The Daily Collegian Friday, April 2, 1976
RHS
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WARING CINEMA
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Thurs & Sunday 7 & 9
Friday & Sat 7,9, & 11
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Friday - Sunday
FUB Rec Room
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The Jazz Club
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Thursday-Saturday
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HUB Assembly Room
POLLOCK Monty Python &
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WEST The Pink Panther
KARL
Females still sit in back
( continued from page 7)
In 1973, Poe Paul VI made what seemed to be a positive
step toward uplifting the status of all Catholic women by
appointing the Study Commission of the Role of Women in
Society.
But according to Theresa McLeod, Mother Superior at the
Regina Mundi Theological School, the commission's hands
were tied. McLeod told Friedan that even before the com
mission began to work, the "veto" was issued by the Vatican
Secretary of State the commission was to stay away from
the crucial issues of birth control and the ordination of women.
According to Daly, the roots of women's second class status
in religion run much deeper than tradition. They are more
than cultural; they are Biblical.
"The myth of Eve as Adam's rib and the images of woman
as temptress, virgin or motherhad more to do with keeping us
subordinate than almost any other factor operating in the
course of Western history," says feminist author Shiela
Collins.
_ .
But feminists have not abandoned the Bible as a worthless
piece of chauvinistic literature. Instead, they are dishing oUt
to male church leaders some, of their own theological
medicine.
St. Paul of the New Testament is 'a favorite ally of Church
leaders who want to justify the subordinate position of women.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: "Wives, be subject
to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head
of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church." In another
letter, to the Corinthians, Paul teaches: "The women should
keep silence in the churches. If there is anyting they desire to
know, let them ask their husbands at home."
However, feminists also recruit Paul to fight on their side.
Writing to the Galatians, Paul says: "There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female, for all are one in Jesus Christ."
"That's the real Paul," the Rev. Christensen says. He, like
many feMinists, believes Paul's writings merely reflected the
attitude of his historical period and should not be taken as a
direct attack on women.
"People say he was such a chauvinist, but I think I can
guess what he was thinking," the Rev. Christensen says. "If
Paul would have given women positions of authority at a time
when the society wasn't ready for it, the people would have
laughed at the Church he was trying to establish. Christianity
had a radical message as it was. Paul did not want to turn
people away for the wrong reasons."
The Creation story is another tool often used to support the
superiority of men. However, justification depends on in
terpretation.
Church leaders point to Genesis H, since it is there that Eve
is created from Adam's rib and told to be his helpmate. But
feminists point to a more non-sexist account of creation in
Genesis I, where no mention is made of who was created first:
"And He said, 'Let us make them in our own image and
likeness,' and He made them male and female."
Again, the Rev. Christensen sides with the feminists. "In
Hebrew, the name Adam does not mean `male'.; it means
SCARS
humanity," he says. "It's a symboliC sort of thing. Evan after
the first sin is committed, there is no place in Scripture where
God puts the blame on either the man or the woman alone.
Both are punished. To point to the Fall for the subjugation of
women, well, the proof just isn't there." ..
While the Biblical debate rages on, many , women
theologians fear that it will lead nowhere. "Like most of us,
Scripture is blessedly inconsistent," says Sister Evely.Joseph
Mallern of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C.
For Catholic women who desire equal access to the religious
opportunities given to men, the prospects are dim. Early in
1975 the Vatican's daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano,
dismissed the question of women priests as a "useless" and
"dangerous" preoccupation.
, , .
Clara Maria Henning,. Canon lawyer for the Diocese of
Detroit; is pessimistic about the chances of Catholic women
being admitted into the priesthood. Canon law, the strict
regulations which Catholics must follow, is difficult to change,
Henning says, because Canon lawyers are merely products of
the law they absorbed. The law, Henning says, is "that the
world was created for the male; that the Church'was ruled by
men and that it is their duty to keep it that way."
According to Henning, a highly selective process assures
that only the most conservative seminary students will climb
the success ladder from student to Canon lawyer and possibly
to bishop. Each gear about 10 males are hand-picked to study
Canon law.
"At each step, nide was a •weeding out of those boys and
men who were 'found to have a rebellious spirit and-or who
exhibited an appreciation of women that would in the usual
course , of events lead to fatherhood of a different kind. Our
canonists comprise a group who are not selected and trained
to lead; they are the cream, of the crop of natural followers,"
Henning argues. .
- _
Things look a bit more promising for the 11 Episcopal
women ordained in Philadelphia in July, 1974. Although they
invalidated the ordination in August, the House of Bishops has
since voted by a 3 to 1 majority to support the principle of
ordination of women to the priesthood. "That was not an of-'
ficial ruling," explains one Episcopal minister, "but it was a
vote of persuasion."
The 1976 Episcopal General Convention' will settle at least
one battle in women's struggle for recognition in the church.
For Carter Heyward, it has been a long and frustrating war.
To stretch it out even a few more months is a senseless tactic.
She says: "I am unwilling to participate in a game of plastic
smiles, new committees, old study projects; a game of watch
ing and waiting as my sisters and I suffocate in coerced com
pliance; , a game of servitude and patience, not for: . God's sake,
but for man's; a game called 'church.' "
Whether it is a game or not, women still have a long way to
go before they enjoy full equality in America's parishes and
pulpits. Until the attitude of American society changes
radically, many feel women will ,remain, as a Christianity
Today .editorial puts it, "first at the cradle and last at the
Cross.".
S. PUG
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