Fr. Louis Birabaluge s.x.
The number 12 of the Centre for African Studies has just been published. Here is the Edito.
The condition of women in society and in the Church: this is the theme treated in this number 12 of the Cahiers of the Centre for African Studies, published by the xaverian circumscriptions of Africa. The texts intend to shed light on what women are doing in the world and in the Church. And thus, they postulate the need to reaffirm the equality in dignity between men and women. Unfortunately, the fundamental equality claimed between a man and a woman is often verbal. On a daily basis, at home as well as at work, this equality between man and woman is many times contradicted by acts that diminish the woman. Surprisingly, no society is spared from this structural sin that causes women sometimes treated by men as a sub-human category.
With regard to the status of women, Africa still has a very long way to go. And to do this, the continent will have to overcome its cultural contradictions. In fact, on one hand, in many African societies, woman is celebrated as the sacred being par excellence. For in a continent ' thirsty for fertility ' (Matungulu Otene sj.), it is in her that mature, first, the lives of generations to come[1]. On the other hand, she is diminished by a patriarchal or macho culture. For example; in Sierra Leone, despite the enactment of a law prohibiting female genital mutilation (FGM), the practice of FGM is still widespread. On the contrary, it is accepted and encouraged by a culture dominated by men who want to ensure that the woman is under their control.
In DR Congo, her body is trivialized by men. The mapping report revealed that sexual rape of women by men accounted for hundreds of thousands between 1993-2003[2]. In this regard, the work of Colette Braeckman, The man who repairs women. Sexual violence in Congo: the fight of Doctor Mukwege, Paris, paperback, 2012, staged in a documentary film in 2016, by the Belgian Director Thierry Michel, is a touching and sad revelation. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Congolese Doctor Denis Mukwege is a sign that the fight for the dignity of women is a major issue in our world today.
If society offers this dark picture, what about the Church? Is she preaching by good example? -While proclaiming that the woman as well as the man are created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1: 27); that in Christ there is no more man or woman (Gal 3: 28), and that therefore man and woman are equal in dignity, and the church is struggling to integrate women into her decision-making bodies. Only God knows if women who work in the Church are better treated than their sisters in the secular world.
In Evangelii Gaudium; n. 103, Pope Francis invites the universal Church to broaden the spaces for a more incisive female presence in the Church. Has his appeal been heard? Is it followed by a consistent practice? Nevertheless, even if the Church as an institution does not do better than society at large in relation to the status of women, it is necessary to recognize that in the recent ecclesial Magisterium, there is an accentuated reference to this question which asks for a profound conversion.
With regard to Africa, it should be noted that Pope John Paul II (Ecclesia in Africa, n. 104) and Pope Benedict XVI (Africae Munus, n. 56-57), in their time, reminded the catholic church in Africa of her duty to promote the dignity and emancipation of African women. They invited the Church of Africa to ' free the word ' and to become exemplary and a model for the whole of African societies with regard to the status of women. With the Synod Fathers, Benedict XVI, urged the disciples of Christ to combat all acts of violence against women, to denounce and condemn them. And he added: "it would be appropriate for the behavior within the Church to be a model for the whole of society"[3]
Ten years later, is it possible to say that the Pope's message was heard and produced the fruits expected? It is not obvious. Unfortunately, it is known that there are still parishes in Africa where women dressed with trousers are forbidden to enter the Church. Some dioceses refuse to admit the girls in the group of altar servers. Other dioceses do not accept women as Ministers of Eucharist. And all this, in the name of an ' alleged sound Catholic tradition '. In reality, are we defending a sound Catholic tradition or certain disputable African Customs here? In any case, the question needs to be asked. There may even be worse things about the status of women in the churches of Africa.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for conversion. In that process, a certain way of reading and interpreting the biblical texts that is observed in our churches does not facilitate the task. Indeed, encouraged by a literal and fundamentalist reading of the Bible, some Christians continue to rely on biblical verses quoted out of context to argue that women are inferior to men and that they must be subjected to them.
In this crusade against woman, Saint Paul is summoned as an ally of weight. « ... the head of the woman is the man... (1Co 11: 3). "Indeed, man was not drawn from the woman, but the woman of man; and man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man "(1Cor 11: 8-9). "May the women be subjected to their husbands, as to the Lord; (Eph 5: 22). Verses of his kind read out in ancestral cultures that belittle women can only play in their disfavor.
