By Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP
(In this article, Janice shares Ursula King's keynote address at 100th anniversary celebration of St. Joan's Alliance in England. This is part of her journey for justice, reclaiming the heart of the vision of Jesus in the Gospel. Tomorrow, Janice will report from Rome as the international delegation of supporters of women's ordination accompany Fr. Roy to the Vatican in quest for justice and equality for women in the church. Stay tuned!)
"German theologian, Ursula King, was the guest speaker on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2011 for the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of St. Joan's International Alliance in London, England. She began by introducing us to her latest book, Rediscovering the Fire.
As a young woman Ursula studied for two years with Joseph Ratzinger who got his first chair at the University of Bonn at the age of 33. She was 19. When Ratzinger got to the Vatican, he became more reactionary she said.
Ursula recalled an incident that never left her. When she was a young theologian, a very old woman came up to her at a conference and said: "You young women have it so easy. You didn't have to go to prison for the vote."
Another memory surfaced. While living in Bombay years ago she read an article in "The Examiner" addressing the Nuncio about his comment blaming the pharmaceuticals for birth control. The writer then told the Nuncio, "It's the laity that wants birth control."Since the 1960s there has been a great unprecedented leap forward for women's rights.Before that time women died giving birth or spent much of their lives raising children. Only nuns and rich women had time to devote to work for social transformation."
Our Herstory needs to be sought out and then illuminated," Ursula said. "Our Herstory bees to be used as the leaven to pull us forward for the further evolution of women and men."What is happening now, she said, is the transformation of all faiths. She recommended we read "Scripture as a Source of Empowerment," written by a woman from India. Also, "Gendering the Spirit: The Last Frontier," which is a collection of essays by women from Southeast Asia."
A silent revolution of fundamental social transformations, a change of consciousness from the ground up is taking place," Said Ursula. "It is a spiritual revolution in secular movements for equality and peace, values which come from spirituality."From the Christian and Quaker movement came the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893. There the first ordained Unitarian woman minister (Blackwell1853) gave a speech on women in the pulpit and the importance of women preaching and being ordained.
Ursula challenged our idea of Florence Nightingale which she said is really male stuff we've picked up, not women's. In "Florence Nightingale:The making of a radical theologian by an Aussie writer we learn that Nightingale found the family too narrow a space and longed for a woman Savior, a female Christ.
In the 1987 international book,"Daughters of the Buddha," we learn that in Avata Buddhism the nuns want the spiritual equivalent of males. Yet, major monks were against it. The last full ordination of women monks happened in the 11th century.Hindi women since 1971 have been denied reading Sanscript scripture. Now more Hindu women are engaged in the spiritual movement.We learned that the largest Muslim population in the world is found in Indonesia.
And, in "Women Shaping Islam," that Muslim women function as judges and teachers of Islam. "There is a search for liberation and justice in the grassroots who are making a statement for justice for Muslim women," Ursula said. Today there are 18 million Chinese Muslims. For 400 years, since 1600, there have been female imams. Suggested reading: "The History of Chinese Mosques."Within global transformation, there is the process of educational literacy, of being able to read the classical languages, such as Greek, and of reading sacred literature in light of contemporary issues.
Women are becoming more fully human says Katarin Hulkas in "Awakening the Energies of Love."Meanwhile, "the church is slowly moving itself into a corner of irrelevance," Ursula said. "You really have to fight for your goal."Her final recommendation was "From Reason to Wonder," a book about science and faith.
After Ursula King's talk on the worldwide movement toward liberation, justice and equality, we were permitted to ask questions or make comments. Folks learned that I was an ordained RCWP during our prayer service when I prayed for the continued growth of Roman Catholic Women Priests and those who support us as well as blessings on our work for justice for women at the United Nations.
Now I wanted to make sure that people understood that our Ordinations and our movement for women priests just wasn't adding women and stir. Rather, it was about what we in the Women's Ordination Conference reiterated for 35 years: A renewed priesthood in a reformed church. I spoke about our non-hierarchal structure and circular governance; that we are a community of equals; that our bishops function to ordain women; that our liturgies are inclusive and all are welcome including the divorced, GLBTs and non-Catholics; that we are worker priests; that all say the words of consecration. Later as we were leaving the building, I said good-bye to Ursula King and she thanked me for making saying what I said.
In addition to speakers Ursula King and Myra Poole were longtime members Ianthe Pratt and Mary Dietrich from London and our own Dorothy Irvin who spoke about the Alliance and our work at the United Nations as well as the need for better communication among members in the different countries."
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