The Catholic Church and Toxic Masculinity in The Passion of Joan of Arc

Last week’s historic grand jury report about sex abuse in the Catholic church removed any remaining possible doubt that the church has institutionalized the oppression and disenfranchisement of women and children. But this isn’t a recent development; Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film The Passion of Joan of Arc shows in horrifying detail how the church became an instrument of misogyny and economic inequality during the Middle Ages. And of course, the idea of rich white men casting themselves as victims of the very populations they…