Bishop Gregory Mansour released his sixth pastoral letter on men’s spirituality on Oct. 12, 2023. / Credit: Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn
CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2023 / 10:38 am (CNA).
In his sixth pastoral letter on male spirituality, Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour says that “fatherhood is expected of all men, whether biological, natural, or spiritual.”
In the Oct. 12 letter titled “The man of God is a man for others: Some themes in men’s spirituality,” Mansour, said that there are “some worrisome trends” in the culture that “undermine masculinity under the guise of remedying past chauvinism or over-reliance on patriarchal structures.”
Mansour added that given “the absence of dads in far too many homes in our country and the need for inspiring male role models, many young men are growing up without effective guidance about how to live out their male identity.”
Expressing the desire to reach the “hearts of men” through his letter, he added that “I would be grateful if this Pastoral Letter nourishes women and youth as well because so much of this letter can be helpful to everyone interested in the spiritual life.”
Pastoral letters are often released by bishops to members of their dioceses on a certain aspect of the faith, in an attempt to guide the faithful.
The letter explores a myriad of topics ranging from a man’s disposition towards his wife and children, the use of contraception and pornography, the need for self-mastery and a life of prayer, and the call to fatherhood for all men regardless of one’s current state in life.
“Men who live as ‘chips off the old (divine) block’ are the greatest need today; women and children long for this — many men also long for this,” he wrote.
‘A man for others’
Much of a men’s spirituality can be discovered through reflecting on Jesus as “a man for others,” the letter said.
Mansour cites the Gospel of John where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. He adds that Jesus was teaching “all of us, but especially men” about servant leadership.
“Jesus wanted to teach men how to undo the sin of the first man, Adam, who after the Fall would ‘rule over’ his ‘helpmate’ Eve (Gen. 3:16),” he wrote.
Christ was making service “his privileged way,” Mansour wrote, adding that “the path of redemption would involve self-mastery rather than domination of others.”
Men and women have equal dignity, Mansour wrote pointing to Jesus’s discourse on marriage and divorce with the Pharisees.
Mansour wrote that Christ “rebutted the religious leaders of the day who were justifying divorce by referring to how Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever.”
Jesus responded by stating “that it was God’s intention from the beginning that what God has joined no human authority should separate,” Mansour wrote, adding that his new command “shattered all previous rights to male domination in marriage.”
“Jesus, it should be noted, was speaking only to men, because women did not have the ‘right,’ given by Moses, to divorce their husbands. Thus, Jesus was indicating that a woman and a man are, by nature, and by the intention of the Creator, of equal importance and dignity,” he wrote.
The call to chastity
Noting that men and women are able to give themselves as gifts to each other in the sexual embrace, Mansour said that “a man and woman need to develop within themselves the virtues necessary to ensure that they can be faithful to each other.”
Mansour wrote that chastity orders sexual intimacy to be “appropriately expressed in fidelity, love, and mutual reverence,” adding that “man completes woman and woman completes man, as two halves make a whole.”
“We can easily enslave ourselves to our desires, passions, compulsions, addictions, and whims. Pornography, masturbation, and sexual promiscuity are always sinful, as is sexual harassment or abuse,” he wrote.
Mansour wrote that if one falls into any of these sins or crimes, “he should repent of these quickly, and ‘flee’ from them, saying that professional help may be necessary in some cases.
“We should all work to rid ourselves and the culture of such ills, to make our culture and ourselves, more holy, chaste, and respectful, especially for the sake of women, girls, and boys,” he wrote.
Mansour said that one way chastity can be used in marriage is through Natural Family Planning, a method of tracking a woman’s natural cycle which can help couples either conceive or avoid pregnancy.
“If a couple for serious reasons prayerfully recognizes the need to space children, they should not make recourse to contraception but work together to achieve a healthy spacing of children in the chaste and natural way given by God,” he wrote.
On the topic of children, Mansour said that God intended “these ‘little ones’” to enter the world in the context of the marriage covenant.
“A child has the right to come into the world through this kind of marital love, embrace, complementarity, and commitment, in which the mother and father mutually pledge to love and care for the child and each other in a stable and permanent relationship,” he wrote.
Turning his attention to the single and celibate man, Mansour wrote that these groups of men are also called to live chaste lives and deny themselves.
Mansour cited Pope John Paul II, who referred to the “nuptial meaning of the body,” adding that those who forsake marriage for the sake of the kingdom can live in a “spiritual union” with God.
“This gift, in imitation of the chaste and celibate Christ, depends on and deepens one’s communion with God, and sets one free to embrace an intense and life-giving love for others,” he wrote.
A man’s prayer
A prayerful man will learn that his life’s purpose is holiness, Mansour wrote. He added that men are called to make themselves vulnerable in prayer.
Mansour notes that it can seem “contradictory” for a man who is a “protector, provider, and cultivator” to become so vulnerable in prayer, but said that to “enter into a prayerful state requires a man to now go a step even further, and to stand vulnerable before another man, that is before the God-man, Jesus Christ, and ask him for help.”
But a man’s prayer is not just for himself, Mansour wrote, it is for “all those for whom he loves and cares.”
“A good father, husband, friend, priest, or consecrated man carries the responsibility to not only answer his call to holiness, but to also help bring others to holiness as well,” he wrote.
Fatherhood “is expected of all men,” regardless of their current state of life, Mansour wrote.
He wrote that all men, biological or not, are called to “natural” fatherhood, which is “a role in which a man teaches by example, providing proof that what the father teaches is possible in one’s life.”
The biological father is a “generator of life” that will “go on to nurture other generators of life,” he wrote.
