A new book by a Catholic talk show host looks at how media and culture are sending unhealthy messages to women and how the church can fill the emotional and spiritual void left behind.
The book, "Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture," looks at how the culture is "going after women" and how women are hurt, "whether it be body image, eating disorders and sexual objectification," said the book's author, Teresa Tomeo.
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There's a kind of "split personality" in the media, she said, when a newspaper or newscast reports on studies showing how influential media are on an audience, especially children, or studies showing ways women are still objectified.
"And then they turn around and promote sex at 2 in the afternoon in a soap opera or a commercial," she said.
[. . .]
In her book, published by Ignatius Press, Tomeo details the personal crises she weathered -- an eating disorder, a frenetic work ethic and a crumbling marriage. She had been living distant from God, she said, and just accepted the current culture's stereotypes wholesale.
"I realized I was living in the world so strongly, it consumed me. My career was everything and I let everything else slide and almost lost everything in the process," she said.
Many people, whether they are religious or not, "are sick and tired of the way women are treated, the way families are treated and the way marriage is disrespected," she said.
The women's liberation movement failed to provide the solution, she said, because what brings freedom and dignity to women are in the teachings of Christ and the Catholic Church, Tomeo said.
[. . .]
She said she hopes the book will inspire women, especially teens, to learn about the Catholic faith, study it, pray and find out who they are in Christ.
By transforming themselves, women can change the culture, she said, quoting St. Catherine of Siena: "When we are whom we are called to be, we will set the world ablaze."
Just a personal note: Teresa Tomeo was a reporter on the top-rated WXYZ-TV Action News in my hometown of Detroit. She projected an assured professionalism and was probably best described as hard-charging; I still remember the intensity and authority she brought to crime scene reporting or local politics those few years ago. She did not seem like somebody you'd want to play games with in an interview!
She was someone one just assumed was "going places", and I'm glad to see she decided to go those places for the Church: It's been a great pleasure first to learn that she is a committed Catholic, then to find her using her professional gifts to speak of the Faith, and finally to see her so successful in doing so.
Read the full report at this link.
Pre-order the book here.
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| Teresa Tomeo |
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