QUESTION: The International Union of Superiors General went on to ask Francis questions (14 December 2013) that could more broadly be asked by all Catholic women: “How is it possible that quite often we are forgotten and not included as participants…? Can the Church afford to continue speaking about us, instead of speaking with us?” – Sr. Jaimy

ANSWER: Jacob Parappally MSFS

The biblical revelation is not primarily about God. It is about human beings and their destiny. It is all about the identity of humans and their unfolding as human beings. God is revealed to the extent that God is related to humans and their world as well as to the extent of humans’ relationship with God. For this reason, when Moses asks God about his identity, the answer given emphasizes God’s identity in relationship with humans. God says, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”( Exodus 3:6). Already in the narration about the creation in the priestly tradition in Genesis God’s relationship with humans is clearly expressed when it affirms that God created human beings as male and female in God’s own image and likeness.
The equality of humans whether male or female as well as their personhood and dignity was affirmed already from the beginning of creation. It was a revolutionary vision of humans compared to the ancient near-east cultures which considered women as objects of pleasure and also used women for cultic worship. Israel’s vision of the equality of all humans originating from their God-experience should have influenced the rest of the nations. They were called a “royal priesthood’ (Exodus 19:6) to mediate their understanding of God and humans to other nations but they let themselves be influenced by the discriminatory social practices of the other nations. Whenever the originary God-experience is articulated according to the private interests of a dominating group or class unjust structures and systems are perpetuated. They are presented to the poor and ignorant as divinely designed and ordained and threatened with dire consequences if they are not accepted or violated. Such practices are presented as divine commands and they become a part of the sacred scriptures. Otherwise, how would one explain the emergence of patriarchy and patriarchal social systems with, male domination and discrimination of women? Though in the beginning of such domination over women and suppression of women’s voices were probably resisted by some enlightened women they might have been labelled as rebels, silenced and ostracized from the society ruled by men who wielded power. History shows how patriarchal societies justified their discrimination of women as divinely ordained.

God of the Humans and Humans’ God

Any system of discrimination whether patriarchal, matriarchal or matrilineal that does not recognize the equality and dignity of human beings as human beings cannot claim to have its origin from the authentic God-experience of those who have created it . The God revealed through Jesus Christ is anthropocentric. For this God humans are more important than any laws or systems. Jesus did not discriminate women. Many who followed Jesus were women (Luke 8:1-3). Though the group of disciples whom Jesus called unto him to form the Twelve, probably representing the 12 tribes -of Israel were men, there were many women who followed Jesus and had a share in the mission of Jesus and his twelve apostles. They too were both disciples and apostles like other men disciples and apostles. But the Church that emerged from the small community of Jesus and his disciples succumbed to the temptation of incorporating some of the negative and discriminatory values of the Old Testament community as well as the cultural norms of the Roman Empire that relegated the position of women as subordinate to men and excluded them from any decision-making process.
The gospel which Jesus preached was for the liberation not only of individual humans but also of oppressive and dehumanizing structures and systems created by some groups of people to satiate their perverted hunger for power and position to dominate and control others. The revolutionary step Jesus had taken to include both men and women in his ministry as equal disciples was not continued in the Church which systematically excluded women from participating in the decision-making process of the Church concerning its life and mission. The mission of the Church was to transform the world with the values of the Kingdom. Unfortunately, the world seemed to have transformed the Church when the Church adopted the discriminatory value of treating women as subordinate to men though it taught that men and women are equal.
The question raised by the Superiors General to Pope Francis concerning their role as women religious and also Catholic women in general in the life and mission of the Church, almost a decade ago, is relevant even today. This was a question raised almost in all centuries by enlightened women who found that the structure of the Church is formed in such a way that women believers are not treated as equal disciples of Christ as men believers. The discriminatory patriarchal structure of the secular society was adopted by the Church without questioning. The Church’s prophetic role is to challenge all systems and structures of discrimination and provide an alternative sacred community based on the Kingdom values of justice, love, equality, communion, reconciliation, peace etc.

Church, the Community of Equal Disciples

It is one of the basic Christian faith-affirmation that the Church is the Body of Christ and it is a community primarily consisting of those who are baptized into Christ. Through God becoming human or through the hominization (incarnation) of the Word, all humans are included in the humanity of Christ and this Christic inclusion of all humans is without any discrimination. St Paul affirms, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you all are on in Christ Jesus”(Galatians 3:28). The Church, which is the Body of Christ, cannot but be all-inclusive. The undeniable truth about this inclusion in the Body of Christ both by the hominization of the Word and by baptism is not by any human standards of identifications or identities but by being human.
A human person as a human person is the member of the Body of Christ, the Church, and the membership in the Church is not based on the biological structure of a person or any ascribed identity. St Paul uses the body-symbolism to describe the importance of each one’s role in the Church without which the Church cannot live in communion and fulfil its mission effectively. However, when the roles one has to play or the offices one is given by divine vocation for building up the Body of Christ is made exclusive only for the male members of the Church and the female members are excluded from them, the Church has to discern properly with total surrender to the Holy Spirit whether such a discriminatory practice is coming from the Spirit. If the Jerusalem Council could do away with the practice of circumcision which was for centuries believed to be divinely ordained as absolutely necessary to become a member of the chosen race of God, the long tradition of excluding women from leadership roles in the Church because they are women cannot be a convincing argument to continue it or for excluding women both from the decision-making process in the Church and the ministerial offices of leadership in the Church. As men and women are equal disciple of Christ, it is their duty and right to participate in continuing the mission of Christ. Excluding women or not including them as participants in the life and mission of the Church by those men leaders of the Church who hold exclusively the authority to make decision and take decision, may be judged in our present times or in future as preventing the realization of God’s will for the unfolding of all human beings as human beings and using effectively and in an organized way their God-given talents and charisms for the well-being of all and for the glory of God.

Evolving a Participatory Church

The mystery of the Church as a communion of all believers with brotherly and sisterly relationship and transparency among themselves and with other humans and with God demands that everyone stands counted, recognized, accepted and loved. Exclusion of any section of the Church especially the women members of the Church who form more than fifty percent of the membership of the Church from participating in the decision-making process of the Church concerning all aspects of the Church’s life and mission cannot be justified. The Jesus-tradition does not permit any discrimination and exclusion. The vocation of every disciple of Christ is to become perfect like the heavenly Father who includes all as he “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). The entire Church needs to be perfect like the heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by including both men and women, those in the periphery and those in the centre to share in the mission entrusted to the Church by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and empowered by the Spirit. Certainly in some areas of Church’s life women have their roles. The participation of women in the life of the Church should not be limited to some aspects of the life of the Church but in all aspects.
The Catholic Church has a glorious tradition of honouring Mary, the Mother of Christ, and as a mature committed woman, She is even seen as the type of the Church. However, it is surprising that the Church that honours Mary with hundreds of pious practices and devotions because God called her to participate in his plan of salvation, does not let women participate fully in the mission and the ministry of the Church. The Church speaks about women, their dignity, their rights and their assigned roles in the family and in the Church and in the society. But the leaders of the Church do not find it necessary to talk with them, listen to them, let themselves be challenged by them and let them participate in the decision-making functions of the Church. It is easy for the leaders of the Church to speak about women and their roles and even to appreciate their contributions but it is difficult for them to change their mind-set to recognize women as equal disciples and promote their participation in the mission of the Church. It needs a new Pentecost!