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18 March 2014

Learning from "Lady Parts" By Mary E. Hunt

Teachers need vivid imaginations to keep students interested and materials fresh. Kathryn D. Blanchard and Jane S. Webster demonstrate creative pedagogy and innovative scholarship with Lady Parts: Biblical Women and the Vagina Monologues (Eugene, OR: WIPF and STOCK, 2012). This is a unique project both in content and method. It is bound to generate others like it and, with luck, change lives. Various women from Hebrew and Christian scriptures are brought alive by 21st century scholars, students, and others.
The texts of Lady Parts are hard to read. It is not because they are poorly written, nor because they are uninteresting. To the contrary, I found them painful. Stories of ripped, torn, abused, bloodied, mistreated, ignored vaginas are not easy to read. I hope they never become so, because a major goal of the book, according to the authors, is to stop violence against women. One cannot stop something one does not know about.
Most people turn to the sacred scriptures of their faith with the hope of finding insight, enlightenment, even encouragement. Alas, what shines through here is the way in which women, Christian and Jewish among others, have been mistreated for millennia: violated, raped, used, objectified, and thrown away for newer models. Admittedly, the Lady Parts stories, based on scripture, were written by late modern women whose own experiences and awareness lie behind the telling. But I was left to wonder if there is no lovely text in Hebrew and/or Christian scripture where the vagina is enjoying her dear self, safe and snug in her woman’s place, ready for the pleasure for which she was created. Apparently there is not. Gender oppression is ubiquitous and there is no reason to think scriptures would be exempt.
I was heartened to find a few lesbian scenes in the texts. I detect that the roots of Dolly Van Fossan’s piece, “Eve,” in Lady Parts may be in Judith Plaskow’s famous myth about Lilith. Dolly makes the women’s relationship explicit, stretching our imaginations to encompass a new possibility in the text. This is a welcome advance in the 21st century for which Dr. Plaskow’s extraordinary creativity forty years earlier prepared the way.
That Eve and Lilith enjoyed themselves now seems to be an obvious interpretation. I went back to Judith Plaskow’s classic, The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005, especially pages 31-32 where the original myth is reprinted), looking for hints and glimpses that only a lesbian hermeneutic would reveal. There they were, though I had all but missed them in many readings.
Read the text: “before Lilith got away, Eve got a glimpse of her and saw she was a woman like herself…Another woman! The very idea attracted Eve. She had never seen another creature like herself before. And how beautiful and strong Lilith looked!” So Eve noticed the other woman. That was a good sign.
Later in the text: “One day, after many months of strange and disturbing thoughts, Eve wandering around the edges of the garden…swung herself over the wall. She did not wander long on the other side before she met the one she had come to find, for Lilith was waiting.” So, apparently it was a two-way street. Lilith was also interested. Nice.
Their conversation ensued: “They taught each other many things, and told each other stories, and laughed together, and cried, over and over, till the bond of sisterhood grew between them.” What a nice way to describe their pleasurable times together. How had I missed it before?
Toward the end the text reads: “And God and Adam were expectant and afraid the day Eve and Lilith returned to the garden bursting with possibilities, ready to rebuild together.” It sounds like the afterglow of a very special time to me. The males had reason to worry because they were both unnecessary to the women’s pleasure and a source of distraction from the women’s plans.
The reader’s eyes are opened to possibilities that might have been passed over in previous encounters with the texts. Broader and more inclusive understandings of sexual orientation and gender identity inform the task of biblical study. A lesbian/queer women’s hermeneutic is welcome. When will this be taught as a normative part of biblical scholarship in seminaries and graduate programs?
I urge widespread use of the text as a teaching tool, starting with the very extensive Introduction (a useful stand-alone piece for teaching) in which the authors lay out the basic contours of feminist biblical scholarship. They underscore the importance of a feminist methodology, relying on Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza’s four-fold approach to biblical work: suspicion, resistance, remembrance, and reconstruction (Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Feminist Biblical Interpretation. Boston: Beacon Press, 1984). They clarify the importance of using contemporary literary pieces, especially “The Vagina Monologues,” to capture attention and spark creativity among students and colleagues in the field.
Lady Parts reminded me of another creative project of similar proportions, Eve’s Big Fat Family Reunion, a play with music and lyrics by Lois Cecsarini, first performed in 2012, which I reviewed here. Cecsarini’s script is far tamer than Lady Parts, but the message is parallel: women need to live into their power and be strong.
In her piece, Eve and Lilith sing about themselves:
“When it comes to that thing called obedience
My sister’s no fool (oh, no, no fool)
She knows in the end its virtue depends
Entirely on who writes the rules.”
Lady Parts and Eve’s Big Fat Family Reunion, point out the horrible ways women have been treated in texts that are central to major religious traditions. No wonder religion and violence have been such common bedfellows. Creators of these feminist works invite scholars to probe the texts, and to write some new ones, to create alternative images and symbols that exalt women’s bodies, and in so doing to create a safer world. I commend these works to our collective reading and viewing. Enjoy!

