Ditching the Culture for Christ

Teresa Tomeo has a past and she knows how to use it--for the glory of God’s kingdom. This popular EWTN radio and TV host was once an ambitious, feminist, news broadcaster reaching for the top. But when the world let her down, a U-turn set her on a new course--one pointed in the direction of heaven instead of hell.

In Teresa’s latest book, Extreme Makeover Women, Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture (Ignatius Press) she shares how her thinking became distorted by the prevailing culture while God became little more than a good luck charm. Teresa’s professional success in the secular broadcast field came at a price. “The road on which I was traveling--this way of thinking only about me, myself, and I--helped me gain a good deal of professional success,” she states, “but it would also almost cost me my marriage--and more important, my soul.” Theresa explains her mindset: “I heard someone say once that the word ego is really an acronym for “easing God out,” which is exactly what I was doing.”

The Fruit of Desperation

The conversion process began after Teresa was knocked off her horse by losing her job just when she thought she was on the brink of great success. It was her husband Dominick who took the first step by joining a Bible study and recognizing the spiritual dysfunction in their lives. Teresa struggled with her emotional pain for months until it finally drove her to her knees. “So one day, out of desperation, I simply looked at the crucifix hanging on our bedroom wall and asked God to take over my life,” she recalls.

It began a journey deep into the heart of the Catholic Church. Her broken marriage healed as she and Dominick grew in understanding that the Church understood marriage and commitment far better than the culture did. Together, they peeled away the cultural deception and found a treasure--the truth that has always been taught by the Catholic Church.

Teresa experienced great joy but also a feeling of betrayal--Why didn’t I know this stuff before? Everyone has things they would do differently if given a do-over, but Teresa explains her trust in this Bible verse from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (8:28).

Since that time, Teresa uses her own story and seeks to save others from the pain that results when we fall to the lies of our culture. She hopes her book, will especially save women from the harm that the feminist agenda has caused. “The proof is in the pudding,” Teresa states. “There have been more than fifty million abortions in the United States since the 1973 Roe v. Wad decision. Sexually transmitted diseases are at epidemic proportions, with nineteen million new STD infections each year in the country. The divorce rate in the United States is double that of other developed nations; nearly 40 percent of all children and 70 percent of African American children are born out of wedlock. With the onslaught of pornography and of sexual content in the media, women are more objectified than ever before.”

The Ultimate Health and Beauty Makeover

By the time we get a dose of reality, this book could have been downright depressing. Instead, Teresa points women to a better way-- to spiritual health, beauty, and holiness. Teresa explains the “spot on” teaching on sexual intimacy in Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae and the Pope John Paul II’s documents on the beauty and dignity of women. Excerpts are shared from the 1995 Letter to Women and the encyclical, Mulieris Dignitatem, Vengelium Vitae in which the pope referred to the “feminine genius” and the “new feminism”. For a liberal-minded feminist, reading those documents is life changing.

I understand where Teresa came from because I too grew up around Detroit during her same generation and even started out in journalism before switching majors. I know the mindset of staking new ground, changing the world and getting to the top. I also know that for so many of us, seeking guidance from the Church was not on our radar screen. After all, the Catholic Church was so old fashioned and stifling--or so we thought. At a time when freedom was all that mattered, we mistakenly believed the Church only wanted to take away our freedom and thus our happiness.

Women from the Seventies and beyond bought the lie because we looked only on the surface. In her book, Teresa takes us deep into Catholic teaching where we discover that it is the Church that loves and respects women while the culture often hurts women by encouraging sinful choices and renaming bad as good.

In Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II encouraged women, “...to promote a ‘new feminism’ which rejects the temptation of imitating models of ‘male domination’, in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society and overcome all discrimination, violence and exploitation.”

Surprisingly--perhaps shocking to some--is the Letter to Women John Paul II issued in 1995 right before the United Nations Conference on Women, held in Beijing that year. “There is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the rights and duties of citizen in a democratic State.”

John Paul II also stated in his letter that, women’s dignity has often been unacknowledged and their prerogatives misrepresented; they have often been relegated to the margins of society and even reduced to servitude. This has prevented women from truly being themselves and it has resulted in a spiritual impoverishment of humanity.....”

After providing us with statistics and studies on how the culture is hurting women, then lifting us up with the truth and giving us a spiritual makeover plan, the book ends with conversion stories from other women who traded darkness for light. It’s exciting testimony to the power of the truth. And even if following the Catholic Church makes one counter cultural, Teresa’s book brings home the message that ultimately; the truth will set you free. The message is particularly hopeful for women as she states, “There is no better place for a woman to be than in the arms of Christ within the Catholic Church.” For some, this message will support the journey they are on. For others, it could be the impetus to set them on a better path.

Teresa can be heard on her daily morning program Catholic Connection produces by Ave Maria Radio and syndicated through the WETN Global Catholic Radio Network.

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