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Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing The Church. Cycle A
By Elizabeth Donnelly and Russ Petrus
Orbis, Maryknoll (NY), 2022
Having reviewed the companion volumes for Years B and C of the lectionary cycle in The Preacher (issues 193 and 196), I turn to the volume for ‘The Year of Matthew’ (actually the first of the series to be published). In any mainstream Protestant tradition the production of three such volumes of homily outlines, all written by women, would not nowadays garner much attention. However, the Roman Catholic Church still gives no opening for women preachers at the Eucharist, the homily being restricted to the ordained (and hence to men) according to current Roman Catholic teaching and practice. Unsurprisingly, therefore, in her foreword Barbara E. Reid OP grounds women’s preaching in baptism and confirmation, rather than in ordination (p. xvii), while the editors view the Catholic Women Preach website project, from which this series of homilies is drawn, as evidence of how ‘the Holy Spirit is at work in wondrous ways.’ (p. xix)
In some respects these homilies are less time-specific than those gathered in the subsequent volumes in the series, many of which were written in the shadow of Covid-19. The cast of the language and the cultural references are still primarily North American, although the 64 authors include writers from Australia, Burundi, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa and Spain. Some are relatively well-known (Joan Chittester OSB and Marie Dennis, formerly Co-President of Pax Christi, for instance). Some are religious sisters, while others are married or single. Many are involved in social justice programmes or other ministries, while others are campus-based academics. I suspect that none of them are particularly at ease in Donald Trump’s USA.
All bring women’s experience to bear on their hearing of God’s Word. Thus the rose vestments of Gaudete Sunday are related to the pink of breast-cancer awareness. A nurse midwife reflects on the Nativity (‘no one seriously thinks that Joseph, devoted as he was, actually delivered this baby, do we?’) The refugee Holy Family in Egypt is related to the recent immigrants of Holy Family parish in LA. The ululations of Kenyan women birthers bring vibrancy to the Epiphany scene. The mother of an autistic boy reflects on how baptism, like her son’s condition, calls us beyond our comfort zones. The women survivors of human trafficking lead us to an encounter with Christ’s love on Good Friday.
This volume offers a powerful breaking of the Word for Christians of whatever stripe. And for the Roman Catholic hierarchy it offers a question: who can doubt that these voices should be heard in the liturgy, encouraging their brothers and sisters, strengthening faith and grounding hope in lives of service?
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