Woman to Woman

by Sr. Marlene Anne G Aquino, MACE

"The Uniting Church, from inception, will seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to recognize among its members women and men called by God to preach the Gospel, to lead the people in worship, to care for the flock, to share in government and to serve those in need in the world." (Par #14)

A simple paragraph has become the basis for the advancement of women’s roles in the Uniting Church in Australia (henceforth to be referred to as UCA in this paper). Uniting women have become a major player in their church after a fruitful though difficult campaign in the 70’s to increase the role and status of women in a highly male dominated church. This led to the adoption of specific clauses in the UCA Constitution and Regulations during its inaugural assembly in June 1977, in order to ensure “the significant representation of women in its decision-making bodies.” while women’s participation is encouraged, men still dominate the governing bodies and only the extra-gifted woman may advance over the weaker male counterpart

Uniting women occupy both major and minor roles in their church. If I were to compare this situation with the Roman Catholic Church, I would say the opportunities are somehow on a par, the only major differences being in the areas of continued refusal of the non-ordination of women mainly due to unprogressive, and therefore, stagnating interpretation of tradition and theology. For example in the argument that a priest is acting “in the person of Christ” reveals an ancient myopic knowledge of biology held by the Church instead of focusing on Christ’s loving and mediating role

Another argument cited by the RC is the unbroken tradition by the Church never having to confer ordination to women, a tradition emanating from a history when women were seen at the lowest levels and thought of as ritually unclean during their menstrual period.For the Church to remain fixated on this traditional reasoning is for it to totally ignore the modern advances in health and science. But actually the Church does not ignore such modern advances if it benefits the present clergy as in the use of modern medicine to lengthen their lives. So, is there fairness and justice in the interpretation of what beneficial contributions there are for the church as brought about by advances made in the understanding of modern health and biology?

I will try to focus on the ordained ministry of women in the UCA, their experiences, how they have progressed and how their roles have been received, finding areas where there could be comparison with the Catholic Church (henceforth, RC). I would love to investigate how these women recognized their calling, since I myself, have felt a calling to the priesthood eversince I was a 7-year old girl when I had oftentimes found myself drawn to ‘celebrate the eucharist’ before my make-shift altar. God must have made me realize at an early age that He calls each one to a royal priesthood (1Pt2:9). In this case, I believe, it is the Holy Spirit who does the ordination by anointing the called individual through a baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit in the person’s life.

But being a Roman Catholic is something not quite easy to give up because I know God wanted me to be one, having been born of and raised by Catholic parents in a Catholic nation. This is quite unlike the experience of UCA member Sue Neville, a former Anglican, who sought for other churches because she was discouraged to learn that an Anglican missionary was free to do what had to be done in her mission at Papua New Guinea, but was refused ordination in her own church in Sydney. The church would seem to suggest a double-standard approach to ministry. However, in the UCA, Sue who has no calling for ordination, had been given the chance to train as a preacher and worship leader and is the only non-ordained woman allowed by her pastor to celebrate the eucharist in her Kippax Uniting Parish Church. Having had the chance to observe both woman then man preach in the same church, gave me a sense that a woman preacher is able to approach her theme in a very motherly way, as if leading her own children towards the right values of life through a compassionate medium of speech.

Hilary Charlesworth, a Catholic professor at the Australian National University Faculty of Law, proclaimed in a public forum that the major religious traditions have not engaged adequately with the international law of human rights. Rome itself argues that equal rights for women do not apply in the context for ministries.In this, the UCA on the other hand, had proven itself quite responsive to the needs of the times, paragraph 14 of the Basis of Union, having placed women on equal footing with men in the UCA. However, I can see two waves of women in the UCA thus far. Those of the early 70’s to the eighties, constituted the first wave of warriors, who fought hard for their rightful place in church and before God. The second wave are the contemporary leaders who are reaping the harvest of the first wave. Ranjini Rebera, a noted UCA woman author and international lecturer on women and leadership, believes, however, that there have been three waves of women roles in the UCA. For Ranjini, the first wave were those who prepared the blueprint for women’s recognition and have been retired because of their late ages. The second wave, continues Ranjini, are those women who saw the birth of the UCA and the third wave are those who picked up the roles as leaders, theologians and ministers. Ranjini’s third wave of women’s role is actually my second. It is therefore, quite an opportune moment to question, how have the women ministers been accepted so far? How do these women feel about it?

