The Need for the Prophetic Voice of Women
By Victoria Mastrangelo
On December 10, 1979, in Oslo, Norway, a small Albanian nun accepted the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize and spoke to what she believed was the most pressing issue and “destroyer of peace” in her day. St Mother Teresa of Calcutta stood before a secular audience and called out the tragedy of abortion proclaiming:
...today millions of unborn children are being killed. And we say nothing. In the newspapers you read numbers of this one and that one being killed, this being destroyed, but nobody speaks of the millions of little ones who have been conceived to the same life as you and I, to the life of God, and we say nothing, we allow it. To me the nations who have legalized abortion, they are the poorest nations.
Mother Teresa took this moment to speak the truth of God to the world. She used her voice to speak for the voiceless without fear. In this moment, as in so many in her life, Mother Teresa took on the mantle of prophet, following in a long line of women who have used their voice to speak God’s word into the world before her.
As we move into the Easter season, it is a time to reflect on the power of the resurrection and the message of the gospel; it is also a time to joyfully celebrate and boldly proclaim them. For the world, this is a message that is desperately needed, yet harder to say. While the institutional Church continues to lose credibility with both its members and outside observers due to its ongoing struggle with handling the sex abuse crisis, various bishops’ and priests’ alignment with politics, and the perceived lack of initiative in the fight for racial justice, the time has come for a compassionate voice to be heard. A voice that speaks on behalf of the voiceless, that brings the truth with love to the heart of the listener, that shows empathy. It is time for the prophetic voice of women.
In the face of an all-male hierarchy within the Catholic Church, it can feel like women have no real power. In some spaces, a clericalism reigns that keeps people from listening to a message if it doesn’t come from clergy, usually out of concerns over non-authoritative Church figures teaching misleading ideas about the faith. However, this is not how Christ intended it. In John 4, Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman who then goes on to share about her encounter with her community so that “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified” (Jn 4:39). The first person to see the resurrected Christ and to serve as the “apostle to the Apostles” is a woman––St. Mary Magdalene. Luke tells us in Acts 1:14 that the Apostles along with “some women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus” were together in the upper room awaiting the Holy Spirit who would infuse them with the gift of evangelization.
Thanks to social media, too many talking heads are trying to convey their own messages to the masses. What we need is testimony rooted in an authentic witness and in genuine connections with each other. This is the model of accompaniment put forward consistently by Pope Francis. Women are particularly apt for this task. As St. Edith Stein writes, “The woman’s soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold.” As we continue to navigate the pandemic and begin to rebuild connections with others, the time is ripe for women to take a central role in that rebuilding.
Women have unique gifts that can help reshape the world if they are given the platform and space to use them. The Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle, replied to a question about her work in “helping women find their voice” by saying, “Women don’t need to find a voice, they have a voice, and they need to feel empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen.” As a Church, we believe in the unique gift of women, and so it is time that we lead in this work to empower and listen to women as they serve their prophetic roles serving individuals, the Church, and the world.
Women and Individuals
Between the curated world of social media and the isolation of the last year, there arose a desire for genuine human connection and authenticity. This is a desire that is hugely important for the work of evangelization and is a work that St. John Paul II believes that women are particularly adept to do. He says in his Letter to Women:
For in giving themselves to others each day women fulfil their deepest vocation. Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they see persons with their hearts. They see them independently of various ideological or political systems. They see others in their greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them.
So many of the Injustices our world faces today rely on racism, classism, and gender discrimination. It can be hard to see the individuals suffering when we only look from the bird’s-eye view of these issues. It has made it easier to “other” opposing viewpoints and we have found ourselves in an either/or culture that looks to “cancel” those that say the wrong words. We have lost a sense of nuance in how to discuss issues and we have lost sight of the dignity of the human person when we talk about these issues.
This is where women’s gift to really see the person is so needed. We need to be able to hear people’s stories with the heart. The work of evangelization is not merely about repeating Bible or Catechism passages at people. The heart of evangelization is speaking the truth of God’s love for each individual person and reminding them that the kingdom of God is their inheritance as well. In re-centering conversations about injustice on individuals and their God-given dignity, we can invite individuals into an encounter with the one who heals.
