Today’s readings include a narrative in which many people see a parallel problem with the contemporary institutional Church: the inability to honor the voices, concerns, and authority of individuals based on their gender. For many encountering the passage for the first time, Jesus and his disciples come across as disrespectful. Jesus seems to ignore the Canaanite woman at first, leading the disciples to request that he sends her away. Recalling aloud that his mission was devoted to the Israelites, he continues to ignore her due to her belonging to a different community. When she persists, he refers to her as a “dog.” Yet, the unnamed woman takes that derogatory term, flips it on its head, and reminds Jesus of mercy. He then finally responds to her behest. 

Many people reading the text are likely to be disturbed by how Jesus seems to ignore the plight and basic dignity of the Canaanite woman. Readers of this text today might think of the myriad of institutional problems with gender and authority within the contemporary institutional Church, along with the multitude of ways their voices are either silenced or ignored.

One such scholar who strongly emphasizes the voices of women’s authority is Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Born in Romania in 1938, she was raised mostly in Frankfurt. She received her Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Münster in 1964. After marrying American theologian Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, she moved to the United States where she taught at the University of Notre Dame before moving to Harvard Divinity School.

In 1983, Schüssler Fiorenza published her most famous work of biblical and theological scholarship, In Memory of Her. In this text, she foregrounds one of the central themes of her work, a term she created, “kyriarchy.” The term is a combination of the Greek words “kyrios,” meaning Lord (or more accurately “sir”), and “archos,” meaning rule. Her term describes the collusion of ideas of God with patriarchal structures. In Memory of Her also functions as a biblical and theological excavation for the roots of the ekklesia, a Greek word meaning Church or congregation. For Schüssler Fiorenza, Jesus discloses the basileia (a Greek term translated sometimes as “Kingdom” or “Reign”) of God, a radically egalitarian community that dismantles socially imposed hierarchies. Her work tracks the development of the early Christian communities that dismantled such hierarchies, including gender, into an institution that capitulated to the patriarchal norms of the late Roman empire. She thus tracks the early development of how the Church became the kyriarchal institution that many struggle with today. Schüssler Fiorenza advocates for a reclaiming of radical language of the basileia movement to reimagine how we think about the type of Christian community we aim to build.

One notable aspect of Schüssler Fiorenza’s work is her ability to absorb criticisms. One of the main critiques of many feminist movements she was a part of were, and are, their failures to recognize how gender oppression can collude with other interlocking forms of oppression, such as race, class, body shape, age, ability, or neurodiversity. Her more recent work attempts to recognize the expansiveness of gender.

Returning to the Canaanite woman, we find much to admire: her persistence in speaking truth to a man, requiring nerve; her wit at turning an insult into a challenge for Christ. We can also model how Jesus himself is challenged and grows from her persistence. We might note that Jesus demonstrates a willingness to change and reimagine what his mission looked like, and just how radical the basileia movement really is.

Nontando M. Habede, PhD, has done much work to emphasize the theological authority of women while working to mitigate gender-based discrimination. Born in Zimbabwe, she currently resides in South Africa. She has a doctorate in theology from St. Augustine College of South Africa. Raised as a Catholic, her spiritual journey subsequently took her to the Baptist and Anglican/Lutheran churches, before coming back to the Catholic Church.

Formerly employed for St. Augustine College in South Africa, Habede now works for Side by Side. Side by Side is a growing global movement of people of faith who want to see gender justice become a reality across the world. Habede is also a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. This organization works to emphasize the voices of Christian African women as a source of theological knowledge production.

As a scholar, Habede’s work has always emphasized the socially transformative aspects of the Gospel. Her dissertation examined Augustine’s notion of the Trinity in light of the HIV/AIDS crisis within the African continent. Her other publications have focused on the legacy of colonization within higher education throughout theological education within Africa. Finally, she has done much to stand as an advocate for LGBTQ+ Catholics throughout the continent. Not dissimilar to the work of Schüssler Fiorenza in advocating for the different voices of women or the “culture of encounter” emphasized throughout the papacy of Francis, Habede works towards justice for many marginalized communities.

Instead of presenting a community, at least in terms of a physical parish, consider a digital community that more people on this website would have immediate access to. “Catholic Women Preach,” as its name implies, uplifts the voices of lay women and sisters as they interpret the readings from the lectionary. The community functions as a free, pastoral resource for lay people, clergy, and theologians to engage with Scripture. Each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation features a woman from a different background offering her engagement with Scripture.

As many may know, the preaching of the laity has been largely forbidden, except in special circumstances. Catholic Women Preach recognizes the universal call to preaching the Gospel that all baptized Catholics are called to perform. Given that we live in an age of the Church that currently does not honor the vocation of Catholics who are not cisgender men to serve as priests, this community honors the insights, wisdom, and authority of voices, not unlike the woman from today’s Gospel, who have been marginalized. I invite you to consider this community along with The Just Word Commentary, to be an additional means of engaging the lectionary throughout the liturgical calendar.

“Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Artemisia Gentileschi.

Visit: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/judith-beheading-holofernes

Image description: Against a dark background, the Assyrian general Holofernes, with a dark hair and beard, lies on a bed covered with a burgundy blanket and white sheets. One woman, wearing a blue dress and white head covering holds him down while another woman, Judith, wearing a golden dress with her brown hair flowing down, beheads Holofernes with a large sword.