“Gathering the Voices
of the Silenced”
Website of Asian Catholic Women Theologians, Updated Jan, 2005
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Keynote Address
What is EWA , Aim of EWA, Briefing on the
Programme Paper Presentations, EWA's
Dream
Conference Reflections: ·
Gathering the Voices of the Silenced, by Gemma Cruz and Christine
Burke (A news article featured in the
December 27 issue of the National Catholic Reporter) ·
Dancing the Dance of Liberation by Judette Gallares, on Professor Lieve
Troch’s sharing “on the dance of liberation and transformation”, using the
hermeneutical methodology of Elizabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza. ·
Theology is for Transformation By Antoinette
Gutzler. “ Says Prof. Lieve, “The aim of theology done by women in Asia must be
to transform ourselves, society and the Church into an ‘ekklesia’ “ |
Reflections on the Conference
Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 24-29, 2002
“Gathering the Voices of
the Silenced”
A Conference of
Catholic Asian Women Theologians
By Gemma Cruz &
Christine Burke
In a historic attempt at making Asian Catholic women seen and heard, women theologians from all over Asia gathered at the WE-Train International House, Bangkok, Thailand, for a five-day conference (24th-29th November 2002) entitled “Ecclesia of Women in Asia: Gathering the Voices of the Silenced”.
This first-ever meeting of Catholic Asian Women theologians met to see if they could find an identity and a voice under the theme “Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA): Voices of the Silenced”. The nearly sixty participants came from East Asia (mainland China, Hong Kong, Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan); from Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor Lorosae, Thailand and Myanmar/Burma); and from South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Australia). Ecumenical participants were sent by the Christian Conference of Asia and the Asian Women’s Resource Centre.
The dream to hold the EWA conference was born twelve months earlier, at a theological conference in India, called to reflect on the post-Asian Synodal document “Ecclesia in Asia.” At this conference in India, women were a very (in)conspicuous minority. Were there women theologians in Asia? What would they say about the Asian reality? About the Church? Through networks and email, the word went out. Financial support was gained. Applications were forwarded. Papers were requested.
Sr. Dr. Evelyn Monteiro from Pune, India, gave the Keynote Address, outlining the background to the conference, the objectives, and the hopes of the planning committee. She underlined that the aims of the conference were to i) bring together Catholic women doing theology in Asia including academic theologians as well as women promoting theology in grassroots situations; ii) provide space for Catholic women to have their voices heard and their thoughts and reflections articulated; iii) invite Catholic women theologians - in their power and potential - to evolve a theology from the perspective of Catholic Asian women; iv) encourage Asian Catholic women to engage in theological research, reflection and writing; v) create networks with different Asian feminist grassroots/theological movements and global feminist grassroots/theological movements which are Catholic, ecumenical and inter-faith.
The first day was given shape and colour by the striking morning and evening worship prepared by the Malaysian group. These dramatised through ethnic music and dance the travails of Asian women in contemporary times and how transformation could be achieved. During the opening worship, as the participants sang and uttered prayers in their own languages, a beautiful collage in the form of a flower in bloom was created out of pieces of indigenous cloth from each one’s homeland. The evening liturgy touched us all the more. We wrote on paper flowers our dreams for Asian women. These we folded and then floated in pools of water. As they floated so the flowers unfolded and bloomed before our very eyes.
In keeping with feminist awareness, this conference was shaped around a wide definition of “theologian”. Included were women in academia and women who work with grassroots groups. Interests ranged from battered women to inter-faith dialogue, from biblical hermeneutics to globalization and environmental concerns. Liturgies had been allotted to regional groups, so that even before the conference began, sharing had started on how to combine approaches and cultures in prayer.
Prior to the conference, 30 papers had been posted on the web. Most participants had read at least those papers belonging to their sub-group. These six sub-groups were: Women and Violence, Women and Spirituality, Women and Church Structures, Eco-feminism and Theological Method, Women and the Bible and Women and World Religions. On the second day, these groups began to study these papers in earnest, hearing a short synopsis from the authors, discerning common and divergent themes and underlying theological issues, and then looking at current responses and the implications for this emerging Ecclesia of Women in Asia. Already the diversity of issues, priorities and approaches became apparent. Participants came from quite different backgrounds. Some were activists from the grassroots, others came from academic institutions. However, there was no competition or confrontation. All engaged in an open process which led to creative tensions within a deep sense of respect for difference and a readiness to listen in a spirit of mutual regard. The conviction grew that women doing theology at the grassroots and in the academia need to collaborate closely.
