Beware poison of the '60s

Evangelist repents for going bra-less, having tubes tied

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez "Women have an influence, a power and an effect on men." - Johnnette Benkovic

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Society today is "harvesting the poison of the '60s," says a female Catholic evangelist.

Johnnette Benkovic told a conference of Catholic women how she stopped wearing a bra and had her tubes tied due to the mentality of the 1960s.

"It was a time when women thought that to acquire power they had to reject their femininity and acquire a male mindset," she recalled.

"Women say, 'No man is going to tell me what to do with my tubes. Two (children) is enough.' I tied my tubes too and I sterilized myself," Benkovic lamented.

But as she put it, "sin is like a pimple. It comes from inside, from an infection inside. I have been looking at that sin for 26 years now." Benkovic, 56, has three children but has wept many times for the children she didn't have.

God will forgive

God created men and women in his image and gave them the ability to think, the ability to know they exist and free will. What gets women in trouble is free will, contended Benkovic. "It was that gift that got me all tripped up."

But there is no sin that God won't forgive. "I begged for God's forgiveness and he forgave me because I repented." She is now making reparation for her sins by sharing her story with other women.

Benkovic, a host of television and radio shows, was the keynote speaker at the second annual Women of Dignity conference at the Ramada Hotel April 28-29. Some 300 women attended the event organized by Catholic Family Ministries.

God has a specific plan for women and this plan is more important now than ever before, she said, noting that during the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI said, "The time is coming when the power of women will be fully acknowledged."

The pope made those remarks at a time when society was being shaken at its core by materialism and relativism. Women were burning their bras, engaging in promiscuity and demanding their share of power.

The pope was right

But Pope Paul was right. God has incredible plans in mind for women and it is nothing less than this: to aid humanity in not falling, she said.

"We women have been gifted with the grace to bear life - physical life and spiritual life. As women of God, the grace to bear spiritual life flows from our intimacy with him and our union with his holy will."

"Women impregnated with the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling," Benkovic said. "Women have an influence, a power and an effect on men. She knows what to do." When women get it wrong, men get it wrong. When women get it right, there is possibility for change.

"Civilization will one day rise to the status of its women," she said, quoting Archbishop Sheen.

If women were to use their God-given power and influence for good, they would be able to reclaim this culture for Jesus Christ in one generation, Benkovic said to applause.

Many think women and men are equal but Benkovic emphasizes that they are different.

"God created women and men in his image for complementarity but they are wired differently," she said, noting women have a better connection between the left and right sides of the brain and therefore can do many things at once. When men watch football they can't think of anything else so that's the best moment for women to ask them for their credit card, she laughed.

Five genders?

"We don't care about sexes anymore," she lamented. While the Bible says there are two genders society says there are five, including gay, lesbians and transgender people. That's not right, according to Benkovic. "You are not going to be women for some time, you are going to be women forever."

The most sacred place is a woman's womb but "how many times have we violated that sacred hallowed place?" she asked. "God said be fertile and multiply;" nevertheless, many women go against God's will and use contraceptives and have abortions. "Everything in the world has been conceived in the womb of women. It blows me away to even think about it."

But despite their power, women cannot be priests, according to Benkovic. "It is not anthropologically possible for women to be priests. "A woman cannot impregnate. Only a man can impregnate. If a woman were to be ordained we would have a lesbian relationship because the Church is the bride of Christ."

It is the evil one that is making women desire to be what they can never be, the evangelist said. "What does the evil one do? What did he do in Genesis 3? He made Eve lust for something that she could never be. She made Eve lust to be God. Eve has never been a god. Adam has never been a god. You are never being a god and I'll never be God," she said.

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