Books Feminist voices by turns positive, pugnacious
THE FEMINIZATION OF
THE CHURCH? By Kaye Ashe Sheed and Ward, 172 pages,
$14.95 |
HEART OF FLESH: A
FEMINIST SPIRITUALITY FOR WOMEN AND MEN By Joan
Chittister Eerdmans/Novalis, 187 pages, $20
|
By KAREN M.
KENNELLY
Paradoxically, inevitable and
uncertain are both apt words to describe the impact of feminism on the
church and religion in the view of these deeply committed Christian feminists,
Dominican Sr. Kaye Ashe and Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister. Both present
convincing arguments for regarding feminization as a revolutionary movement
with the power to revitalize institutions or to render them irrelevant. All
depends on whether or not a thoroughly patriarchal system such as the church
opens itself to receive the gifts feminists have to offer or prefers a path of
resistance.
The two books share a broad platform of agreement, beginning with
the basic assumption that the church has everything to gain from receptivity to
feminist perspectives. They agree that considerable progress has been made
toward feminization, judging from the fact that women are speaking out
everywhere (Chittister) and that women are demonstrably much more a part
of the churchs life today than they were prior to Vatican II (Ashe).
They agree, also, on the destructiveness of patriarchy on the
church as well as on society as a whole: The long-standing and pervasive
assertion of male dominance over the female has had a pernicious, not to say
tragic, effect on peoples lives. Both offer an analysis of how patriarchy
has influenced past religious belief and practice and of how feminist thinking
has begun to change things. Each, however, goes about this critique in very
different ways.
Ashe sets a constructive, conciliatory tone from the outset by
expressing satisfaction with the ways womens presence, voice,
experience, history, gifts, energy and creativity are already being
recognized in the church as in civil society. At the risk of being regarded as
a hopelessly naive optimist, she contends that the feminization of the church
-- that is, its wholehearted embrace of a feminist vision of equality,
inclusion and mutuality -- is well along the way to realization, thanks to the
power of the Spirit and the prophetic imagination of many individuals.
We are invited to draw our own conclusions on the subject by
reflecting with her on the extent to which womens perspectives have begun
to transform spirituality, ethics, language, ministry and leadership. Five
respondents who have filled positions of leadership in the Dominican order or
the scholarly world -- Frs. Donald J. Goergen, Daniel Syverstad, Edward M.
Ruane, Jerome Murphy-OConnor, and Sr. Patricia Walter -- offer their
reflections in a special appendix.
Chittister, in a style by turns abrasive, poetic and humorous (we
have 30 words for car, ... and dozens of names for dog breeds, [but see]
using two pronouns for the human race as fine), declares that the church
is in a rut so far as progression towards feminization is concerned. It
behooves men and women who believe in God and the Christian path to struggle to
promote Christian feminism, to go deep and think fresh -- in a word, to seek
after the heart of flesh promised to the prophet Ezekiel.
Making adroit use of personal anecdote and the language of
passionate advocacy, Chittister challenges the reader to embrace feminist
spirituality and carry the message to nonbelievers. Full-page illustrations in
color by artist Nancy Earle add an often striking visual reinforcement to the
narrative for each of 16 brief chapters.
Whether we find one book or the other more illuminating or
persuasive is largely a matter of taste. Reading the two in tandem is a highly
recommended exercise for all seeking an appreciation of what feminism has to
offer the church.
Spirituality, or the ways human beings think, feel and act with
respect to God, is perhaps the most revealing of the areas Ashe and Chittister
explore as they consider the past effects of patriarchy and the future
potential of feminism. The rediscovered works of women like Hildegard of
Bingen, Julian of Norwich and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz remind us of dimensions
of spirituality that have lain hidden for centuries, overlooked on bookshelves
dominated by Thomas à Kempis, Ignatius Loyola and Alphonsus Ligouri.
We have much to learn from the women: A disposition to see the
sacred in the mundane; appreciation of the goodness of the human being, body
and soul; an esteem for love, friendship and relationships as being at the
heart of morality; and an integrated view of moral goodness and virtue without
distinction between actions taken in a private or public arena.
Ashe offers a particularly sensitive treatment of the subject of
womens leadership and exercise of the ministries of theologian, ethicist,
and pastoral/liturgical presider, complemented by Chittisters
consideration of issues of power and autonomy, and of St. Benedicts 12
degrees of humility viewed through the lens of feminist spirituality. Rather
than being a denial of the hierarchys legitimate concern for sound
teaching and unity, womens desire for an autonomous existence
and ministerial roles commensurate with their human dignity is a protest
against the excesses of patriarchy and clericalism.
Enlightened by feminism and Benedict, a major
countercultural witness in his age, women and men today can embrace a
spirituality of right relationships, rid their hearts of the warped
pride that feeds violence and commit themselves to a humility that brings each
one to authenticity, dispels patriarchal delusions and empowers all to realize
and fulfill their potential.
There is some understandable exaggeration in both volumes, intent
as the authors are on accounting in an all too brief space for the emergence of
patriarchy in church and society over two millennia, and on sharing their
vision of how feminism can revitalize a world about to enter the third
millennium of the Christian era. Historical detail is necessarily omitted,
generalizations are made with scant attention to the complexities of human
motivation and action. Did the masculine emphasis on reason over emotion from
the Renaissance onward really account for the slave trade, exploitation of a
new laboring class and the extermination of whole races of people -- or did
emotions such as greed and lust for power and the unwitting introduction of
diseases among people lacking natural immunity play a role? Are all past
movements toward human dignity and freedom to be found wanting because women
were second-class beneficiaries or ought we to appreciate each as a step toward
dignity and freedom for all?
Perusal of the historical record reveals giants of the spiritual
life such as Teresa of Avila whose gender in no way inhibited influence, and
important junctures in the development of canon law at which the prevalent tide
of patriarchy and clericalism was stemmed. To cite an example, Clement Vs
bull of 1311, Quia Contingit, had far-reaching consequences for
womens leadership when it declared that the office of hospital
administrator was open to lay or religious men or women rather than being an
ecclesiastical benefice as clergy were then claiming.
That numerous other examples of this nature could be cited should
not detract from Ashe and Chittisters tour de force in presenting a
convincing case for looking to feminism for the clear-sightedness and spiritual
energy to love the God we cannot see and to see the God around us whom we
have yet to come to love (Chittister). Isnt this where gender
equity and the gospel message converge, after all?
Sister of St. Joseph Karen M. Kennelly is president of Mount
St. Marys College in Los Angeles.
National Catholic Reporter, October 16,
1998
|