The Bishop of Elphin has raised the issue of "toxic masculinity" and "aggressive feminism" in his weekend homily.
Bishop Kevin Doran was calling for more gentleness between the races and the sexes, and said we need to recognise that equality can be talked about without attacking the opposite side.
In his homily at the weekend Bishop Doran says the role of woman in Western Society was very limited a couple of decades ago and their decision making was in many cases restricted d he family home
The Bishop says while the church has to take its share of responsibility for that, he believes some of the more extreme expressions of feminism have been harmful to both women and men.
He says while men came to be regarded as the "opposition" many women seemed to believe the only way they could get equality was to be more like men.
Bishop Doran says he believes the "toxic masculinity" being talked about 'might in some way be related to aggressive feminism, like two sides of the same coin.'
He says that with 'toxic masculinity' the traditional characteristics of strength, courage and honour can sometimes become distorted and exaggerated in such a way that young men feel it's okay to be violent and rude and to treat women disrespectfully.
Bishop Doran says that maybe it's time for us to re-discover gentleness, to become peacemakers and to choose humility over aggression as the conversations continue about the changing roles in our society].