There are five ordained women Ministers of the Word in the Australian Capital Territory, four are assigned in parishes and one opted to be a religious education teacher. Candidating for ordained ministry of the word entails no less than a year of discernment from the time the applicant for candidature expresses to her Minister a calling by God. The process includes a series of interviews with the congregation council, then on to the presbytery (regional level). And if successful, the candidate is forwarded to the synod and finally to the Ministerial Education Board. While both men and women candidates go through the same process of discernment , it is only the women candidates who are fielded discriminatory questions like, “Isn’t your role in the home, to raise your children and take care of your husband?” It would have been fair if a question were asked of men like ‘Aren’t you supposed to be an executive in a private company earning to support your family and children?’ But such a question, according to Rev. Miriam Howard, is not asked. Or why would she, a woman be required to study a Social Welfare course for three years, while a male counterpart was required only two years. So, what really is the role of women in the UCA?

Gillian Hunt explains women’s roles rather clearly, “We are here for each other, to support each other, to help and encourage each other.” So, the role of the first wave of UCA women, is not entirely over. The fight goes on and it is incumbent upon the women of the second wave, who saw the birth of the UCA, women like Gillian Hunt and those in leadership positions now, who shall need to strengthen one another in order to be able to move on. It is now a woman-to-woman stage of being present to one another. While the second wave reaps the fruits of the first wave fighters versus the men, the second wave of women’s current role is to continue making a point. Inevitably, therefore, I see a third wave of women in the UCA who will be in the plateau of women’s roles, truly uniting and peacefully collaborating with every sector, because by that time, the women ministers (and leaders) shall have been fully accepted and understood even by the member in the pew from the remotest parish.

How strongly did the first wave fighters do their role? Needless to say their biblical and theological arguments were successfully sound and I find there no need to point it out through repetition of past debates. Rather, I find their conviction in a different arena than usual. It is interesting to note how resolutely the women argued their case for fair participation by stressing on the need for numbered proportions. It was a form of management-by-objectives so to speak, that in order to ensure that women did get those positions, a system of percentages was seen as an acceptable guarantee. Aware of how slowly every organization adapts to calls for greater women’s participation, the UCA even imposed a 6-year regulation period by which to address these proportioned goals in favor of women which ended in June 1983. Marie Tulip reports that there was widespread feeling that the regulations achieved their aim, and a sense that the balance between men and women on councils and committees have been achieved.

I dare say, the initial role of these first wave of women has been the successful establishment of the female right and female abilities into place, but which still continues to struggle, although in less intensity now, against the uninspiring marks of male dominance and conventional Jewish thinking as regards male superiority and headship. Expectedly, the conflict gave rise to opinions like interference of God’s will in giving top positions to men, not to mention sarcastic remarks unleashed by some men. The male clergy, had some kind words expressed like “the expression is one of liberation and relaxation…caring and social elements have come to the fore a little.” However, in a very subtle way, this last comment still places women in a box. Are women pastors meant only to be a little addition for the caring and social elements or can they also be decisive and economically sound in judgment as befits a well-rounded pastor?

Actual experiences of ordained women in the field in current times still speak of discriminatory remarks even from women members themselves belonging to the older generation, or from false accusations and calumny, or a strong rejection to a woman minister’s presence that a man even got ill. A woman minister has no recourse but to concentrate her early efforts at finding that point of success in order to gain the respect of her new congregation. In her role as pastor, she has to continuously try to reach out to the people’s levels. It may be a successful and meaningful funeral service that is usually attended by the community at large, just to prove that this woman minister can also do a meaningfully respectable service. Therefore, the faster this accepting level comes, the better for the new woman minister.

