flounces and extra embellishments. In the “war effort” the Anglican church even encouraged women to shorten their hemlines to save yardage. A result? Another small step in promoting immodesty and the rising promiscuity of women.

Sue Ellen Browder, a feminist who worked at Cosmopolitan Magazine admitted that she “regularly fabricated stories about fictional women known as the Cosmo Girls ... there were two things she could not be if she was going to be glamorous, sophisticated and cool: a virgin or a mother.” (p xi) Sickened by the extremes of feminism she witnessed, Sue Ellen Browder eventually converted to Catholicism.

Helen Gurley Brown encouraged women to enter the sexual revolution

Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor and mogul of Cosmo, called a meeting at which 13 editors assembled, including Redbook and Good Housekeeping. All agreed to feature pro-abortion articles.

Who were some of the icons of the 1970s feminist movement? All were privileged graduates of esteemed institutions. Gloria Steinem had a very loving father, but he spent most of his time pursuing get-rich-quick schemes. That left her in the care of her mother, a bitter and mentally ill woman.

Phyllis Carter probably resented her mother the most. “She criticized me constantly, yelled at me a lot, hit me sometimes, and always threatened to turn me over to my father for more serious discipline.”(2)

Betty Friedan’s mother was an exceptional beauty who was frustrated with Betty, whom she thought worked at being ugly. They would rage at each other, resulting in Betty being very insecure.

Kate Millet meeting with women to promote liberation

Kate Millet, whom Time Magazine titled the “high priestess” of the movement and “the Karl Marx of the Women’s Movement” was mentally unstable. Her sister Mallory Millet, who at first espoused the feminist agenda, became disillusioned with its underbelly and admitted the movement had a "psychotic dimension.”

It instructed women that “not only is it good to murder your own child in your womb, but it’s imperative that you buck up and have the courage to do it.” (p 76) Mallory herself returned to the Catholic Church.

These “Lost Girls” (3) were from dysfunctional homes causing fractured relationships, especially with their mothers, receiving no emotional support. Their longing to fill that gap was manifested by their rampant lesbianism, groupthink, widespread witchcraft, and refusal or inability to recognize the problems their “groundbreaking” behavior wrought.

For these early feminists, men are the enemy, fomenters of all wars and whatever ills society has suffered. Thus, monogamous heterosexual marriage is frowned upon, while promiscuity of any type is lauded. The pill and sex-selected abortion has been pushed, as less men meant a more just society.

The opposite to the Satanic model Lilith, above, is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the model of true womanhood

“Because envy is such a commonplace vice, it is not surprising to see the role it plays in radical feminism,” Gress notes. Many fairy tales are spun around wicked stepmothers who hate and envy their children. A baby’s life is a threat to radical feminists. How can they get ahead with their career or education, or just plain freedom if saddled with being responsible for another human being?

There is an emptiness in all of us that can only be filled with God. To reject Christ and His Mother increases this emptiness and generates an ache that is not addressed in our theologically illiterate culture. In short, Gress proposes that the only solution is spiritual. To counter Eve’s sin, we must turn to Our Lady: “Mary offers us the best model of what it means to be a woman, because she surrendered every piece of herself to God the Father as a beloved daughter.” (p 117)

“A woman that does not have God at the center of her life will place her heart, her soul, and her efforts at the service of something else.” And today that “something else” has turned toward the service of Satan. (pp. 143-144)

Our Blessed Mother is the model one needs to love and to find true peace, fulfillment and joy. We need to emulate her virtues. Mary spoke to St. Bridget: “I am the joy of the just and the door through which sinners come to God.” Please, Mary, let us imitate your model to gain Heaven.

A few caveats

There are several items in the book that troubled me. On page 180, the author recommends pro-life resources like Project Rachel, which are doing good work, but most don’t address repentance, conversion, or the spiritual changes that are required to be healed from abortion. She also recommends Catholic Charities, which supports abortion and other anti-Catholic entities.

Further, an approval is given to John Paul II’s book Theology of the Body, which departs from authentic Catholic teaching and has pushed the door open to immorality and sexual promiscuity in Catholic homes.

Quoting Bishop Baron, whose teaching are contrary to Catholic to doctrine, was also a poor choice of the author: Why quote someone whose faith is questionable?

Otherwise, I recommend this work. I believe it may help many women to break the myths of Feminism and understand its anti-Mary roots.

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Posted -- --, 2023

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