Those who have a minimum knowledge of the biblical texts and of their meaning will not find it difficult to detect that such use of the Bible is a matter of ideology. Even worse, it is a sign of ignorance of the Scriptures. At the end, those who quote them ignore Christ himself, to use the appropriate words of St. Jerome. Did the Apostle Paul not pose the relationship of Christ to the Church as a model that should govern the relationships between men and women (Eph 5: 22-33)? Does he not evoke gender equality as a consequence of the new life in Christ: "there is no man or woman: for you are all only one person in Christ Jesus. And if you are in Christ, you are therefore "descendants " of Abraham, heirs according to the promise "(Ga 3: 28-29)? We cannot read correctly the whole Bible and support the discrimination of women.
On the subject of the dignity of women, the teaching of the Church is not known either. Indeed, at a symposium organized in 20-1-2015 by Hekima University College, a Jesuit University based in Nairobi, Kenya, which had as theme: "the Church we want: theological voices in and outside the Church in the service of ' Ecclesia in Africa '"[4], a Congolese sister Josée Ngalula was ponderig over what she called "theological and biblical illiteracy" that affects both lay people and clerics in Africa. She said that such people were ignorant of the rich treasure of the Church’s teaching about the dignity of women. According to sister Josée, an honest appropriation of this teaching could shake the clericalism and sexism strongly rooted in the churches of Africa and thus enable women in Africa to contribute to the building of the body of Christ in Africa, as they are already doing in many Christian communities, without the need for a warrant issued by a male authority.
These elements of the context mentioned above are in the background of the texts published in this number 12 of the Cahiers. The authors are mostly women. Therefore, this number releases the voice of women. In sharing their experiences, they are neither accusatory nor plaintive. They choose to say what women do on a daily basis, their contribution to the well-being of their society. They do not ignore the daily drama of women. They prefer to be positive. By opting for this approach, they have opted for the approach of discernment called "appreciative discernment".
Indeed, to favor "appreciative discernment" is to have a look on what is going on with a positive mindset. This approach does not ignore the problems. It has the advantage of giving heart[5]. In a world flooded with bad news dubbed by fake news about the condition of women, the discovery of what women are realizing on a daily basis can only comfort. At the end, we say: Yes, our humanity is not so rotten as it appears. It is not abandoned to the dominant instincts of men. Our humanity can count on many women struggling to ensure that our humanity becomes ever more humane. It is this recognition of positiveness and hope that emerges from the experiences expressed in the texts published.
Regarding the teaching of the Church on the status of women, the article of sister Maria De Giorgi deserves to be noticed. The xaverian sister shows that the Catholic Church, through her Magisterium, has a rich treasure where woman emerges as a precious ressource for the world and for the Church. The appropriation of this teaching that Maria De Giorgi puts at our disposal would already be a first step towards the fight against "biblical and theological illiteracy", denounced by sister Josée Ngalula, that characterizes many men on the issue of women’s condition.
This number is also enriched by an analysis of a film – Moolaadé - that portrays a woman against the current culture. A review of a few books comes to stimulate the reading of recent works, indispensable tools for ongoing formation. If the reading of testimonies published in this number improved the quality of our man-woman relationships in the world and in the Church, then their authors would have achieved their goals.
Fr. LOUIS BIRA SX
[1] ELA J.-M., ZOA A.-S., Fécondité et migrations africaines : Les nouveaux enjeux, Paris, L’Harmattan, (coll. Études africaines), 2006, p. 29.
[2] "Report of the Mapping Project on the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed between March 1993 and June 2003 in the territory of the Democratic Republic 2010", in www.genreenaction.net, consulted, on 18/01/2019, p. 16.
[3] POPE BENEDICT XVI, Africae Munus, n . 56.
[4] The volume in English is published with the title: The Church we want. Foundations, Theology and Mission of the Church in Africa. Conversations on Ecclesiology, A. E. Orobator, sj, (Editor), Nairobi, Paulines, 2015. See the article of Sister Josée Ngalula, pp. 179-189.
[5] About this method of discernment, see the article of RAPHAEL DEILLON, « Comment vivre aujourd’hui la radicalité de l’Evangile ? Le 28e chapitre des Missionnaires d’Afrique », in Spiritus, n°244(septembre 2016), p. 272-273.
