Finding the treasure within: a woman's journey into preaching

Catholic New Times, Nov 2, 2003 by Susan Whelehan

Finding the Treasure Within by Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers Novalis 2002.

Our God is a God of surprises. This book chronicles the surprise bestowed on Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers, a Roman Catholic wife and mother as it unfolded in her life; the call to liturgical preaching.

Ternier-Gommers is a surprise in herself. Originally from the Netherlands, she traveled as a young adult to Taize and L'Arche in France, and finally to Saskatchewan to marry Jim.

The Ternire-Gommers shared faith and a desire to live simply, in solidarity with the greater population of the world, to live off the land, operating an organic farm, heating with wood, managing without indoor plumbing.

Parishioners nearby couldn't comprehend these "hippies" who felt their choices were inspired by the gospel. And the "real" back to-the-landers in the area wouldn't accept them because they belonged to an institution--the church. Ternier-Gommers learned to live between these worlds, leaving doors open on both sides and being true to herself. That was great training for what was to come. Desiring to work as a pastoral counsellor, she began studying theology at the closest seminary, which happened to be Lutheran.

Preaching was part of the program and Ternier-Gommers discovered she had not only a gift for preaching, but a passion as well. This passion caused great discomfort, as it was beyond "the church's understanding of revealed truth," and she risked putting herself at odds with the established order. Oh, the holy irony of it all. She sought to study in order to better serve the people of her church, and she ended up discerning a call that could put her outside the church altogether.

Through her first person narrative, journal selections, poetry and sermons, we accompany her as she blazes a new trail for laywomen in the Canadian church. The honesty with which she writes of her struggle to discern her calling, and then to follow it, is seen throughout the book.

It is a gift to be invited into someone's mind and heart as they wrestle with great questions of faith. Ternier-Gommers shares with us several of the authors, professors and saints she looked to for guidance. We hear from many voices within the Christian community encouraging her to be true to her calling, and read as she painstakingly seeks to follow canonical precepts and procedures. Again, she walks between two worlds.

This is also a picture of what the formal church looks like in western Canada, with its paucity of priests, changing norms for worship and the need to recognize, foster and affirm the gifts the laity have to offer.

Ron Rolheiser, in his introduction, describes Ternier-Gommers as "generative," someone who "constantly generates life and energy rather than draining them away, who feeds life rather than feeding off life."

I look forward to the day she can break open the scriptures for me in my parish, and inspire everyone in the pews to seek the treasures within themselves and bring them to the table, regardless of their sex.

Susan Whelehan is a teacher in Toronto.