The
third day was led by Dr. Lieve Troch, professor of systematic theology in
Nijmegen, The Netherlands who came as listener and responder. Dr. Lieve has experience
in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia as well as in Brazil. She looked behind the
individual themes and issues to the broader context: how do Catholic Asian
women doing theology wish to identify themselves as part of minority
communities among largely Buddhist, Muslim, Confucian and Hindu majority
communities? How can the voice of silenced women be heard not only “in church”
but with regard to pressing social, political and economic concerns? Dr. Lieve
called the group to accountability for the silence of women in church life. She
invited the participants to accept their multiple identities as women, as
Asians from particular cultures, as Catholics in minority churches. She pointed
out the danger of concentrating on the aspect of “victim” rather than also
emphasising aspects of survival and struggle. Lieve distinguished between
approaches that simply describe the situation and those that aim to transform
it.
The fourth day saw the question of “where do we go from here?” being addressed. Suggestions abounded as to future possibilities. Networking and mutual support were high on the list, but also the importance of increasing the visibility of EWA, of making contact with major theological associations in the area, of developing the women’s perspective of Asian contextual theology, and perhaps even offering short theological courses for ordinary women and men in areas cut off from such possibilities.
The meeting concluded with a eucharist which was celebrated within the larger dinner event. It was at once a truly innovative and inculturated liturgy as was participative. Participants left the conference committed to keeping the networks alive and to helping multiply the effects of EWA. A continuation committee was identified to ensure that EWA lives on for many more years and generations to come.
Dancing
the Dance of Liberation
and
Transformation
By Judette
Gallares
Learning a new dance is both an exciting and awkward process.
Exciting because dancing engages our entire body to express with freedom our
own reality and experience. Yet, it is awkward because the steps are new and
unfamiliar. It requires practice to be able to internalize the movements and to
dance freely with others.
This was what the participants of the Ecclesia of Women in
Asia (EWA) conference went through. Composed of women theologians from all over
Asia, EWA explored the difficult yet challenging steps of the “dance of
liberation and transformation”, using the hermeneutical methodology of
Elizabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza. The resource person, Prof. Lieve Troch of the
Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, painstakingly demonstrated
the dance step-by-step as applied to a particular theological issue of women’s
oppression. She invited the Asian women theologians to move from a surface
naming of issues to a process of analysis, critique and theological
reconstruction. She challenged us to look at how the church and women in the
church continue to be shaped by classical theology.
The first three steps of the dance deconstruct oppressive
reality and conventional analysis. The first step is crucial for the dancer
learns to reflect on experience and do a systemic analysis of oppression from a
feminist perspective. The second step is difficult because it requires one to
look at the issue with suspicion and do a critical analysis. “Women are
normally socialized not to ask difficult questions”, suggests Lieve Troch. As
such, women have to question “who” is benefiting from any particular concept,
theological image, symbol or religious situation. The third step in
deconstruction is the movement of critical evaluation and proclamation. This
will bring one to a position of knowing what in the issue, structure or concept
is truly redemptive and what is not. The final three steps move the dancer
towards a new historical, symbolic and conceptual construction. Hand-in-hand
with rigorous analysis (step four) comes creative imagination (step five), for
language creates reality. The “dance” does not end with new theoretical
constructions, however imaginative, for the point of theology is to liberate
and transform (step six). As in any dance, the steps interact with each other
and the dancer returns again and again to the first step to see whether the new
construction is bringing about greater liberation and transformation.