17 March 2014

Kaye Ashe's Spirit Lives in Those She Inspired

Kaye AsheOriginally posted for National Catholic Reporter
By: Mary E. Hunt and Cathy Jaskey
Dominican Sr. Kaye Ashe was part of a generation of smart, committed, gutsy women who opened the world's eyes to Catholic women's potential and barriers to its fulfillment. She died Feb. 15 at the age of 84.
Rooted in her faith and religious community, Ashe pushed for women's social equality and full participation in the Roman Catholic church. Like so many of her cohorts, she was deeply accomplished. She earned a doctorate, published several books (Today's Woman, Tomorrow's Church in 1983 and The Feminization of the Church? in 1997), taught widely, administered effectively, and served as prioress of her religious congregation, the Sinsinawa Dominicans.
Ashe actualized her vision of an equal society and a just church through empowering women in higher education at Rosary College (now Dominican University) in River Forest, Ill. She was a founding member of Mary's Pence, a group that gives grants to small women's organizations. She participated in the Women-Church Convergence, a coalition of Catholic-rooted feminist groups. Ashe was tireless in her teaching, writing and consciousness raising. At an age when many people retire, she moved from Wisconsin to California and started a new teaching job. She continued to work for justice with the kind of personal integrity and dancing way that made her so attractive.
Strands of her unique story are repeated in the lives of so many amazing Catholic women, in and beyond religious orders, who persist in education, ministry and leadership despite lack of any institutional church support, and indeed often with its opposition. These women are not household names; most come and go with little fanfare. They have no ecclesial titles. But they have far more influence than they realize, and the Earth is a richer place because of them. Imagine if they were given the jobs they merit and the respect they deserve, how much better off the world would be.
It was only at the end of her life that this pair of writers realized that we both had come under Ashe's good influence. Hunt met Ashe in the 1970s through several Dominican sisters who were studying in Cambridge, Mass. Early stirrings of the Catholic women's ordination movement brought diverse women together for discussion and strategizing.
Support independent Catholic journalism.Subscribe to NCR.
Ashe was a friend of Mary Daly, the late feminist theologian and philosopher who taught at Boston College. Ashe met Daly, who worked as a housemother (according to Dominican Sr. Mary Ewens -- the image is astonishing!) for the Dominican Junior Year Abroad program in Fribourg, Switzerland, where Daly completed two of her three doctorates. Ashe and Daly vacationed together, riding motor scooters around the region in what must have been hilarious good times. Daly recounted their exploits with delight to Hunt, who shared them with Jaskey.
Jaskey, an associate of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, is grateful for the feminist foremother she found in Ashe. Ashe's was an important voice questioning and challenging institutions. Jaskey's choice to work in a feminist nonprofit organization was inspired by her education at Dominican University, especially its mission, and the support she found in faculty, staff, and sisters -- Ashe's people.
Jaskey remembers Ashe leading a tai chi session at a conference a few years ago. Ashe, 80 at the time, was a peaceful, joyful presence. Her bold work was centered in a holistic, bodily spirituality. This balance of contemplation and action seemed sacred, something for which a young woman could strive.
Ashe's wisdom and beauty reflected Dominican University's culture, where it is often said, "At the heart of everything is relationship." Those who knew Ashe were privileged to experience this firsthand. Jaskey did not know Ashe well, but she has long kept a poem of Ashe's about community on her wall:
The search --
for self,
for wisdom,
for love,
for truth,
for justice,
for God --
is strenuous and unending.
We need good companions
in order to persevere in it.
In good company,
in a community of conviction,
the quest never loses its
relevance,
its urgency,
or its savor.
With so much justice work to be done, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or hopeless. But with companions like Ashe, the work is a pleasure. The lineage of Catholic women committed to justice and equality lengthens from generation to generation as young women join the work. Ashe's spirit lives.

16 March 2014

In Memory of Her

You can remember or honor someone special or an occasion by giving a donation in their name to WATER’s In Memory of Her Fund. You are invited to send your donation with a check and an accompanying note, or donate on our website via PayPal and send us an email to waterstaff@hers.com honoring your loved one.
Where does “in memory of her” come from?
According to Mark (14:9), Jesus said of the faithful woman who anointed him “and truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Church history has since conveniently forgotten her name. In Memory of Her honors people from all religious or non-religious traditions.
The following is our current list of remembrance:
From Joan Pinkman of Hyattsville, MD: In memory of Hope Brown
From Robin, Michael, Francesca & Nicholas Tesoro of Cummington, MD: In celebration of Eileen Lennon‘s 70th Birthday
From Maureen Lennon of Nyack, NY: In honor of Eileen Lennon
From Paul Colfer of San Francisco, CA: In memory of Gerald and Veronica Colfer
From Joe Scinto of Rockville, MD: In memory of Carol Scinto.
spring tree2

14 March 2014

"Conscience and Calling: Ethical Reflections on Catholic Women’s Church Vocations" Notes

