Isn't inclusive language just simple justice?

Isn't inclusive language just simple justice? Should the Church exclude half of the worshipers by using "man" and "men" in the Mass?

Answered by:  Terrye Newkirk

Such a view betrays a lack of knowledge of the history of language. The Latin homo and the Anglo-Saxon man merely mean "person," without regard to sex. Therefore, no one is excluded by such Bible passages such as "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked" or by phrases in the Liturgy such as "for us men and for our salvation." The real problem, if there is one, is that English has no common word that specifically means "male person," parallel to the Latin vir, but it has one, "woman," that means "female person." Perhaps it is men who should feel left out.