Women and the Word: Synod 2008
Put Women Back in the Biblical Picture!
OVERVIEW OF THE CAMPAIGN
FutureChurch is leading a two-year campaign to raise awareness about the invisibility of women's biblical leadership and experience in Church preaching and scripture proclamation.
The campaign is directed towards the October 2008 World Synod of Bishops with the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." Synod council members urged special attention to "the Word of God in liturgy, in preaching, in catechesis, in theology, spirituality, public and private meditation, enculturation and ecumenism".
Pope Benedict has spoken twice about the need "to offer more space, more positions of responsibility to women," and that "women themselves.... will know how to make their own space...And we will have to try and listen..." (March, August 2006) In February 2007 he provided the biblical underpinnings for women preachers and leaders in his daily audience address to 20,000 people
FutureChurch is providing concrete suggestions to synod leaders for ways to listen to women's voices, particularly in preaching and proclaiming the Word. The suggestions are:
- Invite women biblical experts. No women theologians were included in the 2005 Synod.
- Devote more pastoral attention to Jesus' and St. Paul's inclusion of women leaders.
- Expand opportunities for women preachers so both women and men can hear the Word through the lens of Christian women.
- Restore biblical women leaders to lectionary readings in which their witness was diminished or deleted. (See "Women in the Bible and the Lectionary" by Sr. Ruth Fox from May/June issue of LITURGY 90, © 1996.)
In 2005, FutureChurch worked to get the priest shortage on the agenda of the Synod on the Eucharist. We were successful because thousands of people were willing to send postcards and sign petitions requesting that the priest shortage be on the agenda.
CAMPAIGN ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Thanks to people like you, our Women and the Word: Synod 2008 campaign to put women back in the biblical picture has enjoyed great success. With your help, we will keep Jesus’ promise to remember stories of women of the Word like the anointing woman in Matthew, whom Jesus praised for her generous and prophetic act of love.
We are making a difference! In mid-November, the Synod Secretary General, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic acknowledged that "many contributions of the lay faithful who live deeply the sense of this great community experience" are arriving at the Synod secretariat.
Here are our accomplishments to date leading up to the October 5-26, 2008 World Synod of Bishops “on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”
- Bishops all over the U.S. have heard from over 3,000 lay leaders, priests and ordinary parishioners who sent paper and electronic postcards asking for attention to women's biblical leadership and experience in church preaching and scripture proclamation at the 2008 Synod;
- The Catholic Biblical Association passed a resolution to request bishops to ask that women biblical scholars be invited to the Synod;
- Nearly 1,100 electronic postcards were sent to the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Pope;
- Organizers at over 270 Mary of Magdala celebrations incorporated our special prayer service celebrating the hidden women of the lectionary and distributed hundreds of postcards and forwarded e-postcard appeals;
- Many leaders of religious orders have either spoken or written personal letters to their bishops asking for female biblical experts to serve as consultants at the Synod;
- A number of bishops have privately told us of their support for our campaign.
NEXT STEPS AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
There is still so much to do! With your help we will send many more “contributions from the lay faithful” in the final stretch of this campaign.
In the next steps of the campaign, FutureChurch will:
- prepare and submit a list of female biblical scholars to serve as consultants to synod leaders;
- seek personal meetings with U.S. delegates to the Synod asking their support for our campaign;
- strategize with our international contacts engaging their wisdom and activism for our campaign;
- be present at the Synod to meet with delegates and international media about our concerns;
- lead a pilgrimage to Rome archaeological sites of early women leaders while the Synod is in process. Please contact FutureChurch by phone or at pilgrimage@futurechurch.org for additional information.
How you can be involved in the campaign:
- Contact Secretary Archbishop Eterovic directly about our four synod requests by sending an epostcard. The epostcard will automatically be copied to the US synod delegates: Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington DC (a bishop advisor to the Synod), Cardinal Francis George of Chicago (the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson (USCCB vice-president), Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia (alternate delegate) and Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane (alternate delegate). Of course, Pope Benedict XVI will also receive a copy. You can also order postcards or download templates
Our four requests are:
- Invite women biblical experts to attend the Synod;
- Devote more pastoral attention to Jesus and St. Paul's inclusion of women leaders;
- Restore biblical women leaders to lectionary texts in which their witness was diminished or deleted;
- Expand opportunities for women preachers so both men and women can hear the Word through the lens of female experience.
- Order our Holy Week resource packet so your parish proclaims Jesus' promise to the anointing woman that “wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9) The packet contains tested prayer resources to put women like Mary of Magdala, the anointing women and the women from Galilee who stayed with Jesus through crucifixion to resurrection “back in the biblical picture.”
- Take Sr. Ruth Fox's Women in the Bible and Lectionary article to your parish and diocesan liturgy commission to educate about concrete strategies for restoring women leaders to lectionary texts (also available for free download at the FutureChurch website).
- Order our new comprehensive Advancing Women in Church Leadership or our Celebrating Women Witnesses packets. Use them for prayer and educational programs in your parish or small faith community.
- Begin a Woman and the Word column in your parish bulletin to educate about Jesus’ and St. Paul’s inclusive practice using FutureChurch resources such as Women in the Ministry of Paul by Dr. Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, available in the Advancing Women in Church Leadership packet.
- Plan a Mary of Magdala Celebration in your community to highlight the “Apostle to the Apostles,” women leaders in the early church and the hidden women of the lectionary.
- Join our Magdala-Women in Church Leadership email list (link) and keep updated on the Women and the Word Campaign as we move closer to the convening of the October Synod.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
PUT WOMEN BACK IN THE BIBLICAL PICTURE!
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