Emboldened.
[Editors’ note: Lisa Cathelyn is a 2017 awardee of the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship for Women Discerning Priestly Ordination. This is the last of three in a series of reflections from our 2017 awardees on how the scholarship impacted their journey over the academic year.]
Emboldened. When I reflect on my final year at a Jesuit seminary and the incredible gift to study theology full-time, I find a deeper sense of freedom and boldness in my self-understanding and ministerial identity. As a recipient of the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship from the Women’s Ordination Conference, I found my final year of studies as a Master of Divinity student to be challenging, graced, and intense. Through a deeper connection to WOC, I was afforded opportunities to connect with a wider network of people who support women’s ordination and a renewed vision of the Catholic Church — virtually and in-person. I am grateful to each and every individual who lent their support financially, spiritually, and emotionally, from those who sent a supportive email to those who treated me to dinner in Berkeley to those who sent me books.
This support was also a heartening, affirmative “yes” to who God is inviting me to be: Feminist, Catholic, and a Prophetic Witness in the Church. This “yes” unfolded in many arenas, including in the classroom, immersion in Jerusalem, a faith sharing group called In Memory of Her, and a cross-country move. This year’s “yes,” bolstered by WOC and this scholarship, spanned conversations, tears, and prayers about #MeToo and #CatholicToo; a Female Mystics course with a brilliant, young female theologian; contextual immersion in Israel/Palestine, with a particular focus on women in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; intense course readings and discussions on Catholic sexual ethics; extensive and exhausting preparation for comprehensive exams; presiding and preaching at all-school liturgies; living alongside four other women in intentional community; and discernment in my next professional step.
The past few months have been a whirlwind of transition that included graduating with a Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. When people asked me at the outset of my MDiv program why I chose to pursue such a degree, I quipped, half-kidding, that I wanted what the boys were offered. While that holds true, I now comprehend the depths to which that desire rings in my heart. Beyond parity in a Master of Divinity degree and all the hardship, hopes, and papers it entailed, I found that three years of study, ministry, and prayer led me to a place where I articulate my deep love for the Church and God’s people through prophetic witness. I witness to God’s abiding love, hold the deep pain and trauma inflicted by and within the Church, and imagine a global Church and a world marked by justice, wholeness, and inclusivity. I am more equipped and energized to serve God’s people and unabashedly proclaim the Good News of Jesus and his radical welcome demonstrated in the Gospels.
The transition out of full-time theological study to full-time ministry also included a cross-country move. I was encouraged this year in my passion for working with and for women, and pursued campus ministry jobs in the Midwest. I recently began as Director of Campus Ministry at Alverno College, where I will accompany students, staff, and faculty; reimagine formation around the school’s Catholic and Franciscan mission and identity; and marvel at the opportunity to use my gifts of preaching, accompaniment, and presiding to serve God’s people.
This summer, I also had the incredible opportunity to participate in the inaugural Joan Chittister Institute for Contemporary Spirituality: A Feminist Benedictine Option. The two-week intensive with Joan Chittister and the wonderful Erie Benedictines allowed me to explore, alongside eight other bright, kind, hopeful Catholic women, how we are to claim and speak our truths… and, I even met one of this year’s Scholarship recipients, Allison Connelly! Looking forward, I am exploring how to create a peer mentoring program for women in seminaries and other theology centers, and how those connections could be deepened through online and in-person workshops, gatherings, and retreats.
Yes, I am Catholic.
Yes, I am Feminist.
Yes, I am called to accompany God’s people.
Yes, I am called to preach, to anoint, to share in the Eucharist.
Yes, I am called to build a vibrant, multilingual, multiracial, inclusive Church.
Yes, I am not going anywhere.
5 Responses
Congratulations on your studies. I wonder if the current sexual abuse crisis might be the “earthquake” that liberates the church from the patriarchal prison. For your consideration:
Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, God made flesh, not a patriarch
God the Father is a person, but not a male
God the Son is a person, but was not a male before the incarnation
God the Holy Spirit is a person, but not a male
The Trinity is a communion of persons, not a patriarchate
The “Son of man” is God made flesh, not a patriarch
All men and women are consubstantial in their human nature
Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life, not the male of life
The substance of the Eucharist is BODY, not XX or XY chromosomes
The substance of the Eucharist is FLESH, not testosterone
Patriarchy is a disordered attachment to the supremacy of masculinity
The Church is a communion of persons, not a patriarchate
The Church is the body of Christ, not a woman with a male head
The Virgin Mary is the “type” of the Church, not a woman with a male head
The Marian dimension of the Church precedes the apostolic dimension
Apostolic succession is contingent on redeemed flesh, not on masculinity
The nuptial mystery of Christ and the Church is not a patriarchal marriage
Canon 1024 is an artificial contraceptive and abortifacient of female priestly vocations
Catechism 1577 reduces the priesthood of the New Law to priesthood of the Old Law
Catechism 1598 declares that ordaining only males is a choice, not a dogma
The exclusively male priesthood makes invisible the “feminine genius” in Christ
The Christian/Catholic/Orthodox faith is not intrinsically patriarchal
The conflation of patriarchal gender ideology and Christian doctrines is a disgrace
It is time to discard the patriarchal scaffolding that obscures the Catholic faith
This is wonderful. Thank you so much!
May I please ask who is the writer of the above declarations? It’s very interesting and contains many “new” truths to consider. Thank you.
.. trying again
If you went to a Jesuit school not likely you learned this
‘Do this in memory of me’ and women at the Last Supper – proof that some of the 70 were at the Last Supper, not just the Twelve
Jesus chose twelve men for the role of ‘apostles.’ But Junia is also “apostle” (Romans 16:7 see Catholic NABRE). Now Mary of Magdala is considered ‘apostle to the apostles.’ No mention of Jesus making priests or any indication the apostles were priests. The 12 and the 70 (or 72) were both appointed to be missionaries, same Greek verb appointed.
You can see some of the 70 are present at the Last Supper (compare Luke 22:35 and Luke 10:1-4). The key is who is without “purse, bag, sandals.” It is the 70 (gender unknown – possibly some women). For the 12, it is a different set of accoutrements. It is the Twelve who are identified in Matthew 10:9-10 as having “no gold, silver, copper in belts” . . . “no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff.” In Mark 6:8-9, the Twelve are told to have “a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” Yes, a bit of contradiction there with the staff and sandals. Jesus’ description at the Last Supper without “purse, bag, sandals,” fits the Seventy exactly.
All four books of the Gospel place “disciples” at the Last Supper. So Jesus addressed a room full of people saying, “Do this in memory of me,” but he was really only talking to 12 men? Come on now. And which one of these 12 manly men was leaning on Jesus’ “bοsοm”? (Jn 13:23, 25 (KJ21)) The Church would have you believe it was the fisherman John, known as a “son of Thunder” who was cuddling with Jesus. No, I don’t think it was thunderous John.
Not likely that among the 70 and among the 120 (Pentecost) and at the Last Supper there were no women and these were strictly all-male groups. Women clearly are in the upper room later in Acts 1:14. The apostle Junia, a woman who was in Christianity before Paul (Romans 16:7), may have been one of the 70 apostles — in the Greek Orthodox Church the 70 are called ‘apostles.’ Junia is a saint in that Church.
Who cooked the Last Supper and served it and washed the dishes?
The Mass remembers Calvary and the Tomb also. Women were present at both.
Mostly NRSV
Forgive us, Violet – the comments should be working now! – WOC