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FutureChurch welcomes Dr. Nontando Hadebe and other contributors to the book, A Time Like No Other: Covid-19 in Women’s Voices, published by the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, for a preview of their work.
In today’s Bibles, Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha. But poring over hundreds of hand-copied early Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Gospel, Schrader found the name Martha had been altered. The scribes scratched out one Greek letter and replaced it with another, thereby changing the original name “Mary” to read “Martha.” They then split one woman into two. Schrader argues that the Mary of the original text is Mary Magdalene, not Martha or Martha’s sister, Mary. The two sisters belong to another story, in the Gospel of Luke, that is not repeated in John’s Gospel.
Elizabeth Schrader is a Ph.D. candidate in Early Christianity at Duke University. Her research interests include the New Testament Gospels, the Nag Hammadi corpus, Mary Magdalene, textual criticism, and feminist theology. She holds an M.A. and an S.T.M. from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. Her work about the potential suppression of Mary Magdalene was published in the Harvard Theological Review and featured by both the Daily Beast and Religion News Service.
Schrader has focused her research on the way Mary Magdalene’s role was deliberately downplayed by biblical scribes to minimize her importance. Specifically, she looks at the story of the raising of Lazarus told in the Gospel of John. In today’s Bibles, Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha.
Excerpt:
Because of the androcentric nature of biblical texts there are only an estimated 205 named female characters compared to an estimated 1,181 named men. But androcentrism is more than numbers. In a recent Women Erased presentation for FutureChurch, Gafney pointed out that because of male authorship, “Even when a woman is present, her story is serving a male story. If it’s focused on her, the larger arc is still a male story.” Given these realities — and the fact that the lectionary is a catechetical (teaching) text — it is unsurprising that in her introduction Gafney writes “not many of my students or parishioners can name even 10 women in the biblical canon.”
Since lectionary committees — guided in part by the Scriptures themselves — have selected predominantly male-oriented texts, people rarely learn about biblical women on Sunday — or any other time for that matter.
FutureChurch’s Women Witnesses for Racial Justice series continues with a celebration on the Solemnity of the Assumption, honoring the power and creativity of women – particularly women of color. Presider: Vickey McBride Witness: Naudia Loftis Readers: Crystal Catalan and Rose Lue Music reprinted and streamed under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.
This set of stations reflects on the stories of courageous Black Catholic Women who relied on their faith and dedicated themselves to living and sharing it despite bearing the unjust crosses of racism, slavery, poverty, segregation, sexism, and exclusion.
Each time Jesus falls, participants are invited reflect on exceprts from Catholic Social Teaching on the issue of race and racism. By doing so, we acknowledge — before God and before one another — that we, as individuals and as a community of believers — have failed to live the Gospel values of freedom, equality, solidarity, and inclusion we claim.
Art: Stations of the Cross by Janet McKenzie. Copyright 2013 by Janet McKenzie. Used with permission. Visit www.janetmckenzie.com.
To learn more, download our resource packet. Women Witnesses for Racial Justice resource packets include:
In 1943, Anna “Madre” Bates of Detroit, founded Our Lady of Victory, a Catholic mission in her neighborhood where white supremacy and segregation were rampant and where white ecclesiastical authorities resisted her advocacy.
The city’s disturbing segregationist policies and unjust living conditions imposed on Black Detroiters naturally created tensions in the city. In 1941, the city, eager to build a new housing development for white Detroiters, built an eight foot segregation wall (sometimes referred to as the “wailing wall”) that extended a half-mile long just blocks from the new Our Lady of Victory mission site. The wall was built to keep Black citizens out of white communiites in northwest Detroit. Just two years later, riots broke out as whites defended their territory against their fellow Black citizens.
Seeing the profound need for a Catholic presence and mission in her neighborhood, Mother Anna Bates spent ten years petitioning the archdiocese to provide Catholic worship to Black residents who were not permitted to enter any of the neighboring white Catholic Churches. Nearby Catholic parishes, including Presentation Church, were adamantly opposed to welcoming Black Catholics. The pain of that exclusion was deepened when ecclesiastical authorities suggested that Mother Bates’ neighborhood could not support a Catholic mission since it was in a “Protestant stronghold.”
Still, Mother Bates would not give up on her vision.
To learn more, download our resource packet. Women Witnesses for Racial Justice resource packets include:
Artist: Chloe Becker. Comissioned by FutureChurch.
“We recall the boldness of Bishop Harold Perry, SVD, who challenged his brother bishops to address the overt and covert stains of racism that prevent Black Catholics from fully participating in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.” –Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy
The Black Catholic History Rosary was developed by the late Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy in June of 2014. Dr. Gaddy invites prayers to reflect using the traditional method praying of the Rosary while introducing new mysteries that trace Black Catholic history.
*Please note that Dr. Gaddy’s prayers contain masculine language for God. While FutureChurch generally encourages the use of inclusive and expansive language, we have retained his original wording out of respect for his contribution and in deference to his spirituality.
To learn more, download this resource. Our resource includes:
“As Christians, as Catholics, as people of faith, we must do more than just pray; we must model Jesus’ message to love one’s neighbor. Our neighbor cannot breathe! Our neighbor is being lynched! Our neighbor is dying! Our Red Record of Hate must end now!” – The National Black Sisters’ Conference
FutureChurch offers key selections on racial justice from Catholic Social Teaching, including excepts from documents by The National Black Sisters’ Conference, The Second Vatican Council, Black Catholic Bishops of the United States, the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
To learn more, download this resource packet. This resource includes: