Preface and Introduction

by Maureen Dwyer and Marjorie Tuite, O.P.

New Woman, New Church, New Priestly Ministry

Proceedings of the Second Conference on the Ordination of Roman Catholic Women
November 1978, Baltimore, U.S.A. pp 10 - 16.
Published on our website with permission of the Women's Ordination Conference

Editor's Preface

The task of putting together the material from the conference presented a challenge. It is difficult to convey in print the enthusiasm and vitality that were in the air at Baltimore. I hope that our pictures will show something of the flavor of the event.

The Harbor Event, which opened the conference, is not in the opening chapter here. It is located in Chapter IV, “Prayer Events,” for purposes of clarity. All the liturgical events were designed with an overall theme in mind, and together they form a whole. An introduction to the prayer chapter by Elaine Sonosky, the liturgical designer, expands on the conference’s liturgical theme.

For the conference planners, the process of the conference was as important as the content, and much thought went into it. As a result, an explanation of the process by Marjorie Tuite follows the introduction. For the specific recommendations that emerged and to which she refers, see the Appendices.

The editing of the talks is light. All presentations are given in their entirety. Where grammatical and syntactical change might conflict with an individual’s style, preference is given to style. Also, where language might be interpreted as sexist (which occurs seldom), it is left as presented. The editor’s purpose is to intrude into the material as little as possible. As a result, the political nuances of all the texts are the speakers’ own.

Introduction

by Marjorie Tuite, O.P.

MARJORIE TUITE, OP, is a member of the ministerial team at Jesuit School of Theology, Chicago. She organized the facilitating process for the conference.

It was a reverent, awesome and historical moment. For the first time the Church had been convened on the question of the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. The conference, “Women in Future Priesthood Now: A Call to Action,” was held in Detroit, Michigan, during Thanksgiving weekend, 1975.

Without knowing whether anyone cared, Mary B. Lynch, a seasoned advocate for the ordination of women, called together 31 people in Chicago in December, 1974, and from that meeting came the decision that a gathering of 200-400 would test the public waters of interest in Catholic women priests.

So overwhelming was the response that the conference location was changed twice to accommodate swelling registrations. Twelve hundred registrations were accepted, but 500 people had to be turned away. Even before the conference began, its goals had been achieved: people were interested: the issue had real life in the hearts of the people.

Claiming that this life must continue to grow, the participants called for the establishment of an ongoing organization to be called Women’s Ordination Conference, with a Core Commission to coordinate the national organization. An ad hoc committee consulted all who had attended the Detroit conference, and from a field of 183 nominations, 22 Core Commission members were selected, 19 of whom were able to accept. The national organization has, since its first meeting in June, 1976 in Chicago, striven for fidelity to its objective: the ordination of women to a renewed priestly ministry. Ever burdened with financial limitations, it has nevertheless sought to provide leadership for the eradication of sexism in the Roman Catholic Church.

In January, 1977, a “Vatican Declaration” was issued, which asserted that women cannot image Jesus in the priesthood. The declaration served to heighten sensitivities and bring forth pain and anger due to the Church’s obvious discrimination against women. Women’s Ordination Conference decided to sponsor a second major conference which would collect the outcry, develop theology and strategies, and send people home with a renewed caring and commitment to justice of women in the Church.

The lived experience of women in our church was to be at the center of the conference. A pre-conference process was developed to gather data: small groups all over the country gathered to reflect on their experiences of ministry to women and by women and to share their visions and hopes for a new priestly ministry. Women who had been identified through Project Priesthood as believing themselves called to priesthood were invited to write the story of their call. Two theologians, women, were asked to reflect on this data and to focus their conference presentations on what seemed to be emerging as a renewed priestly ministry. Following a consultation which included lay people and eight theologians, the conference theme emerged: “New Woman, New Church, New Priestly Ministry.”

Baltimore was chosen as the conference site because of its history in the development of American Catholicism, because of the active presence of the Baltimore Task Force on the Status of Women in the Church, because of the heavy concentration of WOC members in the East, and because Maryland is an ERA-ratified state.

Once the conference was announced, response was swift and enthusiastic. Registrations began to pour in, and 110 international, national and focal groups, as well as individuals, endorsed and/or co-sponsored the conference. WOC began a conference scholarship fund, and more than $5,000 was raised and disbursed to people who would otherwise have been unable to attend.