Notes from

“Conscience and Calling: Ethical Reflections on Catholic Women’s Church Vocations”
A WATER teleconference with
Anne E. Patrick
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
1 pm – 2 pm EST

            WATER is grateful to Dr. Anne E. Patrick for leading a teleconference on her new book, Conscience and Calling: Ethical Reflections on Catholic Women’s Church Vocations (London: Bloomsbury, 2013). The book is meticulously documented, written in an accessible style, and full of good analysis of difficult situations. The bottom line is that Catholic women have moved from a default reaction of obedience to a considered embrace of responsibility as moral, intellectual, and spiritual agents. This book traces some of that evolution and points to even more to come.
            Following are Anne’s presentation notes that she has graciously shared with us. Then there are some questions from participants and Anne’s responses. These are not meant to be comprehensive notes, but simply to give the flavor of the discussion. Feel free to listen to the whole teleconference at http://www.waterwomensalliance.org/teleconferences-audio-and-notes/ .


WATER Teleconference
Anne E. Patrick, SNJM

Thank you, Mary, for your introduction, and for inviting me to discuss CONSCIENCE & CALLING today. I’ve long admired the creative work that you and Diann Neu and your staff colleagues are doing at WATER, and the way you’ve made so many connections with religious feminists around the world. It’s exciting to be giving a WATER teleconference, and I look forward to our discussion very much.

            Essentially my book calls for including women in all ministries of the Roman Catholic Church on an equal basis with men. To argue for this change I give ethical and theological reasons, and tell lots of stories. In the third chapter, for example, I outline the history of an idealistic group of sisters that got started five years after Vatican II, the National Assembly of Women Religious (later called the National Assembly of Religious Women). Although NAWR/NARW lasted only 25 years, it helped launch two groups that have continued its mission for justice: the WOMEN’S ORDINATION CONFERENCE, and NETWORK, the Catholic social justice lobby, now famous for “NUNS ON THE BUS.” Elsewhere in the book I tell the story of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement, which has been largely the work of women not in religious vows. This movement began with the ordination of seven women on the Danube River in 2002. Although its leaders have been formally excommunicated, they continue to claim a Catholic identity. Members now offer sacramental ministry in the Catholic tradition to more than sixty communities in the U.S. and Canada, and they seek to express “a new model of ordained ministry in a renewed Catholic Church.” The jury is still out on whether in a century or two these women will be thought of as more like St. Catherine of Siena or Martin Luther, or indeed whether by then we may be calling him St. Martin. I believe the words of Gamaliel from Acts chapter 5 concerning the preaching of St. Peter are relevant to the womenpriests movement: To quote verses 38 and 39: “For if this idea of theirs or its execution is of human origin, it will collapse, but if it is from God, you will never be able to put them down. . .”

How did it happen it that so many nuns and other lay women have gained the ability to speak and act courageously in a religious institution that trained us to be docile, unquestioning, and submissive to male religious authorities?

It takes more than one book to answer that question, but I can say that a great transformation in Christian ideals of virtue took place in the last century. Whereas before World War II the main emphasis was on obedience and doing one’s duty, after the war, there was a shift in emphasis toward something called “responsibility.” The ethicist Albert Jonsen has traced this development [in Responsiility and Modern Religious Ethics, 1968] and shown that after the trials at Nuremburg, when Nazis tried to justify their crimes by saying they were only being obedient, following orders—after these trials some very influential thinkers brought the concept of responsibility to the fore. Since that time, this shift from a moral ideal of duty and obedience to one of responsibility has been combined with insights from feminism, with the result that many Christians have moved from a “patriarchal” understanding of virtue to a “feminist” one.

In Conscience and Calling, I illustrate this change by analyzing two cases where my religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, dealt with injustice on the part of priests and bishops in the twentieth century. I’m sure many church women can tell similar stories, but these two cases are particularly interesting because the responses to injustice before the Second World War were so different from the way things were handled after the war and Vatican II.

A Case from the Brooklyn Diocese, 1939
           In June 1939, five Sisters of the Holy Names withdrew from the school at St. James, Long Island after suffering for years from a domineering pastor. They loved the people and their teaching work, but Father Murphy controlled the heat and hot water, and forbade the sisters to talk with parishioners or accept rides from them, although they had no car. Even after the sisters had raised money to buy a furnace, the pastor kept the thermostat turned down and locked. The pupils wore coats in the classrooms, and the sisters’ health suffered. In their convent home they could have hot water for bathing only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They were grateful when members of their community came by train from Coney Island, where they staffed a thriving school and enjoyed a very positive relationship with the pastor, Father Froelich. Finally, after years of hardship, and one sister’s hospitalization for pneumonia, the provincial superior felt she could no longer leave sisters at St. James.

