Newsletter of the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology
Vol. 10, No. 1, April 2005
Ecclesia of Women in Asia: Body and Sexuality
Women in the Catholic Church are becoming increasingly adept at viewing exclusion as a challenge.
For the four Asian women who were hopelessly out-numbered at a gathering of Asian theologians called to reflect on the post-Asian synodal document, "Ecclesia in Asia", exclusion led to an "Ecclesia of Women in Asia" (EWA). In 2002, fifty five women theologians from seventeen Asian countries started the process of "Gathering the Voices of the Silenced". Together they renamed Asian women's spiritual powers, redefined their collective struggle of doing theology in a male dominated Church, and reconstructed the distinctive nature of women's emancipatory theological reflection.
Between 15-20 November 2004, in an extending network, EWA II saw forty seven Asian women meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, to look at the "Body and Sexuality" from theological-pastoral perspectives. Among them were women religious, single and married women, Protestant pastors, grassroots workers, and professors and students of theology. They came, these wise women of the East, bringing their experience from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, U.S.A. and Vietnam. Paying the price of worry and guilt at pushing back family and community needs to carve this sacred space, they journeyed across the seas, their very presence a visible sign of their "yes" to the Spirit's call to deepen the conversation started two years ago.
In her opening statements situating the theme of the conference, Dr. Agnes Brazal, Co-ordinator of EWA II and Professor of Theology at the Maryhill School of Theology, Philippines, invited the participants to explore how body and sexuality have been experienced and constructed in the Asian context, keeping in mind that these constructions were "not objective truths but linked with power dynamics that support particular groups". It was the responsibility of EWA, she said, to recover women's stories of the body as a medium of action in the world, and use them to reweave the strands of faith handed down to the community. She also expressed the hope that the deliberations of EWA II would find a place in the reflections and pastoral programmes of the Asian bishops who chose to focus on "The Asian Family Toward a Culture of Life" at the 8th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference held earlier this year.
For the women present, the topic provoked diverse responses. "Oh, no!" exclaimed the young, when sharing on the focus of the meeting, even as their older sisters spoke of "exploding body consciousness" and the God experience of orgasmic love. Coming from cultures that impose many restrictions on the expression of women's sexuality, some were curious about the views of their Asian neighbours. Many saw the challenge of mainstreaming a theology of sexuality as one of the tasks for EWA. "We need to put women's sexuality on the agenda and see it as celebration of women's bodies, not just in terms of violence against women," said a Malaysian sister. Most were eager to bring the body and sexuality out from under the covers using new interpretations and life-affirming attitudes. Nuns particularly welcomed the opportunity to reclaim their bodies from the asexual spaces assigned to them.
The plenary paper by Dr. Christine Gudorf, award winning author of Body, Sex and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics, and Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University, U.S.A., set the tone of the discussions. She drew attention to the dangers of Christianity's negative approach to the human body. "If I am to live in constant suspicion of my body, careful to rein in its every appetite and deaden my ears to its voice, then I will not take seriously the demands that other bodies make on me," she warned. She named this body-denying attitude as one of the roots of the current crisis in the Church around clerical paedophilia, as well as of the silence of the pulpit about violence against women. Going beyond this crippling history, Dr. Christine dwelt at length on postmodernity's insistence that the body is inscribed, in an attempt to make the participants self conscious of how their selves were constructed, and so enable a rebuilding. Is the body the self? Does it have rights? Does the self have complete control of the body, or can the body be transcended in some situations? Can moral rules be based on sexual aspects that are not intrinsic to self-identity? These were some of the compelling questions she chose to answer in a stimulating presentation that drew from science, psychology, culture and the simple experience of being human.
In the second plenary paper, Dr. Pushpa Joseph, teaching and post-doctoral Fellow in Christian Studies at the University of Chennai, India, linked the creative powers of Eros with the divine energy of Sakti in Tantric philosophy. She proposed a Sakti Theology with its rousing of all the energies one can discover in one's body, emotions and mind, as an alternative to the excessive intellectualism of patriarchal theologies. Based on an egalitarian foundation that recognises both intense connectedness and distinct identity, this Sakti theology advocates 'power with' as opposed to patriarchal 'power over' relationships. Further, instead of writing on tablets of stone it provides bread for sustenance on the way, thereby creating new frameworks that allow for fluidity of margins and the forging of ever-increasing bonds.
The range of topics at EWA II was awesome. Hindu Goddesses shared space with a God with high heels. The Buddhist mandala and Lotus flower formed points of reference side by side with the Kama Sutra. The lesbian body with its dialectical tension between sex and gender was used to critique Pope John Paul II’s Letter to Women. Explorations of the Universe as the Body and Womb of God complimented discoveries of an ecological self that is embodied, sacred and relational. The broken bodies and spilt blood of women's Eucharistic lives were used to expose the scandal of a discriminatory communion ritual that prevents those who faithfully set the table from setting the agenda, and to call the Church to justice and healing in the scandal of clergy sexual misconduct.
