October 3: A Prayerfully Persistent Witness
In April 1963, inspired by Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris, Dorothy Day joined an ecumenical group of 50 “Mothers for Peace” in what she described as “a true pilgrimage to the Holy City of Rome . . . to pledge ourselves for the work of peace.”
During their visit to Rome, the “Mothers for Peace” did not receive the private audience with Pope John XXIII they had hoped for. However, they were invited to a weekly public audience where the pope acknowledged the work of the “Pilgrims for Peace” with admiration.
Like Day and her cohort, the prayerfully persistent witness of Discerning Deacons was rewarded with acknowledgement from the pope—this time, an in-person encounter between diaconal women in ministry and Pope Francis on September 30.
The meeting came just days before Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced that the path to the women’s diaconate will remain closed for the time being, though “the opportunity to continue the work of in-depth study remains open.”
Nevertheless, the active hope for a more co-responsible church permeated prayer services hosted by Discerning Deacons and FutureChurch on Thursday.
Members of Discerning Deacons are part of a group of 54 pilgrims from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, and Australia who have convened in Rome to pray for the Synod and share their commitment to a renewed and inclusive diaconate within the church. The pilgrims and their friends and supporters gathered at the chapel of the Centro Internazionale Giovanile San Lorenzo, steps away from St. Peter’s Square, on Thursday for an afternoon of prayer, testimony, and song.
The bilingual service was conducted in English and Spanish, and featured testimonies from women who have done diaconal work in parish ministry, community organizing, and other fields, and who have felt the call to the diaconate themselves.
“I’m here today because I’ve witnessed the call of women in the church,” said Dermis de Jesús of Philadelphia. “People need a ministry of accompaniment and service.”
De Jesús said her hope is that the Synod and the church will look upon women as “part of the salvation.”
Rosa Bonilla has lived within 900 feet of her parish, Dolores Mission in Los Angeles, for 24 years. The presence of strong women leaders “has kept me anchored,” she said. She cited the examples of her mother and grandmother, who “lead with a full heart.”
Having women deacons in the parish “would mean inspiration for all the young women in the community,” she added.
Lisa Amman, a faith leader and community organizer from Minneapolis, described her vocation as “to listen to the cries of the people” and craft an appropriate parish and community response.
“I’d like the opportunity to discern if this pattern of my life for 24 years has a name,” she said. “I think that it is deacon.”
Observing that “we all have business in diakonia,” Amman added that she would like to see “a church that disrupts patterns of violence against women.” She explained that conferring the title of deacon to women would not just be a symbolic step, but a practical one, as the title “gets you in the door” to minister in places like prisons and detention centers.
Following a reading from the Gospel of Luke, Brazilian Franciscan Sr. Laura Vicuña Manso preached on the theme of how “all of us are prophetic missionary disciples.”
Speaking in Spanish with live English translation from Maria Teresa Gaston, Sr. Manso said that “we are in a unique moment in our church.” She invoked “the breathing of the divine Ruah,” or Spirit, as well as the Brazilian song “Now Is the Time to Walk Together and Participate.”
“The good news of the gospel takes us out of our security and the enclosed walls of our temples,” she said. “It sends us to the peripheries of the peripheries.”
“We are invited to that announcement of peace, and that announcement is converted to denouncement of all the structures that do not allow us to live fully,” she continued, naming these structures as economic, political, and ecclesial.
As she gestured to the large San Damiano cross hanging in the apse behind her, she recalled to the assembled crowd that “the crucified one constructs the church.”
“Let’s not give up hope,” she added.
Later Thursday evening, FutureChurch convened a prayer service in the 17th-century oratory Caravita. The theme of the service was the “Celebration of Women Hidden from the Lectionary.”
In his opening remarks, FutureChurch executive director Russ Petrus spoke of the many women whose stories are omitted from the lectionary, the cycle of readings used for Masses in the Catholic Church.
The story of Mary Magdalene is “the most egregious omission,” Petrus said, noting that even her profession of the Risen Christ in John 20:18—“I have seen the Savior!”—is not read as part of the lectionary.
Petrus said that FutureChurch has been reaching out to clergy and laity alike “to tell them the good news: women have been at the center of our faith story from the beginning.”
Petrus added that including women in the lectionary would concretely address a recommendation of the synthesis report of the first session of the Synod: “There is a need to ensure that liturgical texts and Church documents are more attentive to the use of language that takes into equal consideration both men and women, and also includes a range of words, images and narratives that draw more widely on women’s experience” (9q).
Rita Houlihan, a member of the FutureChurch board of directors, related how she “could no longer see Mary Magdalene on her knees” and so commissioned a work by the late sculptor Sr. Margaret “Peggie” Beaudette to show Magdalene “standing tall.” The piece, a bronze relief titled “Mary Magdalene Proclaims the Resurrection,” now hangs at the Church of the Ascension in Manhattan.
FutureChurch program associates Martha Ligas and Olivia Hastie facilitated a creative prayer service where stories and scriptural passages featuring biblical women were read aloud, followed by a few lines of prayerful reflection. A reading of the story of Shiphrah and Puah was followed by the prayer: “Let us learn from your story of courageous resistance.” For the story of Mary, the Mother of God, the petition was: “We add our yes to yours.”
Ligas also offered a reflection on the power of one’s name, and of being called by name.
“We are gathered here this evening to bring the names of our foremothers to light,” she said. “May the spark of their memories light a fire in our hearts.” ♦
Michael Centore
Editor, Today’s American Catholic
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