Womens voices lauded on Magdala feast
day
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
She was the first witness to the Resurrection, the apostle to the
apostles, Jesus close friend and faithful disciple. But for nearly two
millennia Mary of Magdala has been confused with several Marys in scripture or
identified as a prostitute -- at best a repentant one. All that is changing in
the 21st century.
Across North America and abroad, thousands of women and men
commemorated her on her feast day July 22 with music, dance, ceremonies of
healing and reflections that emphasized Mary of Magdalas solidarity with
Catholic women who feel called to serve God as ordained deacons and
priests.
This year her feast day coincided with the date that the Vatican
said it would excommunicate seven women ordained in Austria late last month
(NCR, July 19). The women have filed a recursus, or appeal under
canon law, with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Ceremonies to honor Mary of Magdala are also occurring in a year
in which the U.S. bishops passed a regulation prohibiting preaching by lay
ministers at the moment reserved for the homily. The ruling, issued
Jan. 15, effectively silences womens voices in Sunday
worship, said St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk, executive director of the
Cleveland, Ohio-based FutureChurch, which along with the Chicago-headquartered
Call to Action coordinated some 200 events planned to honor Mary Magdala.
Organizers said they wanted to reverse a pattern of silencing of
female preachers in the Catholic church. Womens preaching voice is
needed in the church, Schenk said, adding that 82 percent of all paid
Catholic lay ministers are women.
If the male apostles had silenced Mary of Magdala, we would
never have known about the Resurrection of Jesus, Schenk said. She hoped
the bishops would welcome womens preaching the good news just as the male
apostles welcomed Marys news.
Members of the Catholic gay and lesbian support group, Dignity,
celebrated the feast day in several East Coast cities and Chicago, as well as
in California and Hawaii. Michelle DeCoste, a member of Dignity Boston,
presided at a lay-led liturgy held July 21 at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal
Church, Boston.
Homilist Randy Stairs, a member of Dignity Boston, told those
assembled that the first century saint challenges todays Catholics to
confront the question of justice within the institutional church --
justice for women called to ministry and for the community in need of
that ministry, [he] said. We cannot continue to
participate in the centuries-old tradition of ignoring the gifts of God and
then blindly asking why there arent enough ministers to meet the
communitys needs.
In Kansas City, Mo., where members of Call to Action held their
fourth annual celebration of Mary of Magdala at St. Francis Xavier Church July
21, the 100-strong group intoned The Litany of Women -- a special
prayer to Mary of Magdala -- and performed the Rite of Naming, in which all
congregants proclaim how they think God sees them.
Some 200 participants attended a Mary Magdala event at the
Motherhouse Chapel of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati. The service, the
third of its kind, drew 18 cosponsors from parishes, spirituality centers,
justice and peace offices, womens groups, religious congregations, the
archdiocesan Office of Religious in Cincinnati and the Justice and Peace Office
of the Covington, Ky., diocese.
Charity Sr. Louise Akers, who organized the coalition, asked,
How did it happen that we 21st-century Christians have never heard about
Marys strong discipleship role during Jesus life, and her prominent
leadership role in the early church? Akers told NCR that a
research paper she presented while in graduate school for her masters in
divinity led to her ongoing commitment to pursue change and renewal in
our patriarchal church.
Patricia Lefevere is an NCR special report
writer.
National Catholic Reporter, August 2, 2002
[corrected 08/16/2002]
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