Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus
Front page article by Monsignor Vince Redden from Catholic
Women's League Australia Inc. Newsletter, Launch into the
Deep, Issue 2, 2002
Monsignor VINCE REDDEN
National Spiritual Director (2002 - 2003), CWLA
It is only in the past nine or more years that I have been privileged to work closely with women and women's groups in both a Catholic and broader Church setting. A priest for almost forty-one years my pastoral activity has always been in parishes and, to be honest, without any particular bias for men or women. Becoming a chaplain to the Catholic Women's League brought me into contact with strong, intelligent women who were questioning the role given them by a Church not specifically sexist or patriarchal but a church primarily male-dominated.
To the women of the Catholic Women's League, Sydney, I owe much as I journey towards a better understanding of women's rightful place in Church affairs. Early in my association with the Catholic Women's League I ventured to say that I really knew how the women present must be feeling about their position in the Church, to be firmly told that that would be an impossibility on my part as I had not suffered enough!
The Report Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus has listed an extraordinary catalogue of concerns by women - the pain, alienation, patriarchal and hierarchical barriers to women's participation in the Church, recognition of changing roles for women in society in general and the church in particular, need for input into church decision-making at all levels, open lines of communication. It was very brave of the committee to headline the Report in terms of 'One in Christ Jesus', because that is where the whole question of women's participation begins. Acceptance of the oneness of all the baptised surely targets all the concerns listed in the Report.
Women are now more conscious of their dignity and equality with men, and strive to discover what this equality means.
In reality women are not treated as equal to men in the Church or in the wider society. Does the Church heed the cry for equality and dignity, standing by women in their struggle? The role of women in society and the Church continues to command radical questioning and transformation. The Gospel has always to be interpreted in the light of the signs of the times - the Report contains the signs of the times, now for the Gospel implementation. The Australian Church through the Commission for Catholic Women is now in a position to give a lead to the rest of the world on justice in action, in this case women and their equality and dignity. There is a danger, of course, in moving on this road, of moving ahead of the wider Church. Centralists will complain of the divisiveness of the Australian Church approach to women when viewed against the background of a universal church and its overall attitude to women.
For all its care and insight the Commission for Australian Catholic Women will only be truly successful if its efforts reach deep into the roots of the local church. The challenge lies in changing deeply rooted patriarchal ways of acting. When we see women widely represented on diocesan committees and boards, when we see them in significant chancery appointments, when we see them actively recruited for local community committees, being recognised for their real pastoral and evangelising skills, then we might just start to see significant cracks in the stained glass ceiling.
If it were only a matter of increasing numbers of women on various Church committees and decision-making bodies it would require a simple bureaucratic decision. The matter is much more serious than that, for it requires recognition by males whether clerical or lay, that women because of their gender and culture bring insights into interpretation of the Gospel that are unique to women. Whether preached or lived the Word of God has to be incarnated in the experience of both men and women. Since the time of Jesus those called to announce the Good News are part of the surprise of the Gospel message. It was the women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who were the first to tell the Good News of Jesus' Resurrection to the Eleven, and they were not believed! How well do we attend to the witness of women in our Australian communities of faith?
