The Feminization of the Church?

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 16, 1998 by Karen M. Kennelly

By Kaye Ashe Sheed and Ward, 172 pages, $14.95

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 church's 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 people's 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 women's "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 women's 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-O'Connor, 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 clog 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 Sot Juana Ines de la Cruz remind us of dimensions of spirituality that have lain hidden for centuries, overlooked on bookshelves dominated by Thomas a 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 women's leadership and exercise of the ministries of theologian, ethicist, and pastoral/liturgical presider, complemented by Chittister's consideration of issues of power and autonomy, and of St. Benedict's 12 degrees of humility viewed through the lens of feminist spirituality. Rather than being a denial of the hierarchy's legitimate concern for sound teaching and unity, women's desire for an "autonomous existence" and ministerial roles commensurate with their human dignity is a protest against the excesses of patriarchy and clericalism.