When Mother Mary of Lourdes told Bishop Thomas Molloy of her decision, he countered by saying that if the sisters left St. James they would have to leave the diocese, which meant giving up the much-loved school on Coney Island. She replied, “Very well, your excellency, we will withdraw from the diocese,” but the way she handled things after that shows how strongly she was influenced by patriarchal ideals. She delayed telling the sisters they were leaving both parishes until late in the school year, and then instructed them not to discuss this with anyone. Although the sisters at St. James could guess why they were being withdrawn, the sisters on Coney Island had no idea it was the bishop’s fault they were leaving, and their abrupt departure from people they loved became a source of lifelong sorrow. Nor did the pastor on Coney Island tell the full story to the parishioners, though he did his best, within the model of virtue reigning at the time, to show his appreciation for the nuns and to invite the people to accept their departure without resentment. We see this in an excerpt from the convent chronicles for June 25, 1939.
“GRADUATION--Thirty-eight of our eighth grade boys and girls receive graduation honors this afternoon. Rev. Francis Froelich, Pastor, reminds them of their duties as Catholics and as American citizens, and again emphasizes the loyalty they should prove to their school and to their Sisters. Father seized this last opportunity to express once more his gratitude to the Sisters.”
[There was nothing like that suggesting gratitude in the chronicles from St. James.]
The wording of the chronicles shows a concern not to question the judgments of religious authorities, whether bishop or provincial superior. But clearly their author is worried that the parents might be hurt by the sudden departure of the sisters from their children's school because of what was said to be a “lack of teachers” elsewhere. The last entry for Coney Island notes that “Since June 28 the sisters have gradually left, to take up their work [summer study] at the various universities and today the remaining three bid a final farewell to the work which has been ours for twenty-one years. God wills it thus and we humbly submit to [God’s] designs in our regard.”
           
Silence and humble submission were notably absent in the second case of conflict with ecclesiastical employers, which took place in the Archdiocese of Miami in 1989-90. This case shows women operating under very different ideals of what it means to be a good sister. Instead of emphasizing obedience, denial of conflict, and institutional loyalty, their responses to difficulties laid stress on justice, honesty, and personal responsibility. No longer was God's will assumed to be contained within the directives of ecclesiastical authority. Instead, they presumed that women and men ought to dialogue together to discern what God might want for Her people. And if dialogue proves impossible, then the people who will lose the women's ministries have a right to know what’s been going on. Sisters are no longer willing to “cover” for the clergy or to absorb blame for decisions beyond their control.

                                    A Case in Key West, FL, 1989-90
            The Sisters of the Holy Names had played a vital role in the history of Key West, Florida, where they operated schools from 1868 until 1983, when declining numbers led them to withdraw. Five years later, in 1988, the pastor, Father Eugene Quinlan, wrote to the provincial director, Sister Kathleen Griffin, describing four positions and expressing his desire to have sisters return. And so, after much prayer and planning, four sisters agreed to come: one as Director of Religious Education, and another as Associate DRE. A third would write the parish history, and the fourth would visit the sick. In August 1989, there was a joyful celebration when these sisters came to the island.

Within months, however, things fell apart. At a December staff meeting there was a misunderstanding between the pastor and the sisters over whether the two religious educators should also be expected to teach classes in Saint Mary’s School. This erupted into an emotional exchange, and Quinlan suddenly said that none of the sisters’ contracts would be renewed. He soon wrote to Sister Kathleen Griffin to say that salaries would be paid through August 15, but the four sisters had to leave by July 1. She responded that “the nature and content of your letter came as a great surprise,” and said she needed to pray and reflect on the matter and would visit Key West again in February. On January 8, Quinlan wrote to Griffin that his decision was final. A week later she met with the Vicar for Religious in Miami, Sr. Denise Marie Callaghan, to explore “approaches to solutions,” but this proved fruitless. Griffin was unable to obtain an appointment with Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, or even “even acknowledgement that correspondence or phone calls were received between mid-January and May.”

Meanwhile the provincial agreed to meet with a group of parishioners who had asked to “gain some understanding of why the sisters were leaving so that they, too, could seek solutions.” After the meeting, Griffin and three councilors wrote to the archbishop and the members of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish. This letter of March 29, 1990 was also shared with all the New York Province Sisters of the Holy Names. Such a step would have been unthinkable in the days of Mother Mary of Lourdes’ conflict with the bishop of Brooklyn fifty years earlier. The letter describes the sisters’ sorrow at being dismissed so soon after returning to the island, and reminds everyone of the historical background:
“The people of Key West hold a unique place in the hearts and in the history of the Sisters of the Holy Names. . . . [I]n 1868, before bridges, railroad or air travel, we came to Key West, bought and cleared our land and began our ministry of education in the faith. During periods when there were no priests on the island we were present with you to gather people for worship, to baptize, to teach. During severe epidemics we were present to nurse the sick, comfort the dying and conduct burial services. During the Spanish-American War we converted the school into a hospital and nursed the wounded. During calm and hurricanes, in periods of great economic growth and severe depression, we were present with you, in good times and bad. The return of four sisters to Key West was prompted by our desire to resume a long ministerial history of response to your needs.”

