What Butker missed about women and a biblical life
Harrison Butker’s commencement address to Benedictine College is under fire in social media. The Kansas City Chiefs place kicker is Catholic, and delivered a very traditional and orthodox commencement address at this private Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas, last weekend.
Raised Catholic and still a Christian believer, I wasn’t surprised by anything Butker said, even though I had mixed feelings about some of it. Remember, Butker is both a conservative Catholic and conservative in his political values. He values the mass in Latin. Benedictine leaders knew exactly who they were getting.
The audience cheered a few times during the speech, not surprising because it is a traditional Catholic college.
Actually, the one thing he said that went against Catholic tradition was an inference that the Jewish people killed Jesus Christ
when Butker blasted a bill condemning antisemitism.
The church long has held that Jews could not be held collectively accountable, since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed this in his personal reflection, “Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (Volume 2),” and wrote there is no basis in Scripture for blaming Jews.
But, like those critical of Butker, I have to address some issues, and it’s not his sound bites disparaging LGBTQ Pride month, COVID-19 policies, abortion rights or in vitro fertilization. Again, he espoused conservative beliefs and that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
His discussion on the role of gender, and blind sheeplike following, are worth exploring even more.
First, Butker’s comments to the women in the audience:
“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are … thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Before I continue, I must disclose that I am and have been a career woman in journalism while married. Butker’s critics say that his speech is telling women to stay home, pregnant and in the kitchen. But that’s taking the easy way to criticize. This part of his speech is even more nuanced and troubling.
Motherhood and homemaking are incredibly important and rewarding and filled with hard work. So is choosing a full-time career. Many women do both. But here, Butker suggests that staying home is more biblical than working outside the home.
He forgot the women leaders in the Bible who didn’t stay home and were part of the early Christian movement, such as Mary Magdalene, who traveled with Jesus and was the first to witness the Resurrection. She and other women, like early Christian leaders Peter, Paul, John and Timothy, were crucial in helping spread the news of Jesus Christ.
And let’s not overlook
Deborah, the Old Testament military leader in the Book of Judges, who strategized battle against the Canaanites. She also has been called a prophet. She certainly didn’t choose homemaking.
The Bible highlights several other women such as Ruth, Naomi and Esther, and while these women are remembered for their commitment to family, it shows their bravery and backbone.
Being a homemaker and mother is wonderful, but some women don’t marry or can’t have children, and pushing a woman’s worth through reproduction is cruel.
There were some things about Butker’s speech that I appreciated: not placing blame without taking a look at yourself, challenging priests and bishops to be real shepherds of their church, and encouraging the graduates to help others at great sacrifice to oneself.
Was the address appropriate? For this crowd, perhaps. But I hope the women in the audience who didn’t agree with everything Butker said remember that they can think for themselves, read the Bible for themselves, and choose the reasoning God granted to live a full and worthwhile life whether you have a family or not.