Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, February 10, 2000
IFainttlh
The Southern Cross, Page 9
Women leaders
in the church
Ai
By Maureen E. Daly
Catholic News Service
I
_’ve been in a leadership position
for a long time now, so I don’t focus as
much on my role as a woman in this job
as I did when I was first working here,”
said Mercy Sister Sharon Euart, asso
ciate general secretary of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops in
Washington.
Sister Euart has a doctorate in
canon law and two master’s degrees,
including one in administration. Her
responsibilities are to relate to numer
ous NCCB committees, such as those
for liturgy, doctrine, African-Ameri
cans, Hispanics, women, laity,
ecumenism or evangelization.
“I stay on top of their agendas, over
see their work and assure that the
bishops’ commit
tees are receiving
the kind of staffing
they need,” she ex
plained.
Sister Euart has
been an administra
tor at the NCCB for
Sr. Sharon Euart, RSM
spected by the bishops for what I could
bring to the work. There are times that
you feel like an outsider because you
are different — you are not a bishop.
But you look for what you have in
common ... so that the bond enables the
ministry.... Gospel values continue
across any church-related work.”
Married laywoman Mary Hallan
FioRito is a vice chancellor of the Arch
diocese of Chicago, developing policy
and handling administrative matters
related to canon law and sacramental
issues.
“We call my job 411 and 911: infor
mation and emergency,” she said. “I
answer questions like: Why could John
Kennedy Jr.’s ashes be scattered? Why
can’t my dog be ring bearer at my
wedding? Why can’t I change my
child’s godparents?”
FioRito also serves as a spokeswoman
for the archdiocese and often is asked to
comment on women’s issues, such as
contraception or women’s ordination.
In speaking to women about church
teaching on ordination, she said she tries
to give “a sense of the history of this topic
of reserving ordination for males and file
beautiful teachings of the equality and
i qual’ does not mean ‘same.’ Difference is not
oppression. If you take in that language of
oppression, then you are self-limiting. We women
need to start changing that language.”—FioRito
12 years. She noted: “ When a woman is
first promoted, there is a testing period.
People are watching, and they want you
to succeed. Over the years I have tried to
do the best job I can and also to retain my
identity as a woman and a Sister of
Mercy.
“The charisms of the Sisters of
Mercy are to serve the poor, the sick
and the uneducated. Often that meant
that Sisters of Mercy had administra
tive roles so that they could make it
happen — enable others to provide the
direct services.”
In administrative work, Sister
Euart said, “People can easily get
caught up in the daily projects and lose
sight of why we are doing what we are
doing: service to God, the church and
the bishops.”
Her job is much like administrative
work at the diocesan level, she said,
except instead of working for one or two
bishops she is working for about 300.
“For the most part, I’ve found in my
position that I am continually re-
Mary Hallan FioRito
dignity of women
that the church
stood for long be
fore other parts of
society were saying
these things.
“In America
we tend to think
of equal rights as
equal in each area. But ‘equal’ does not
mean ‘same.’ Difference is not oppres
sion. If you take in that language of
oppression, then you are self-limiting.
We women need to start changing that
language.”
FioRito added, “I feel blessed to work
for the church where my qualities as a
woman and a person are appreciated....
As a woman I can bring to ministry a
perspective that priests don’t have be
cause they don’t have the lived experi
ence. I feel that contribution is recog
nized.”
(Daly is associate editor of Catholic
Trends newsletter.)
Ina Nutshell
“Jesus treated women with openness, respect, acceptance and
tenderness,” honoring “the dignity which women have always
possessed,”Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1995 “Letter to
Women.”
The church’s history “has truly experienced the ‘genius of
woman,’” the pope said. He commented, “The life of the
church in the third millennium will certainly not he lacking
in new and surprising manifestations of ‘the feminine
genius. ’”
FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE
As a woman helping to carry out the work of a diocese
or parish, tell what you do.