“Thus, the biological father ‘passes on the torch’ allowing his sons the potential to take on the same name, ‘father.’ Fatherhood does not end with the generation of new life, but rather the perfection of this new life through proper rearing, education, and accompaniment,” Mansour wrote.
A natural fatherhood calls a man “to showcase a virtuous life that embodies a lifestyle worthy of imitating,” he wrote.
“Whether one is both a biological and natural father or only a natural father, both roles are ordered to an even greater level of fatherhood: spiritual fatherhood. This is a fatherhood expected of all men of goodwill, focused on accompanying one’s loved ones through this temporal, earthly journey while keeping their eyes fixated on eternal life,” Mansour wrote.
The full 15-page letter can be read here.
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Howler!
The Pelosi Protest in a country which, until the Dobbs ruling, was the least restrictive fetal killing field in the world, except for Communist China and North Korea.
Actually that title goes to Canada. There’s no regulation whatsoever.
Saith the archbishop-ress of partial birth abortion…
I guess all the stern warnings she received about endangering her soul she must have gotten from Francis last October failed to change her mind.
Pray for all unrepentant sinners that their hardness of heart will be softened.
Amen, Deacon Edward.
These sad, pathetic women need our prayers.
And yet, we’re subjected to her photographed with Pope Francis, all with big smiles.
She is a false prophet.
Everything I read about this pathetic woman is – pathetic.
And then I read about the actor Shia Laboeuf who portrays St. Padre Pio in the upcoming (Sept 9) film of his life, and it gives me hope – much hope.
We’ll get through this.
On may suspect that she has willfully lost her eyes to see or her ears to hear as it appears that God may be turning his Face from her, maybe withdrawn the Holy Spirit.
Whenever I see a photo of Nancy Pelosi I am driven to draw it nearer to me , to see if I can spot the horns under har bouffant hairdo.
Nobody, including the federal government, “mandates pregnancy.” There is a foolproof method of contraception called abstinence. Don’t use sexual intercourse as recreation when it was meant for procreation. Yes, there are rare instances when pregnancy results from rape, but those cases are far from the majority of abortions. The Leftist Democrats have been working to eliminate personal responsibility since 1933 to the detriment of individuals and society. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences thereof, period.
This so called catholic needs to be ousted….. such a shame to have women that are “catholic” promote taking the life of a child that our loving God has made possible. Makes me just sick that they don’t even care about the babies that are to born. Not good women or mother’s.
How is it that every Catholic bishop has not rushed to support Archbishop Cordileone’s effort to end the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament by refusing to administer our Lord to this high priestess of satan?
Her evil contagion is vomiting forth whenever she speaks now and erupting across the face of the earth, while our shepherds — with too few exceptions — do virtually nothing to protect their flocks.
The antichrist with is is now all to clear — and it is leftism.
In the meantime, half of America’s Catholics vote for its insane, vile, monstrous agenda every chance they get.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
Its interesting but not shocking that Democrats like Pelosi NEVER speak about the virtual of personal responsibility. NOBODY is responsible for your getting pregnant but YOU. And that applies not matter what color you are or what income level you possess. It seems rather “sinful” to me that Pelosi implies that women lack the brains to make responsible decisions, like abstaining from sexual activity when needed. They therefore MUST need the ability to the murder the child they conceive. Its hard to say what if anything this crone knows about sinfulness, inasmuch as she is a major proponent of late term abortion. Which she appears to believe a greater good for woman-kind. Some can posit the “clump of cells” argument in arguing for abortion in the first two months of a pregnancy. But that is absolutely bogus by well before the 9th month. Yet there is no recognition of this reality from the democrats. I have a friend in her 60’s (past pregnancy age herself) who recently made it clear to me that this will be her voting issue. She has no daughters, and thus I am mystified why she takes this issue like she will need an abortion herself tomorrow. Out the window evidently in her voting decision are REAL life concerns about the open border admitting terrorists and fentanyl pushers and sex traffickers, food shortages, hyper inflation, and the dangers presented by the increasingly war-like posture of our enemies. No comment about the violence perpetrated on life centers and churches by pro-abortion “activists”. Its clear that clergy must speak up loud, often and clear with brutal frankness not only about this barbaric procedure, but about the sinfulness of those who support it, medically or politically. I would consider Pelosi merely dim-witted if she wasnt doing so much harm.
Men often put extreme pressure on a wife or girlfriend to terminate or else
Which again feels like an argument that women lack either intellect or the spine to understand the consequence of what they do. I personally would take the “or else” rather than continue a relationship with a man who urged me to kill my baby.
More “theology” from Professor Pelosi! No doubt she will be warmly
welcomed the next time she goes to the Vatican. And Cardinal Gregory
will be silent and keep giving her Communion.
I am so tired of well-heeled women pleading compassion for minority and low income women to justify their promotion of abortion. How does it show respect/compassion for minority and low income women to tell them their babies are trash?
Our Lord persevered in efforts to help free Judas from the curse incurred by him that blinded him to Lord’s warnings . The Holy Father too likely with the intention to set such persons free – ? from the blinding effects of the curses incurred .
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/27-25.htm
Such persons also ignoring the wisdom and warnings from exorcists as well .
The Govt. too , participating , even in the act of bribing by supporting such choices … and we see the effects – as massive social issues , debt issues , afflictions of nature ,lives and families – wars , identity confusions , addictions , suicides ..
Persons who ought to see the connections refusing to connect the dots – themselves being blinded by the curses ..
Used to be puzzled about the focus given by Rev.Fr.Jim Blount , for the Precious Blood prayers ( a rather long standing devotion ) as advocated for our times – not hard to see how much we need same –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOghQCAeqrE
Blessings !