“The Church has called women to be the stealth weapon of the Twenty First Century” according to Mary Jo Anderson in her featured article on the Feminine Genius. The concept of “feminine genius” was first outlined by Pope Paul VI in 1965:

“…the hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of woman is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquires in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is under-going so deep a transformation, women impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid mankind
in not falling.” (Closing of The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Address of Pope Paul VI to Women, 8 December 1965)

“Critics of the Catholic Church frequently mock the Church’s insistence that women have unique gifts for the Church and the world. Indeed, Pope John Paul II’s exhortations to women that they employ their “feminine genius” to build a culture of life often are met with a chorus of dissent from within and without the Church. The tired mantra is that “until women are ordained to the priesthood, the Church is guilty of discrimination.”

How should Catholics respond to these charges? How can Catholic women communicate the deeper truths of the “effect and power” of the feminine vocation? A quick response is that it is illogical to think the Church would entrust the enormous mission of “aid humanity in not falling” to second-class citizens. Indeed, the Church has called women to be the stealth weapon of the twenty-first century. It urgently needs and seeks the particular, active participation of its daughters...”
(Feminine Genius, Mary Jo Anderson, CatholicCulture.org)

If you are a woman, please consider joining the hundred plus IHM Spiritual Mothers to priests. Our mission is simple yet powerful. For more information look for the Spiritual Motherhood display near the pamphlet rack in the Gathering Space at Church, or go to the Spiritual Motherhood page at ihom.org / Get involved / Ministries / PEA / Spiritual Motherhood.