Critics, sponsors size up 'critical mass,' event brought questions, kudos, hope - public mass led by Catholic women, Oct. 5, 1997 in Oakland, CA

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 31, 1997 by Patricia Lefevre

NEW YORK -- Pageantry? Performance? Ritual? Feminist theater?

Yes, agree all who participated in "A Critical Mass," an event its organizers called the first public Roman Catholic Mass led exclusively by women and celebrated Oct. 5 in Oakland, Calif., (NCR, Oct. 17).

But the answers were generally less certain to the question: Was it a Mass as Catholics have come to know the Mass?

For Sr. Susan Wood, an associate professor in the School of Theology at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn., "A Critical Mass" faced at least two critical ecclesiology problems. It lacked an ordained minister, who not only has the power to consecrate but also to tie those I attending to the rest of the universal church. It also used a sign of unity -- the Eucharist -- as a protest "over and against the rest of the church," she said.

However, Benedictine Sr. Mary Collins, director of the Liturgical Studies Program at The Catholic University of America in Washington, said that while the event may have been "bad liturgy," it was driven by women's frustration and inattentive bishops. She predicted that unless the bishops got serious about discussing issues with women, such public liturgies are bound to proliferate.

Opinions on "A Critical Mass" varied widely among theologians, liturgists, academics and activists in church renewal who spoke with NCR.

Wood, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., found it problematic that readings other than those from scripture were included, adding that it is "the archetypal (biblical) story that ties us to our tradition."

"A Critical Mass" included what its writers called "a gospel collage" as well as readings from medieval and contemporary women.

Although planners of the event pledged to "keep meeting the tradition ... re-creating the tradition," Wood thought that participants were "cutting themselves off from the tradition."

The absence of a canonical presider suggests, she said, that singling someone out for a specific hierarchical function "is bad." Without an ordained minister, the community is closed off from the universal church. "It's unto itself," Wood said.

Wood also questioned the event's significance. "Frankly I don't think it's that important. It only has the publicity we give it. We all know change doesn't happen this way.... It's always better to work from within, even though the process is very slow."

A male theologian who attended the event but, for fear of losing his job at a Catholic college in the area, asked for anonymity, said he thought it was not enough just to "add women and stir" to change church structures.

"We hear a lot of talk about the rights of women from the bishops," the theologian said, "but if we're not going to ordain them, then we shouldn't baptize them." He described the Oakland liturgy as "the first time women claimed their baptismal right to celebrate Eucharist in a public setting."

While many called "A Critical Mass" an act of "ecclesial disobedience," the theologian said that "women are claiming their gifts by doing an act of obedience an act of listening to a higher law."

Collins of The Catholic University complained that few bishops are reading the theological and liturgical literature. "Theology has been lost to ideology at the present time," she said. Relevant theological and liturgical literature, she said, "is not being read by the bishops or the clergy, not being taught in seminaries."

The frustration with the status quo that gave rise to the event in Oakland is "happening everywhere," she said. "The promise of counciliar reform of the liturgy has hit a hard moment. Everything is going backward."

Few bishops or clergy "understand what mandated renewal of Vatican II is all about," she said. "Liturgy has evolved into ecclesiastical politics with the bishops abdicating their responsibility to Mother Angelica" and her Eternal Word Television Network, the Benedictine said. The EWTN daily sends out "a distorted manifestation of the Eucharist," she said.

As the principal liturgists of their dioceses, most bishops "exercise no responsibility for liturgy, but Mother Angelica is given a green light," Collins said. Mother Angelica is spiritual director to many seminarians and her views carry weight in diocesan liturgy offices, Collins said.

She said she thinks that "A Critical Mass" does not "resonate where most women are," but predicts that it will gain "a limited amount of imitation," perhaps even spreading to several dioceses. Such a following could confirm for the bishops that the women behind such events are "dangerous heretics" and that this is "bad liturgy."

But even if it is, Collins is convinced "there's plenty of bad liturgy and bad theology to go around," some of which comes from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the U.S. Bishops' Conference and many diocesan centers, she said.

While Collins and other theologians who spoke with NCR would like to have a dialogue with the bishops, "the fact is you can't have a discussion if no one is at the other end," Collins said.