We must be. haha. Also, in my experience, and from what my friends are telling me, the women needs to know the guy "as a friend" for like 3 years before courting/dating.... That's not acceptable in my opinion if you're vocation is marriage.
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No, of course it's not appropriate, and for a woman to behave like this shows a poor upbringing and a lack of knowledge of the Faith.
If they would read devotional books that actually tell people how to live, they would know this is bad. St. Francis de Sales in his classic on spirituality
The Introduction to the Devout Life talks at great length about why "platonic" friendships between men and women without any real intention to get married are dangerous and wrong. He says quite simply because platonic friendships of that kind usually do not remain so, which is obvious. So when women say they just want to be friends, that is going against this wise teaching.
As far as the length of courtship goes, St. Alphonsus and most spiritual writers say it shouldn't go longer than a year, because that is long enough to know if someone is spouse material, and longer than that it becomes an occasion of sin.
So the correct and Catholic approach is to say, "Let's try this out for a year or so and see if it works, and if not, we both move on." If women aren't willing to do that with a man, then he is not "friend" material for them either.
This is not some arcane, hidden knowledge that you can only find by digging through lost medieval manuscripts. This is common advice given in almost every Catholic book of guidance for young people. The fact that women do not know about this and don't follow it shows they are neglecting to know and study their faith.
Topic: There are many traditional Catholic feminists. (Read 9536 times)