Showing great interest in applying the steps to women’s
issues in Asia, the participants considered how the complicated dance steps
could be applied to the various contexts of Asia. Participants tried out the
six steps in order to feel at home with the dance itself and learn to add
Asia’s own distinctive movements and gestures. Grouped according to themes,
participants took the dance steps with a mixture of seriousness, humour,
eagerness and doubt. However, as the groups rehearsed the steps, they began to
find their own rhythm and unique grace. Gaining greater confidence in
themselves, some found the process liberating as it challenged their own thinking
and mindset. It also confronted us with the reality that the only way we can
invite others to dance this dance of liberation and transformation is for each
one to first be at home with the steps and find her own way of dancing that
would express what is truly feminist and Asian.
The movement out of a classical model into the methodology
of a liberation/feminist theology led to a wide discussion. At times these
discussions led to much disagreement with conflicting views being advanced. But
through it all, the conference was characterised by a sense of joy in being
together as Catholic women theologians and the honesty of being able to
disagree harmoniously. More significantly, the conference was characterised by
a seriousness in the search to claim Catholic women’s voices, their role and
authority within the church.
What has become clear from this conference is that the voice
of Asia’s Catholic women can be silent no more.
Theology
is for Transformation
By
Antoinette Gutzler
“The aim of theology done by women in Asia is to transform
ourselves, society and the Church into an ‘ekklesia’ – a democratic gathering
of free citizens who share in the life and the equality of the reign of God”
suggested Dr. Lieve Troch to a group of Asian women theologians gathered at
Bangkok, Thailand. However, this aim is
often not understood, more so if one speaks as a feminist theologian. In fact, the word “feminist” is looked upon
with disdain in many circles and consequently the women’s voices continue to be
silenced. “Why do women allow this
reality of silence in their lives?” asked Troch, a professor of systematic
theology at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, with extensive
teaching and grassroots experience in Latin America as well as in parts of
Asia, especially Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.
Dr. Troch called the group to accountability for this
silence of women in church life. Her
own analysis of the role of religion in women’s lives opened doors to further
discussion of reclaiming the Christian “memory” – the memory of Jesus and all
the crucified women and men of Asia, also what it means to “respeak” or
redefine Christology and Mariology within the Asian context. She provided the women theologians with
analytical tools and theological resources for continuing women’s claim to
voice and authority within the Church in Asia.
The theological issues which surfaced from these discussions
ranged from where poverty and the diverse religiosities of Asia meet to form a
distinct theological voice in Asia, to how women theologians meet the
crisis/challenge of fundamentalism both within the Church and without. The
connection of fundamentalism with the escalating violence against women became
painfully clear in the course of the conference discussions. What also became
clear is that the voice of Asia’s women can be silent no more. Another issue was the question of how
Catholic women theologians in Asia can discover the Asian face of Jesus who,
until now, still retains a western face.
Professor Troch invited the Asian women theologians to move
from a surface naming of issues to a process of analysis, critique and
theological reconstruction. She challenged them to look at how the Church and
women in the Church continue to be shaped by classical theology. The movement out of a classical model into
the methodology of a liberation/feminist theology led to wide discussion. At times these discussions led to much
disagreement and tension, with conflicting views being advanced strongly. But through it all, the conference was
characterized by a sense of joy in being together as Catholic women theologians
and the honesty of being able to disagree harmoniously. More significantly, the conference was
characterized by a seriousness in the search to claim the Catholic women’s
voices, their role and authority within the Church.
Contact Information
You may
contact EWA through the Continuity Committee Coordinator or through the PRO-
Webmistress. Letters to EWA members may
also be sent through the group mailing address.
Telephone
Sr. Pushpa Joseph, Coordinator - 080-553-6272;
Atty. Andrea L. Si, PRO/Webmistress: 63-34-433-58-48
Postal address
Coordinator: Sr. Pushpa Joseph
Providence Convent
Hosur Road, Darmaram College
Post
Bangalore,560084
India
PRO - Webmistress: Atty. Andrea L. Si
City Administrator's Office
Bacolod City, 6100
Philippines
Electronic
mail
Sr. Evelyn Monteiro: [email protected]
Coordinator: Sr. Pushpa
Joseph, [email protected]
PRO - Webmistress: Andrea Lizares Si, [email protected]
Group address: [email protected]
Yahoo
Group Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/ecclesiaofwomen