The number 12 of the Centre for African Studies has just been published. Here is the Edito.
The condition of women in society and in the Church: this is the theme treated in this number 12 of the Cahiers of the Centre for African Studies, published by the xaverian circumscriptions of Africa. The texts intend to shed light on what women are doing in the world and in the Church. And thus, they postulate the need to reaffirm the equality in dignity between men and women. Unfortunately, the fundamental equality claimed between a man and a woman is often verbal. On a daily basis, at home as well as at work, this equality between man and woman is many times contradicted by acts that diminish the woman. Surprisingly, no society is spared from this structural sin that causes women sometimes treated by men as a sub-human category.
With regard to the status of women, Africa still has a very long way to go. And to do this, the continent will have to overcome its cultural contradictions. In fact, on one hand, in many African societies, woman is celebrated as the sacred being par excellence. For in a continent ' thirsty for fertility ' (Matungulu Otene sj.), it is in her that mature, first, the lives of generations to come[1]. On the other hand, she is diminished by a patriarchal or macho culture. For example; in Sierra Leone, despite the enactment of a law prohibiting female genital mutilation (FGM), the practice of FGM is still widespread. On the contrary, it is accepted and encouraged by a culture dominated by men who want to ensure that the woman is under their control.
In DR Congo, her body is trivialized by men. The mapping report revealed that sexual rape of women by men accounted for hundreds of thousands between 1993-2003[2]. In this regard, the work of Colette Braeckman, The man who repairs women. Sexual violence in Congo: the fight of Doctor Mukwege, Paris, paperback, 2012, staged in a documentary film in 2016, by the Belgian Director Thierry Michel, is a touching and sad revelation. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Congolese Doctor Denis Mukwege is a sign that the fight for the dignity of women is a major issue in our world today.
If society offers this dark picture, what about the Church? Is she preaching by good example? -While proclaiming that the woman as well as the man are created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1: 27); that in Christ there is no more man or woman (Gal 3: 28), and that therefore man and woman are equal in dignity, and the church is struggling to integrate women into her decision-making bodies. Only God knows if women who work in the Church are better treated than their sisters in the secular world.
In Evangelii Gaudium; n. 103, Pope Francis invites the universal Church to broaden the spaces for a more incisive female presence in the Church. Has his appeal been heard? Is it followed by a consistent practice? Nevertheless, even if the Church as an institution does not do better than society at large in relation to the status of women, it is necessary to recognize that in the recent ecclesial Magisterium, there is an accentuated reference to this question which asks for a profound conversion.
With regard to Africa, it should be noted that Pope John Paul II (Ecclesia in Africa, n. 104) and Pope Benedict XVI (Africae Munus, n. 56-57), in their time, reminded the catholic church in Africa of her duty to promote the dignity and emancipation of African women. They invited the Church of Africa to ' free the word ' and to become exemplary and a model for the whole of African societies with regard to the status of women. With the Synod Fathers, Benedict XVI, urged the disciples of Christ to combat all acts of violence against women, to denounce and condemn them. And he added: "it would be appropriate for the behavior within the Church to be a model for the whole of society"[3]
Ten years later, is it possible to say that the Pope's message was heard and produced the fruits expected? It is not obvious. Unfortunately, it is known that there are still parishes in Africa where women dressed with trousers are forbidden to enter the Church. Some dioceses refuse to admit the girls in the group of altar servers. Other dioceses do not accept women as Ministers of Eucharist. And all this, in the name of an ' alleged sound Catholic tradition '. In reality, are we defending a sound Catholic tradition or certain disputable African Customs here? In any case, the question needs to be asked. There may even be worse things about the status of women in the churches of Africa.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for conversion. In that process, a certain way of reading and interpreting the biblical texts that is observed in our churches does not facilitate the task. Indeed, encouraged by a literal and fundamentalist reading of the Bible, some Christians continue to rely on biblical verses quoted out of context to argue that women are inferior to men and that they must be subjected to them.
In this crusade against woman, Saint Paul is summoned as an ally of weight. « ... the head of the woman is the man... (1Co 11: 3). "Indeed, man was not drawn from the woman, but the woman of man; and man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man "(1Cor 11: 8-9). "May the women be subjected to their husbands, as to the Lord; (Eph 5: 22). Verses of his kind read out in ancestral cultures that belittle women can only play in their disfavor.