In her writing, protesting, and speaking work, Dorothy Day often spoke about the injustices of her day and called for action on a political, social, and systemic level. She understood that these issues were bigger than one person and would take a communal shift in attitude and practice to resolve. However, in her day-to-day work with the Catholic Worker Movement, which she and Peter Maurin led to advocate for the oppressed and provide hospitality for the homeless, she preached and lived the gospel on the level of interactions with individuals. Every person she met she considered to be Christ in her midst. She did not want to make her work with the Catholic Worker dependent on a person’s faith so she did not require them to participate in any prosthelytizing activities as other homes in her day were doing. She chose instead to be a prophet of love and action. She took in the whole person. She listened to their stories, no matter how unbelievable or mundane. She took care of their needs as an individual, while fighting against the injustice that caused their needs in the public square. The center of the Catholic Worker movement was a hospitality of the heart that flowed from the gospel call to love your neighbor.
Women and the Church
The Church can feel like the last place that women have a prophetic role, but Church history would disagree with that. St. Catherine of Siena is famous for coaxing the pope back to Rome. A more recent example is found in Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman, who appeared before the USCCB at their June 1989 meeting and shared about her experience as a Black Catholic calling for the Church to do better in fighting racism and accepting Black Catholics.
During this time of scandal in the Church, the voice of the hierarchy has been discredited in the eyes of many and the Church needs a voice that can speak the truth of the Gospel and breathe new life into the Church. In the face of the sex abuse scandals and the criticism of the Church’s seemingly inconsistent fight for justice and for life, there needs to be a voice that also speaks the gospel back into the Church, holding its leaders accountable and responsible.
It’s time for women to not only speak on behalf of the Church for truth, but also to speak to the Church. In the past year, Marc Cardinal Ouellet called for the inclusion of more women in seminary formation, while Pope Francis appointed Sr. Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary to the Synod of Bishops and Catia Summaria as the Promoter of Justice. Podcasts investigating the sex abuse scandals have also been led by women: Deliver Us by Maggi Van Dorn and Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church by Karna Lozoya. These examples serve as just a few ways in which women take a space at the table and use their God-given voice to speak truth to their Church.
Women and the World
The work of the prophet is not only to speak to the heart of individuals or to and for the Church, it is also a call to speak truth to the world. The prophets of the Old Testament often engaged with kings and the priests of other deities to speak about the one true God. The world today is desperate for selfless leadership that cares about people over power and money.
In a December 2020 article, the Harvard Business Review found that women are better leaders during a crisis. Their research found that “outcomes related to Covid-19, including number of cases and deaths, were systematically better in countries led by women. Another looked at governors in the U.S. and similarly found that states with female leaders had lower fatality rates.” When researching why it is that women are considered to be better leaders in difficult times, they found that women in leadership had higher engagement levels with their employees, putting an emphasis on “interpersonal skills, such as ‘inspires and motivates,’ ‘communicates powerfully,’ ‘collaboration/teamwork,’ and ‘relationship building.’” Overall, those surveyed believed that their female leaders “expressed more awareness of fears that followers might be feeling, concern for wellbeing, and confidence in their plans.”
As women continue to lean into their genius in positions of leadership, the impact is being felt on all levels and the results are changing the world. Recently, New Zealand became the first country to offer paid leave after a miscarriage for both parents. New Zealand is led by a female prime minister and the bill was written by a female leader of Parliament. Comparatively, the U.S. still does not have paid parental leave in any form at the federal level. These leaders in New Zealand have tapped into their recognition of the pain and suffering of others and the awareness of the time needed to heal and have put the wellbeing of grieving parents ahead of the cost of the paid leave.
As Catholics, we have a model in Mother Teresa––she took her secular platform and spoke the truth about the sacredness of human life without fear of backlash. Not only do we need to work to get more women into positions of leadership, we need to create a culture that allows them to lead using their unique gifts as women.
Dorothy Day wrote in her book Loaves and Fishes that “the greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us.” If women are particularly gifted with being able to see with the heart into the depths of each individual person and to recognize their dignity, then it is women who must lead this revolution through their prophetic work.
