Matriotism! May I try it?
At Mass this morning, the first reading was from Sirach, about his love for Israel. Fr. Martin asked if we love the Church with the same passion that Sirach had for Israel, or even a fraction of it. That was his question, which I mangled into ... am I a good matriot? Do I love Mother Church?
I was in a fight recently with a pastor, but my conscience is pretty clear. I could have and should have done better, but do not think I should have done otherwise. I’d like to restore peace, especially since the long-range task of protecting children (who are a significant part of the church) from Maurice will be easier, for the next three decades, if Montrose Christian School assumes some responsibility and helps out. That fight troubles me, but is not evidence of a total failure as a good matriot.
In the 1960s, the feminist revolution was taking shape. In the 1960s, there were still two quite different strands of thought, intertwined, both called feminism. One strand has, by now, pretty much taken over; the other strand is hard to find and recognize today. The revolution began with a clear sense that there was a definable evil to resist, that “sexism” existed and was a serious problem. In his encyclical Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII wrote of three evils that were challenged in that time (1960s) and could pass away and become extinct: slavery (or abuse of workers), sexism, and colonialism. (He did not use any of those words; he described them.) One challenge to sexism – one thread of feminism – focused on employment, ensuring that women could enter the workforce without facing discrimination. The other thread focused on values, working to ensure that traditionally feminine values were given as much respect as traditionally masculine values. In other words, one strand of feminism in the 1960s worked to ensure that home-making, child-rearing, peace-making and healing were all valued as highly as competition, economic success, military (and other)aggression, and I forget what-all. I read and loved the work of John XXIII, and I remain a committed feminist (emphasis on the forgotten strand).
Pope Francis has worked hard from the first minutes of his papacy to change the way we understand the mission of the Church, returning to the teaching of Jesus. Leadership, as Francis (following Jesus) understands it, is service. If you do not serve the poor and the vulnerable, you are not a leader. It’s not only that if you don’t serve, you don’t deserve to lead; more: quite simply, if you don’t serve, you aren’t a leader.
What does this service look like, this old/renewed leadership? Well, “home-making, child-rearing, peace-making and healing,” in large part. There’s not a lot of money to be made in those activities, but they are good routes to holiness. In the church, there is a power structure that controls money, and men hold a monopoly there, unnecessarily. But the real authority in the church, underneath the silly surface, is sanctity. Men do not have and do not claim a monopoly there. Top spot, other than the Lord himself, is held by a woman.
The greatest power in the life of the Church is to bring the life of God into the world. Prototype: Mary's pregnancy. I too claim to have been pregnant; my pregnancies include books, insights, contemplation leading to action. In my life, "pregnancy" is generally a metaphor, but maybe sometimes more. The goal of contemplation leading to action is to embody the Spirit of the Lord; perhaps that’s a little more than a metaphorical pregnancy. But Mary’s claim is complete on every level including literal. No competition!
The institution in which the church trains men for the priesthood in called a “seminary.” Root: semen, Latin for seed; a seminary is a kind of garden, in which the seeds of the word of God sprout and take root and grow. That’s not a bad metaphor, but a better one is right there. The place where human and divine seeds grow is not a seedbed; it’s a uterus. I don’t want to HAVE a uterus; I want to BE a uterus.
But one new word/metaphor/image at a time. I am determined to be a better matriot.