The letter concludes with the sisters’ clear statement of the message they most wanted to leave with the people, something that their predecessors at Coney Island had not been able to express in 1939:
            “It is not our choice to leave.
While Father Quinlan may choose to exercise his authority to dismiss these four sisters . . . , his choice can never erode or dismiss the affection and the bonds we sisters have with you.”

We can see in this letter how a “personal responsibility and social justice” model of virtue has influenced Griffin and her council, in contrast to the “military obedience and institutional loyalty” model of virtue that held sway in the 1930s.

Well, after their meeting with Griffin, parishioners started a public campaign to “save the nuns.” Their response showed both their post-Vatican II optimism about having a voice in matters of parish life and also their trust that church officials would respond favorably to pressure tactics often employed in the United States. Thus on April 22 they published a full-page ad in the Key West Citizen, featuring a picture of the community’s founder in her nineteenth-century habit, Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, above the banner headline “Save the Nuns.” The ad also included historical material from the council’s letter, and declared in bold type, “It is not their choice to leave.” Readers were encouraged to write to the archbishop and post the ad in their windows. Laity also distributed hundreds of “Save the Nuns” buttons and gathered nightly to pray at a shrine near the church. This campaign led to coverage in the Miami and Key West newspapers, and even mention on CNN. Sister Rose Gallagher, a provincial councilor, recalled:
“A biplane flew over the island after all the masses one weekend in April trailing the message, “Father, please keep the nuns.” It was this event that prompted the first contact from the archdiocese. The archbishop phoned the provincial to tell her to remove the sisters as soon as possible. [She] met with her council, talked with the sisters in Key West and then finalized their departure in May, three months ahead of time.”
* * * * *
An idealized picture of the early church declares, “The community of believers were of one heart and one mind,” as Luke write in Acts 4:32, but that probably lasted about ten minutes. Disputes have been part of Christian life from the beginning. The examples of conflict between sisters and their ecclesiastical employers are not unique in church history, and indeed, sisters are by no means the only ones who have felt powerless when in dispute with church authorities. But our cases show a clear development in the ideals of virtue held by women who have an important place in the church. This development is the shift in emphasis from obedience to responsibility that’s been in progress among Christians since the mid-twentieth century, and which has been influenced also by feminist insistence on the equal value of women and men. Although the present gender imbalance within the Roman Catholic Church has been defended by some authorities on theological grounds, many believers do not find the arguments convincing, and regard them as limited human positions rather than divinely endorsed realities. And indeed, our new Pope Francis may yet surprise us on these matters.

Were there time, I might show how the differing ideals of virtue for women religious have played a role in tensions between the Vatican and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which were so much in the news two years ago, but so that we can have plenty of time for discussion, I’ll draw this part to a close now with this observation: Indeed, the church is not yet an Equal Opportunity Employer, but women’s enhanced moral agency is putting pressure on that situation, and we have reason to hope that God, who is with us now and also coming to us from the future, will continue to inspire the reforms we need.

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Following Dr. Patrick’s presentation questions emerged:

1. One caller who identified herself as Protestant told Anne E. Patrick how angry these examples made her. She expressed shock and chagrin over how clerical men treat women.
Anne replied that sexism is an equal opportunity phenomenon. It is everywhere. Catholics are not the only ones who experience it. She recommended an essay by the late Christian ethicist, Beverly Wildung Harrison, “The Power of Anger in the Work of Love” (Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics, Beverly Wildung Harrison, edited by Carol S. Robb, Boston: Beacon Press, 1985, pp. 3-21). She also mentioned that the women of St. James had not told their story before. All of them are now deceased.


2. Another colleague, an associate of the Sisters of Providence, told the story of St. Mother Theodore Guerin being locked in the dining room by a bishop who later excommunicated her. She noted the importance of telling women’s stories so women can come into their power. Interviewing elderly nuns is a good way to get some of the details.
Anne recommended a resource for daily prayer entitled Give Us This Day http://www.giveusthisday.org/ that includes the lives of holy persons, some of whom were challenged in the church of their day.

3. A colleague from San Francisco urged that we tell the stories of ecclesial abuse broadly. She described a parallel situation that unfolded recently. A group of Dominican priests served in campus ministry at the University of New Mexico. They were sent a letter stating that they are dismissed as of July, however they learned about it in a Sunday newspaper. More than 1000 letters have been sent to the diocese in support of priests. The bishop refuses to meet with people concerned, whom he calls “too emotional to be rational.” His decision is final, without dialogue.  
Anne E. Patrick said that she had studied at a Protestant divinity school so she is familiar with different models of governance in many churches. She is grateful to stay in the Roman Catholic tradition with its sacramentality and international organization. Congregational models can do some things, and have their own lines of accountability. She would not do away with hierarchy entirely, but would urge consultation and subsidiarity.

She added a lovely clarification about her own name: She uses her middle initial ‘E’ since she was sometimes confused with a wonderful Sister of Loretto, the late Ann Patrick Ware. They had mutual friends, came to know one another, and appreciated sharing about the mix-ups!