What did the percentages actually say? Marie Tulips’ study ended in 1982 and current figures are only estimates by some authorities. But the message is clear, there is an increasing trend of total women ministers against total men ministers. The targets were actually set by the 1974 meeting which stipulated for 50% women membership in Parish Councils, Presbyteries, Synods, and the Assembly, while committees set up by these bodies are to have 30% women. It is therefore hard to believe the RC arguments presented by Pope Paul VI in his Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith that ordination was reserved by Jesus only for men (Par # 4).

It is now 2001, 19 years from the last statistics and since then, says, Jeff Suptut, a young Parish Council chair, the national body has had two women presidents, but he observed that on the congregational level, while women are in councils, they are not in the executive level. But this is understandably so, because the regulations called for 30% to 50% women membership. There were no targets set for leadership. However, since the ordained ministry is very visible, the adherence therefore, to paragraph 14 on the call to equality of the sexes makes this aspect open to evaluation vis-à-vis the 50-50 proportion. And besides, when God calls one to the Ministry of the Word, it is a call that is hard to ignore and to set aside for good for it is not the person who chooses but God Himself (Jn 15:16).

In fact, according to the Rev. Gregor Henderson, past secretary-general of the synod, that for the past four to six years there has been an equal number of male and female trainees for ministry so that the ratio of 50-50 may be reached comfortably in 20 years. On a national level, the 75:25 ratio right now among the clergy is due to the fact that when the UCA started in the early 70’s there was a 100:0 ratio in favor of male clergy while women were just starting to be ordained. So, with the 50:50 ratio in theological colleges, even as, the colleges meet the target of 50:50 share, the levelling off would take time. It would be faster, if the colleges opted for a ratio of 75:25 in favor of women trainees, but that would go against the targets set by the UCA for a 50-50 distribution in all levels except in its committees.

The signs are clear in the UCA. Women are not just to raise children and take care of husbands. They are also called ministry and that is an established fact. Will the RC ever come to the same conclusion? Not in two decades considering that organizations advocating for the ordination of Catholic women priests are limited to only one organization each in Australia, Korea, USA, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Eire and there in none, surprisingly, even from a major Catholic country like the Philippines. Why is this so? The Catholic Church happens to experience a fidelity to the virtue of obedience. Thus, when a beloved Pope like John Paul II issues an Ordination that is, Sacerdotalis echoing Pope Paul VI, reserving priestly ordination to men alone because Jesus set the model by choosing male apostles, who are we to question the sex of the 12 men disciples? (Mk 3:13-14). Never mind if it happened in an era where women were treated at its lowest. Patiently we shall wait for God’s time.

Curiosity takes the better of me. I want to know how the people feel about their woman pastors. A respected member of the UCA, Ranjini Rebera, expressed that women presidents of the national assembly have so far been the best presidents, while woman ministers have an advantage because they supposedly bring a different dimension to ministry, that of nurture and care, where men and women find it easier to talk to women pastors about their problems because of a woman’s mother-image.Ranjini Rebera’s observations echoes those of Ezra Earl Jones, General-Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church who wrote in a Foreword for a UCA pastor’s book. “Being Clergy, Staying Human” that her liking for Dorothy McRae-McMahon as UCA pastor is anchored on McMahon’s uncommon gift of reflecting thoughtfully and continually on the church’s ministry, on her role as pastor, and how her people live and grow and serve as she gives this with insight for teaching, guiding, leading and supporting people over the rapids and through the eddies of the river. McMahon, who authored this book out of her rewarding experiences as pastor in Sydney and Darlinghurst explained that she sees a clergy’s role as based on the book of Joshua where the people were waiting on the banks of the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land and Joshua was asked by God to lift the Ark of the covenant and pass in front of the people and asking them to take their stand on the river (Jos 3:6-8). McMahon writes: "This has always been, for me, a vivid image of the role of the clergy. I picture the people of God in every age receiving with hope and faith the dream of a new heaven and a new earth. I see the people waiting and watching for the ones among them who will take hold of that dream and step into the river of life, the ones who will tell them what it feels like in the river and demonstrate what they need to carry with them if they are to live in that river with faith, integrity, and a sense of adventure."