Two thousand men and women converged at Baltimore’s inner harbor for the opening ceremony to the words “We burst the chains that oppress — and forge the chains that free.” Chanting and carrying chains, the participants processed through the streets of Baltimore to the Civic Center, the cavernous site of the conference. Solidarity grew, bonding was real, and the sense of justice and ministry to the Church was felt.

The movement had matured a great deal in three years. The euphoria of the Detroit Ordination Conference was replaced by an understanding, born of experience, that it would be a difficult struggle to reverse church practice of excluding women from priesthood. Although best organized in the United States, it became clear to all that the movement is world-wide — a heartening realization that came in the midst of tough reflection on the links among racism, classism and sexism.

The reawakening of a commitment to call the Church to live out the Gospel message, the energy unleashed by the recreation of sisterhood, the belief that success is not determined by numbers but by the justice that is lived — that was the experience of Baltimore for many.

The Baltimore conference was an event that is only part of a vigorous movement. In telling the story of that event, this book echoes the conference’s call to justice as we struggle for a Church freed of the sin of sexism.

Detroit, 1975 was an event of conscientization, a gathering of 1200 persons, where for the first time, pastoral experience, theological and scriptural understandings, within the context of ordination of women to a renewed Roman Catholic priesthood was affirmed in the public forum. It was challenging; it was energizing; it was visionary.

Three Years Later

Baltimore, 1978 included 2000 participants, representing a long continuum of experience, competency and understanding. The event had become a movement; an ongoing organization, Women’s Ordination Conference, had been established and had struggled efficiently to keep the issue alive and moving. To Baltimore came those who were engaging the issues for the first time to the weary and battle-scarred whose sense of urgency and anger increased with each passing day. There were the theorists and the practitioners; the visionaries and the strategists. There were the women who called for ordination now within the present structure and those who spoke of a renewed priestly ministry, not at all achievable within the present structure. There were those who came for support and nurture and others who came for concrete action.

The Intent

The Conference was designed primarily within the context of six goals. The resource persons were chosen for their ability to respond to these articulated goals.

Goal #1 To both widen and deepen the base of conscientization begun in Detroit. The opening panel “The Ordination of Roman Catholic Women: More Than One Continent?” was an attempt to create a larger framework for the issue, viz. Universal Church rather than simply a U.S. concern.

Goal #2 To place the issue of sexism firmly within and related to an analysis of society that includes oppressions of race and class, “Chains That Bind: Classism, Racism, Sexism,” Sheila Collins, resource person.

Goal #3 To clarify and sharpen the meaning of feminism. “Roman Catholic Ministry: Patriarchal Past, Feminist Future,” Mary Hunt, resource person.

Goal #4 To raise and refine questions of theology and strategy in a Track system concretized in small group sessions:

1. “Those Who Believe Themselves Called to Priesthood”— Fran Ferder, resource person.

“The Political Implications of That Call” — Betty Carroll, resource person.

2. “Recent Theological Studies on the Issue” — Sara Butler and Carroll Stuhlmueller, resource persons.

3. “If the Pope Would Allow the Ordination of Women, I Would/Would Not be Ordained” — Patricia Hughes and Eileen Stenzel, resource persons.

Goal #5 To examine the meaning and implement action of a “renewed priestly ministry,” “To Comfort or To Challenge?”— Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, resource person.

“Chains that Bond: Creating the Future Church” — Anne Carr, Margaret Brennan, Richard McBrien, resource persons.

Goal #6 To initiate and strengthen a growing network of women and men, nationally and internationally — regional meetings.

The Design

The Conference was envisioned as moving from the general to the particular. Input from the speakers, celebration through different liturgical experiences and sharing experiences and insights in small groups provided each participant with the opportunity to deepen the understanding of the issue and its personal implications.

The accompanying diagram provides an analysis of the structure of the Conference.

Critique

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was confusion and frustration; it was dynamic and energizing. For some, too long; for others, too brief a time. It was struggle and new learnings; support and contradictions. It was aloneness and bonding.

Should the participants have grouped around diverse concerns to sustain the dialectic and engage the contradictions instead of similar issues? Should the small groups have had intentional connection to the plenary session on Sunday? In retrospect, yes.

Should such a gathering happen again?

In retrospect, one year later, yes.

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