4. Another participant asked why, since Anne deals with interstructured issues, she did not use the neologism of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “kyriarchy,” to describe the interlocking forms of oppression, including racism, colonialism, heterosexism, etc.
Anne E. Patrick replied that she felt more readers could understand “patriarchy.”

5. The same questioner asked about The “Francis factor” referring to the new pope.
Anne told how the completion of her book dovetailed with the election of Pope Francis. She added a few lines to the introduction, but was on deadline to get her book published so had no time for more. She believes that Francis “gets it” that women should have a more prominent role in the church. She also observed that sex discrimination in the area of sacraments undermines any claims of equality. Still, she thinks things will change for the better, that full justice for women and girls is ahead of us. The official church claims it needs a “deeper theology of women,” but there are already many resources to use. The Pope said that “the door is closed” on women’s ordination, but he did not say that the door is nailed shut. The papal challenge to clericalism/careerism is a good start. With Simone Campbell, she takes hope from EVANGELII GAUDIUM, which is written with a certain tentativity concerning women’s status, and which emphasizes “process” rather than “turf.” Things are this way for now but can change with continued discussion. She likes the notion that the homily should be like a “maternal conversation,” a change of emphasis from phallic imagery for preaching. She quoted
Kathleen Hall Jamieson who spoke on the PBS MacNeill-Lehrer NewsHour on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the U.S. in September 1987. When asked if papal teaching ever changes, Jamieson replied that yes, papal teaching can change, but only after there has been a period of papal silence on a question. Anne thinks the fact that Pope Francis is not repeating arguments of his predecessors concerning women’s ordination, but guarding a certain silence, may be a prelude to substantive change in the future..

6. A representative of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement thanked Anne for her continued support of that group. Anne told the story of one of the RCWP leaders, Patricia Fresen, a native of South Africa. While studying in Rome, Fresen was told by her professors that if women were ever ordained, she had the gifts. She later taught preaching, but as a woman could not ordinarily preach. Once when she was invited to preach, some male seminarians objected. Earlier, in the days of apartheid, she had been a school principal who violated South African law by welcoming students of color into an all-white school. She was arrested and intimidated by police for her “prophetic obedience” in non-violent actions. That set the stage for her 2003 ordination and subsequent work in RCWP.


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This audio recording will be on our Web site www.waterwomensalliance.org .

Our next teleconference will be Wed. April 9, 2014 1 PM EDT, with Margaret Mann who will speak on her book A Dramatically Different Direction about living with a disability.

We will send out notice shortly. All are welcome so please join us. 

10 March 2014

Women of Dignity/WATER Retreat June 13-15, 2014

Holy Wholly Holy 3
The Women of DignityUSA and Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual
(WATER) team up for a third retreat led by lesbian and queer women. This year we
will focus on holiness, sainthood—our own and other’s—and how we get there. The
weekend will include prayer, quiet, recreation, celebration, and conversation.
Women saints will guide our way. Wholly holy women will emerge.

Our weekend will run from 6:00 PM Friday when we gather for dinner through the conclusion of lunch on Sunday at 1:00 PM. The fee includes six meals, snacks,
beverages and all costs associated with participation in the retreat. There are both
commuter and residential rates. All sleeping rooms have double beds and private baths.
The Retreat and Conference Center has plenty of parking for those choosing to
drive. For those who will travel by train or plane, we will provide information on
ground transportation from BWI airport along with your registration confirmation.
For more information contact info@dignityusa.org or waterstaff@hers.com

Holy Wholly Holy 3

Apply to become a WATER Intern this summer!

Apply to become a WATER Intern this summer!
Please alert your friends, students, colleagues who might wish to apply.
Pictured here are our four wonderful interns from 2013: Molly Bolton who is graduating with an M.Div. from Wake Forest School of Divinity; Rebekah Renfro who is graduating from Smith College; Elizabeth Lancaster who is graduating from Hendrix College; and Wendy Mallette who is now at Yale Divinity School. We miss them all!
They follow a long line (now more than 45) of WATER interns who are making important contributions to the world, in part because of their experiences here. Consider being one of them.
From l to r, Molly Bolton, Rebekah Renfro, Elizabeth Lancaster, and Wendy Mallette
From l to r, Molly Bolton, Rebekah Renfro, Elizabeth Lancaster, and Wendy Mallette