“As pastoral associate, I’m the director of liturgy and in charge of the
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. I do hospital visits, plan funerals and
work with sacramental preparation. I’m also on the finance council, and
we have a Latino community with which I am involved. In addition, I’m
the public-relations person for our church.” — Sister Sue Hoffman, SSJ,
Rochester, N.Y.
“As parish secretary, I’m the first contact person for people calling in.
My job is to listen and to respond accordingly. I handle what I can myself,
and I direct other calls to the appropriate people. I’m the funnel and the
filter for all calls coming into our office. I’m also the editor of our parish
bulletin.” — Betsy Durbin, Columbus, Ohio
“I’m the data entry clerk. I keep track of our parishioners’ names and
addresses.” — Imelda Peschel, Fort Worth, Texas
“I set up the church for funerals, which frees up the celebrant to do
what he needs to do, and the Mass can flow with continuity.” — Therese
Dailey, Indianapolis, Ind.
An upcoming edition asks: Tell of a retreat that you found
beneficial. What made it “work” for you? If you would like to
respond for possible publication, please write: Faith Alive! 3211
Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1100.
Jesus’ encounter with
women in the Bible
By Sister Jamie Phelps, OP
Catholic News Service
T;
he patriarchal social arrange
ments of Jesus’ time did not permit
men and women to engage in public
conversations or travel with women in
their immediate company. But sev
eral scriptural examples illustrate
that Jesus traveled with
women in his company, ac
cepted their hospitality,
healed them and used them
to mediate his good news of
eternal life and salvation.
Mary Magdalene, Johanna
and Susanna traveled with
Jesus. Mary had been healed
from “seven demons,” and
Johanna and Susanna pro
vided finances and hospitality
for Jesus and his apostles “out of their
resources” (Luke 8:2-3).
Unfortunately, the pages of Scrip
ture do not reveal the nature of their
conversations. However, they do
record Jesus’ healings of women and
his conversations with the Samaritan
woman (John 4:28-29;39-42), with
Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) or
with Mary of Magdala (John 20:17).
The Samaritan woman (John
4:4-42) had been marginalized within
her own community. Thus she arrived
at the well in midday alone, having
been shunned by the other women who
generally came to the well in the early
morning. In her encounter with Jesus
at the well, he used water as a meta
phor for God’s self-gift of grace.
The woman had come to satisfy her
physical hunger, but was promised
water that would satisfy the hunger of
her spirit as well.
With that good news, she forgot she
had been shunned by the villagers and
hastened to share the good news of
Jesus with them.
In the interim, Jesus’ disciples
were amazed that Jesus was talking
with a woman and questioned why he
did so.
Scripture suggests that some be
lieved in Jesus because of the Samari
tan woman’s witness while others fol
lowed her back and listened to him for
two days. Through this encounter,
many more believed that Jesus “was
the Savior of the world” (John
4:39-42).
During the Easter Season we read
how Mary of Magdala (John 20:11-18)
came to the tomb and encountered the
risen Christ, who sent her to an
nounce the good news to his followers:
esus spoke to women in public,
welcomed and healed women, and they
in turn walked in his company, hosted
him and his disciples, and were
mediators to others of his revelation. 55
“Mary of Magdala went and an
nounced to the disciples ‘I have seen
the Lord’ and what he told her” (John
20:18).
Finally, there is Mary, Jesus’
mother. Roman Catholic tradition al
ways has emphasized how Mary’s
“fiat,” or yes to God, inaugurated
Jesus’ incarnation and his redemption
of humankind (Luke 1:28-38).
Jesus spoke to women in public,
welcomed and healed women, and
they in turn walked in his company,
hosted him and his disciples, and were
mediators to others of his revelation.
(Adrian Dominican Sister Phelps
is visiting professor of theology at
Loyola University Chicago and asso
ciate director for the degree program
of the Summer Institute for Black
Catholic Studies of Xavier Univer
sity, New Orleans.)
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