Those who have a minimum knowledge of the biblical texts and of their meaning will not find it difficult to detect that such use of the Bible is a matter of ideology. Even worse, it is a sign of ignorance of the Scriptures. At the end, those who quote them ignore Christ himself, to use the appropriate words of St. Jerome. Did the Apostle Paul not pose the relationship of Christ to the Church as a model that should govern the relationships between men and women (Eph 5: 22-33)? Does he not evoke gender equality as a consequence of the new life in Christ: "there is no man or woman: for you are all only one person in Christ Jesus. And if you are in Christ, you are therefore "descendants " of Abraham, heirs according to the promise "(Ga 3: 28-29)? We cannot read correctly the whole Bible and support the discrimination of women.
On the subject of the dignity of women, the teaching of the Church is not known either. Indeed, at a symposium organized in 20-1-2015 by Hekima University College, a Jesuit University based in Nairobi, Kenya, which had as theme: "the Church we want: theological voices in and outside the Church in the service of ' Ecclesia in Africa '"[4], a Congolese sister Josée Ngalula was ponderig over what she called "theological and biblical illiteracy" that affects both lay people and clerics in Africa. She said that such people were ignorant of the rich treasure of the Church’s teaching about the dignity of women. According to sister Josée, an honest appropriation of this teaching could shake the clericalism and sexism strongly rooted in the churches of Africa and thus enable women in Africa to contribute to the building of the body of Christ in Africa, as they are already doing in many Christian communities, without the need for a warrant issued by a male authority.
These elements of the context mentioned above are in the background of the texts published in this number 12 of the Cahiers. The authors are mostly women. Therefore, this number releases the voice of women. In sharing their experiences, they are neither accusatory nor plaintive. They choose to say what women do on a daily basis, their contribution to the well-being of their society. They do not ignore the daily drama of women. They prefer to be positive. By opting for this approach, they have opted for the approach of discernment called "appreciative discernment".
Indeed, to favor "appreciative discernment" is to have a look on what is going on with a positive mindset. This approach does not ignore the problems. It has the advantage of giving heart[5]. In a world flooded with bad news dubbed by fake news about the condition of women, the discovery of what women are realizing on a daily basis can only comfort. At the end, we say: Yes, our humanity is not so rotten as it appears. It is not abandoned to the dominant instincts of men. Our humanity can count on many women struggling to ensure that our humanity becomes ever more humane. It is this recognition of positiveness and hope that emerges from the experiences expressed in the texts published.
Regarding the teaching of the Church on the status of women, the article of sister Maria De Giorgi deserves to be noticed. The xaverian sister shows that the Catholic Church, through her Magisterium, has a rich treasure where woman emerges as a precious ressource for the world and for the Church. The appropriation of this teaching that Maria De Giorgi puts at our disposal would already be a first step towards the fight against "biblical and theological illiteracy", denounced by sister Josée Ngalula, that characterizes many men on the issue of women’s condition.
This number is also enriched by an analysis of a film – Moolaadé - that portrays a woman against the current culture. A review of a few books comes to stimulate the reading of recent works, indispensable tools for ongoing formation. If the reading of testimonies published in this number improved the quality of our man-woman relationships in the world and in the Church, then their authors would have achieved their goals.
Fr. LOUIS BIRA SX
[1] ELA J.-M., ZOA A.-S., Fécondité et migrations africaines : Les nouveaux enjeux, Paris, L’Harmattan, (coll. Études africaines), 2006, p. 29.
[2] "Report of the Mapping Project on the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed between March 1993 and June 2003 in the territory of the Democratic Republic 2010", in www.genreenaction.net, consulted, on 18/01/2019, p. 16.
[3] POPE BENEDICT XVI, Africae Munus, n . 56.
[4] The volume in English is published with the title: The Church we want. Foundations, Theology and Mission of the Church in Africa. Conversations on Ecclesiology, A. E. Orobator, sj, (Editor), Nairobi, Paulines, 2015. See the article of Sister Josée Ngalula, pp. 179-189.
[5] About this method of discernment, see the article of RAPHAEL DEILLON, « Comment vivre aujourd’hui la radicalité de l’Evangile ? Le 28e chapitre des Missionnaires d’Afrique », in Spiritus, n°244(septembre 2016), p. 272-273.