May 5 WATER Meditation/Contemplative Prayer

BeautyContemplative Prayer at WATER and by Telephone
"Being with Beauty"
With Phoebe Knopf
Monday, May 5, 2014 at 7:30 PM (EDT)
Our next gathering for Contemplative Prayer at WATER will be with Phoebe Knopf on Being with Beauty" on Monday, May 5, 2014, at 7:30 PM (EDT).
WATER offers a regular contemplative prayer opportunity each month. This is a communal meditation, a time of silence and reflection followed by a short discussion.
RSVP by sending an email with the words “Register Me Contemplative” by Friday May 2, 2014 to waterstaff@waterwomensalliance.org or call 301.589.2509 so that we can expect you. If you wish to join by phone, please indicate that so we can send you the phone-in number.
The office will be open at 7 PM (EDT) for tea and conversation. Silence will commence promptly at 7:30 PM, so please be here by then. We will finish and be on our way by 8:30 PM.
Parking is free in the garage behind the office after 7 PM. The front door of the building has a phone entry system; find “WATER” and dial the office to be buzzed in. Or, dial 0310 and that should work.
All are welcome. Some of us have been involved in the Engaging Impasse process (www.engagingimpasse.org ), which combines meditation with community dialogue. No experience required! Just come with a contemplative spirit. Your presence will enrich us all. Donations are always welcome.

09 March 2014

April Ritual: Earth Day Praise By Diann L. Neu

earth-dayEarth Day is an annual event held worldwide that demonstrates support for environmental protection.
Earth Praise
Praise Earth, our planet home,
For abundance of life.
Praise to you!
Blue sky and flowing waters,
Birds of the air and fish of the sea,
Praise to you!
Sun and moon, stars and planets,
Nights and days, years and centuries,
Praise to you!
Rain and dew, winds and breezes,
Frost and snow, lightning and thunder,
Praise to you!
Green plants and ancient forests,
Mountains and hills, lakes and rivers,
Praise to you!
Winged, and not,
Multi-legged, and two legged creatures,
Praise to you!
Earth Pledge              
Let us join with Earth and with each other:
To bring new life to land
To restore waters
To refresh air
To protect animals
To treasure trees
To gaze at stars
To cherish human community
To heal Earth
To remember children
We do not inherit the earth 2
Earth Action
Shop smart:
•Buy what you need, not what you want.
•Borrow or rent things that you use occasionally.
•Go/give to garage sales and second-hand stores.Save energy:
•Replace incandescent light bulbs with LEDs.
•Wash full loads of clothes in cold water and hang to air dry.
•Weatherstrip windows and doors.
•Install ceiling fans and programmable thermostats.Use transportation alternatives:
•Walk, bike, car pool, and use public transportation.
•When driving, reduce idling and maintain correct tire pressure.
•Car-share or rent.Eat healthy foods:
•Buy local and organic foods in season, and support local food producers.
•Eliminate/eat less meat and eat food that is not packaged.
•Save your seeds from tomatoes, peppers, peas, and beans to plant.
Use natural household cleaners:
•Make simple, natural cleaners with ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and water.
Don't discard:
•Donate, reuse, and recycle items before throwing them into the trash.
•Take harmful chemicals, batteries, and electronics to local hazardous waste depots or recyclers.
Recycle:
•Put a separate container next to your trashcan or printer for bottles, cans, and paper.
•Go paperless when you can.
Turn off lights:
•During bright daylight, or whenever you will be away for an extended period of time.
Use tap water:
•Fill up your glasses and reusable water bottles with water from the sink.
Turn down the heat:
•Turn down your thermostat when you leave for work, or use a programmable thermostat to control your heating settings.
Compost and plant a garden:
•Plant herbs and lettuce in a window box.
•Plant trees to keep your neighborhood cool.
Earth Agrees!
© Diann L. Neu, D.Min., is the cofounder and codirector of WATER. dneu@hers.com
freedom-tree

April 9 Teleconference with Margaret Mann

margaret-mann
WATER's Feminist Conversations in Religion Series Presents
"Life is Tough,
Deal with It" 
An hour-long teleconference with
Margaret Mann
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
1 pm - 2 pm EDT
    Margaret Mann is a writer and activist whose book A Dramatically Different Direction (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011) is an autobiographical commentary on disability. She is a bi-racial Unitarian/Buddhist, a lesbian, and a community organizer par excellence who makes her home in Hawaii. Margaret is a museum docent and a counselor. She brings a great deal of spiritual wisdom to our conversation.
Margaret was raised in Hawaii by a Zen Buddhist father. She spent a few years as a Presbyterian Elder and participated in the early WATER years. She has had two important spiritual mentors, the Rev. Margee Iddings, and Buddhist teacher Bobbie Rhodes of the Providence Zen Center. She returned to her Buddhist roots in the early 90’s and has found a home recently with the First Unitarian Church in Honolulu where they fondly call her a U-BU.
Margaret received the degree of Education Specialist (ED.S) in Rehabilitation Counseling from George Washington University, a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State College. She has been active in Re-evaluation Counseling, a peer counseling technique taught worldwide.
She worked in Washington, D.C. for twenty years on women's issues at the National Women's Health Network, the League of Women Voters, the Older Women's League, and the National Osteoporosis Foundation. She also worked on disability issues at the Disability Right Council and ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia. Since returning home to Hawaii in 2003 she has been a counselor and writer.
A Dramatically Different Direction
Suggested Reading:
A Dramatically Different Direction (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011).
Mary E. Hunt wrote of the book:
"Margaret Mann is the Buddha on the road in a wheelchair. Her memoir is the story of a wise and generous woman who embraces all that life deals her with gusto. She gives new meaning to mindfulness, new depth to compassion. The book, like the woman, is a jewel."
    Email "Register Me Teleconference" to waterstaff@hers.com by Tuesday, April 8, 2014 in order to receive dial-in information.