Indeed, if every clergy person had this idea of her role, Christians would not feel alone and abandoned to carry on their pilgrimage for the true spirit of community will manifest itself as koinonia in practice. I know of many women RC, who lead people to such communal care, but as Rev. Moimoi expressed, that in spite of all the good works of many ministry these RC nuns do, when it comes to the sacraments, they are just prevented from doing so, even if the need and the occasion is there. Simplistically, a theological basis for this circumstance may be that Jesus, who is Himself the primal sacrament is male. Quite an embarrassing presumption this one. So much so that even an Australian priest had once declared that his only qualification for ordination is his having a penis.

The first wave of women heroes of the UCA and the current crop of women ministers have succeeded in clearing the road for women’s top leadership and ministerial roles. What about my beloved RC? I know that a woman has been Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See. That women and women religious have led certain this or that commission, or group. That on the congregational and national levels, meetings of the laity and religious reveal a greater women participation than men. In the RC the male dominance is in the hierarchy of church leadership alone. Quo vadis women? Well, our highest role is that of being “Mother of God” in the person of Mary. And may churches’ altars are adorned by statues of women saints. But in reality, when can a tangible role be given women in the hierarchy? When will the RC stop looking at women as ornamental objects, but as equal partners in ministry? These UCA women Ministers do recognize the many highly educated Roman Catholic women religious who have great ministries and are eminently qualified to be ordained, but are not and cannot be, and this causes some passion to burn in some UCA women ministers’ hearts that RC women have not been given justice until now.

Allow me to stress though, that no amount of debate on theological, scriptural, magisterial and traditional grounds can erase the fact that deep inside my heart is a strong calling to minister to God’s people, to offer sacrifice in intercession like Melchizedek did, and to raise His people before His Holy throne in humble intercession and worship with the Sacrament of the Eucharist in memory of Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist, and just as Jesus calls us to do in His priesthood that we may all be holy as He is Holy. Men of the Church will you hear our hearts as Jesus hears, as the UCA hears. Men of God will you listen to God calling on women, too? The UCA men heard God’s call on the UCA women. Did not God create men equally? Or did God create the RC men partially deaf?

And for what the UCA women had accomplished in so short a time, woman-to-woman, I say, thank you so very much. In the end, just as Rev. Gereldine Leonard reflects, that if one wants to do something to change the church at the congregational level, one just needs to get someone to support that, and then do it. Yes, like many women around the world, I, too, have a calling for RC priesthood, and at my level, whenever needed, and as inspired by the Holy Spirit, I, too, bless the homes and exorcise the premises of some Filipino homes in the area of my apostolate, which only RC priests (some) are to do. I give homilies in local worship sessions, and administer spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus. In my mission, however, I give full pastoral care as the Trinity leads me to, for as Gideon Goosen writes, “At some stages, hard and courageous action is required.” Hence, as a Missionary Apostle of Christ in the Eucharist, I bring Christ fully alive in my heart that I may be a living Eucharist to others, for nothing can stop me from being that sign and symbol of the risen Christ if the Holy Spirit itself has duly ordained me with ministry gifts. Therefore, I need not wait for human decisions to do my role as a Roman Catholic minister. I have done it and my flock and I feel truly blest as well.

Yes! Indeed, Gideon. Something can be done at my level; and I am confident that God Himself will work on the hierarchy of the Church. Is it worth it? I quote Rev. McMahon: "The rewards – challenges – are great. So few profession carry such variety, such unpredictability, Such a breath-taking honor of accompanying other people through experiences of both joys and pain."

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