Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Council's "mothers" paved the way for greater female presence in the Catholic Church

Women and religionThe issue of women in the Catholic Church and conciliar reform. 

Although the Second Vatican Council may initially come across as a chauvinist event, nothing was quite the same after the Council, even for women. 

Like the laity, women did not  participate actively in the most important event of the 20th century: the 23 women whom Paul VI invited to attend Council proceedings in 1964, were simply members of the audience and had no right to speak. 

But historical research has revealed that these women, who had to wear a black veil and were called “mothers” by the Synod Fathers, were in fact instrumental in ensuring that the Second Vatican Council addressed issues relating to the status of women and their rights in the Catholic Church. 

It is partly because of them that there are female theologians in the Catholic Church today: thanks to the Council the male monopoly on theology ended.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Female Italian theologians promoted “an opportunity to reflect on” the way in which the Catholic Church “was able to see gender difference as a contribution of intelligence and a reserve of enthusiasm.” 

A conference entitled “Female theologians reinterpret Vatican II. Accepting history, preparing for the future” was held on 4 October at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome and was attended by historians and theologians from across the world, including Hervé Legrand, Gerald Mannion, Maureen Sullivan, Massimo Faggioli, Tina Beattie and Mercedes Navarro Puerto.

On 6 October, “Tantum aurora est. Women, Vatican II, the future” was celebrated at the auditorium in Via della Conciliazione, in Rome. It was an occasion to reflect on the presence of women in the post-conciliar Church. Marinella Perroni is a doctor in theology; she teaches the New Testament at a Pontifical University has priests among her students and is President of the association of Italian women theologians (Coordinamento teologhe italiane - CTI). Without Vatican II her role would simply not exist.

This is one of the greatest legacies of the Council, which admitted 23 “mothers”. Looking through the biographies of these 23 women, one understands “the concrete contribution they gave, despite the fact they were forbidden to speak: the Council - the CTI president stressed – gave rise to the idea of joining theological faculties, marking the end of the male monopoly on theology. Women became interpreting figures.”

Perroni, who was born in 1947 and lectures at the Pontifical University of St. Anselm in Rome, clearly outlines her stance and that of female Italian theologians on the debate over whether the Second Vatican Council should be read as a “break” with Church tradition or as an event showing “continuity” with this tradition. 

“As theologians, we deliberately decided – she commented – not to take part in this “continuity-break” controversy: it is badly presented and does not interest us. In our opinion, theological research follows other paths and this becomes an academic diatribe.”

The presidents of the CTI recalled that when John XXIII convened the ecumenical assemblies, “he was simply expressing a desire that has been alive within the Church for decades, that is for the Church to keep up to speed with a changing world and to see faith, hope and the presence of the Church in the world in such a way that would allow dialogue between it and the world instead of building walls around itself.” 

These efforts towards dialogue, Perroni remarked “showed the full potential of the Church of the time. There were bishops from all over the world, eurocentrism was over, bishops let themselves be accompanied by theologians. In short, a certain fear of theology which had existed up until then and had deeply conditioned the Church of Pius X, giving rise to the struggle against modernism, disappeared.” 

Trust and dialogue were the characterising features of this ecclesial event and it would be wonderful if this legacy was maintained – Perroni said. Being Catholic is a conquest, an accomplishment one achieves though conciliarity, dialogue and an effort to create consensus.” 

“In a world of differences, plurality and diversity, this is the important and qualifying element; the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council faced an ecumene which today we call globalisation, in order to globalise peace and trust.”

Two popes, one Council, called by Roncalli and concluded by Montini. 

 “I would say – she stressed – that the impact characters had was felt in the Pontificates and the Council. John had faith and the idea for the Council was his, we do not know whether the idea would have occurred to Paul VI, but he inherited the Council and an immediate post-Council.” 

The post-conciliar period was anything but easy: “The Council – Perroni pointed out – came out of the Vatican and entered into the life of the Church, with the strong pressure of the late 60’s. This pressure was a bit extreme and all-encompassing and so followed the mentality of “everything straight away”, it was charismatic and charged with emotion; there were those who were already thinking about Vatican III and those who felt nostalgia for Vatican I; hot and cold generations were mixed together, sparking upheaval in the Church.”