06 March 2014

April 7 WATER Meditation/Contemplative Prayer

Tetons
Contemplative Prayer at WATER and by Telephone
Mountain Beauty:
Timeless and
Deep Over the Millennia

With Janet L. Bohren
Monday, April 7, 20147:30 PM (EDT)
Our next gathering for Contemplative Prayer at WATER will be with Janet L. Bohren on Mountain Beauty: Timeless and Deep Over the Millennia" on Monday, April 7, 2014, at 7:30 PM (EDT).
WATER offers a regular contemplative prayer opportunity each month. This is a communal meditation, a time of silence and reflection followed by a short discussion.
RSVP by sending an email with the words “Register Me Contemplative” by Friday April 4, 2014 to waterstaff@waterwomensalliance.org or call 301.589.2509 so that we can expect you. If you wish to join by phone, please indicate that so we can send you the phone-in number.
The office will be open at 7 PM (EDT) for tea and conversation. Silence will commence promptly at 7:30 PM, so please be here by then. We will finish and be on our way by 8:30 PM.
Parking is free in the garage behind the office after 7 PM. The front door of the building has a phone entry system; find “WATER” and dial the office to be buzzed in. Or, dial 0310 and that should work.
All are welcome. Some of us have been involved in the Engaging Impasse process (www.engagingimpasse.org ), which combines meditation with community dialogue. No experience required! Just come with a contemplative spirit. Your presence will enrich us all. Donations are always welcome.

March 8: International Women's Day - We Celebrate You!

Women holding EarthMarch 8:  International Women's Day

We Celebrate You!

 By Diann L. Neu

This International Women’s Day we honor you for your generosity to women around the globe. Connect with WATER and you meet women worldwide!
March calls us to solidarity with women ― women friends, women’s communities, women worldwide. What women come to your mind and heart this International Women's Day?
Women Friends
“Solidarity work that emerges from justice-seeking friendships is solidarity work with a human face, letting the most deeply affected set the agenda, telling the rest of us how we can be helpful and humane.

It is work that includes hugs as well as legislation, watching one another's children grow as well as stopping nuclear war, attending to the environment as well as ending global conflict. Solidarity is just as spiritual as sacrament is political in women-church.”
―Mary E. Hunt, WATERwheel, Summer 1990
Women's Communities
The hand of the child cannot reach the ledge; the hand of the elder can not enter the gourd: both the young and the old have what each can do for the other.
― Yoruba Proverb
Women Worldwide
The mountain-moving day is coming
I say so, yet others doubt.
Only awhile the mountain sleeps.
In the past
All mountains moved in fire,
Yet you may not believe it.
Oh man, this alone believe,
All sleeping women now will awake
and move.
―"Awake" by Akiko Yosano, 与謝野 晶子, (1878-1942)
Women in Solidarity
Praise women of the seven continents for the new life they bring.
Praise to you, sisters of Asia, for your strong resistance to oppression.
Praise to you, sisters of Africa, for raising your voices in public squares.
Praise to you, sisters of Europe, for your leadership in peacekeeping.
Praise to you, sisters of North America, for confronting racism and economic inequities.
Praise to you, sisters of Latin America, for struggles that bring about equality.
Praise to you, sister in Antarctica, for your scientific research.
Praise to you, sisters of Australia, for your steadfast demands for justice.
Act for in Women
• Take a walk with a girl child. Listen to her!
• Do something special for yourself. Enjoy a concert or a long bath!
• Contact an international woman friend. Connect, connect, connect!
• Cook dinner for a woman friend or several. Savor the moment!
• Volunteer at a food pantry or soup kitchen. Share your time.
• Sign a petition in support of women. Make your voice heard.
• Make an impact in an instant. Donate to a woman’s charity.

Happy International Women's Day!

happy women's int day

02 March 2014

Apply to become a WATER Intern this summer!

Apply to become a WATER Intern this summer!
Please alert your friends, students, colleagues who might wish to apply.
Pictured here are our four wonderful interns from 2013: Molly Bolton who is graduating with an M.Div. from Wake Forest School of Divinity; Rebekah Renfro who is graduating from Smith College; Elizabeth Lancaster who is graduating from Hendrix College; and Wendy Mallette who is now at Yale Divinity School. We miss them all!
They follow a long line (now more than 45) of WATER interns who are making important contributions to the world, in part because of their experiences here. Consider being one of them.
From l to r, Molly Bolton, Rebekah Renfro, Elizabeth Lancaster, and Wendy Mallette
From l to r, Molly Bolton, Rebekah Renfro, Elizabeth Lancaster, and Wendy Mallette