WIT

I think as a young woman in the church, simultaneously holding Catholic and feminist commitments that I believe go together, seeing the statement from the USCCB on Elizabeth Johnson’s work can be incredibly disheartening. My sense through conversations with classmates and friends is that I am not alone. For this reason, I share with you the Madeleva Manifesto, written by 16 feminist theologians in 2000. You can find more details here, which quotes Elizabeth Johnson as offering the manifesto to women in the Church who are “hanging on by their fingernails, in deep spiritual distress,” and further “We are entering into a particularly dark time, a time to keep hope alive.” I know that when my hope runs low, the witness of these women encourages me.

In the tradition of Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC, we sixteen Madeleva lecturers have been invited to speak a message of hope and courage to women in the church. Reflecting the diversity of gifts bestowed on us by the Spirit, we speak from our particular experiences and vocations, yet share in a universal vision that is faithful to our catholic tradition.

• To women in ministry and theological studies we say: re-imagine what it means to be the whole body of Christ. The way things are now is not the design of God.

• To young women looking for models of prophetic leadership, we say: walk with us as we seek to follow the way of Jesus Christ, who inspires our hope and guides our concerns. The Spirit calls us to a gospel feminism that respects the human dignity of all, and who inspires us to be faithful disciples, to stay in the struggle to overcome oppression of all kinds whether based on gender, sexual orientation, race, or class.

• To women who are tempted by the demons of despair and indifference, we say: re-imagine what it means to be a full human being made in the image of God, and to live and speak this truth in our daily lives.

• To women who suffer the cost of discipleship we say: you are not alone. We remember those who have gone before us, who first held up for us the pearl of great price, the richness of Catholic thought and spirituality. We give thanks to those who continue to mentor us.

• To the young women of the church we say: carry forward the cause of gospel feminism. We will be with you along the way, sharing what we have learned about the freedom, joy and power of contemplative intimacy with God. We ask you to join us in a commitment to far-reaching transformation of church and society in non-violent ways. We deplore, and hold ourselves morally bound, to protest and resist, in church and society, all actions, customs, laws and structures that treat women or men as less than fully human. We pledge ourselves to carry forth the heritage of biblical justice which mandates that all persons share in right relationship with each other, with the cosmos, and with the Creator.

We hold ourselves responsible to look for the holy in unexpected places and persons, and pledge ourselves to continued energetic dialogue about issues of freedom and responsibility for women. We invite others of all traditions to join us in imagining the great shalom of God.

April 29, 2000

Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, lay woman, Doctor of the Church

St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind.

And, unrelated, some extra inspiration from my favorite theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx, commenting on Pope John XXIII:

He was in fact a transitional pope, but pope for a transition of the church to a new period; a period which may have been blocked again afterwards, but which in what it has brought about among Christians can no longer be held back or reversed. (For the Sake of the Gospel, 130).