The experience of grassroots women formed an integral part of the discourse. These theologically trained women brought to the fore the disembodiment experienced by migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong and the oppression of women in Myanmar and Pakistan. They also gave centre stage to ageing women, suggesting a spirituality of imperfection that empowers elderly women to embrace new visions of themselves.
Two studies allowed Scripture to creatively interact with the faith community. One focussed on the metaphorical "woman" and the marriage imagery of Ezekiel 16 and the gender identity and sexual orientation of readers in Singapore, and the other used the sexuality of Jesus as a counterpoint to explore how small Christian communities in the Philippines experience their sexuality. Scriptural exegesis also looked at the body ethics of Paul in 1 Corinthians, and the body as a language of resistance as expressed in the silent testimony of the women in John 19:25.
An enriching dimension was the inclusion of Protestant theologians and pastors. Indrianne Bone, a Methodist Pastor and Co-ordinator of theologically trained women in Indonesia, bemoaned the dry, "sense"-less spirituality of her church, symbolised in the "body-less" cross, and shared about the continuing discrimination against women pastors. Dr. Lim Hee Sook, Professor of Philosophy at Hanshin University, emphasised the need to start from experience to avoid the ideological pitfalls of abstract thought.
Lutheran, Dr. Evangeline Anderson-Raikumar, Dean of Graduate Studies at United Theological College, Bangalore, focused on women's bodies as resisting bodies. Considered dangerous because they threaten the norms of a male dominated, patriarchal church, when they break ecclesiastical boundaries, women's bodies are punished and pushed back into the framework. "Women have never accepted dominant paradigms foisted on them by males. We need to think of punishments as ways of challenging patriarchy," Dr. Evangeline urged the group. Touching on the difference between the Catholic and Protestant churches, she said, "The mainline churches would like to look at differences, to define us as Catholic or Protestant, but as women and as theologians with a far sighted vision we say that these differences are imagined, and as ecclesia we can show to the churches that we have a common goal, task and vision of justice."
Like most women's meetings, the process was as important as the content. The Liturgies evoked images of the Mother God sculpting woman's body, of woman's blood flowing from the womb into life, of woman's connection across time and space. Patriarchal hierarchies were consciously avoided through circles of communication and a methodology that was respectful and creative, with scope for owning the process. And through the packed schedule were hints of women's connectedness – a phone call from a concerned 92 year-old mother, collective shopping for loved ones, an excursion to the famous Borobudur Buddhist Temple.
The meeting also provided an occasion for the birthing of EWA's first baby. Guided into this world by midwives Dr. Evelyn Monteiro and Dr. Antoinette Gutzler, this collection of 28 essays from 13 different Asian countries (Ecclesia of Women in Asia: Gathering the Voices of the Silenced, Editors Evelyn Monteiro sc, & Antoinette Gutzler mm, ISPCK p. 460 Price US$18.00) is rich in style and content, and provides a window into what happens when women in the Church gather to break their silence and follow the questions wherever they may go.
In an androcentric, patriarchal Church with restricted non-threatening spaces, continuing this dialogue will not be easy. But as Dr. Chris Burke, facilitator of EWA II astutely pointed out, "Women have a long history of strategising. They have learnt that if you go by a curved route people don’t see you coming." A strategy the women may need to keep in mind after EWA II.
[Reported by Astrid Lobo Gajiwala of Mumbai, India]
We are Daughters of the Underworld...
we are women of the underworld
eating death to reproduce life induce life feed life
we are women of the First Womb
weaving our own body and spirit seeds
into beads of birthings known only to
the First Mystery, the First Nursery
designing new eggs within new shells
mining the minerals of unconscious caverns
we are women of the dark
our wombs partially blinded by the white light
from atomic bombs of human delusion
we are women of Earth and Wind and Ocean
daily dressed like Moon with Sun’s divine patina
on special occasions our aural gowns are of the Stars or maybe some distant undiscovered Planet’s
But sometimes we forget.
Muses come down enter our circles our cycles
to workshop or consult
or to just sip green jasmine chamomile
or earl grey tea with us infamous divas
dusk or dawn it does not matter
They plant round kisses on our cheeks and lips and foreheads to remind us of how we look to Them
They hug-heal our
aching doubting failing hiding bodies
They pack our medicine kit with Magic Vitamins called Nature’s Love
But every now and then we all just
Flow into a dry run of the
Steps that still need to be Danced
Dance the Dance! Moist once again
throw away those phony estrogens
our Memory spring cleaned springs back
We are Daughters to the Dreams of the Eternal One
She who Pollinates us in
Her Mother Womb of Fecundity
Void Black Hole of Her Underworld
Inside Out She turns and Returns
Heaving Wailing Flailing Howling
Cursing Trembling Moaning
(Elements Dispersing cannot but take
their far-flung places)
Birthing our Twin Light
…And then at last
Sighing her Contented Sigh,
She Hums the Peaceful Night a Celestial Lullaby
By Agnes N. Miclat-Cacayan, Philippines
Empowering more women in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan women have asked to continue the program on re-reading the Bible as women that was spear-headed by Malini Devananda, AWRC Coordinating Team Member, along with other Sri Lankan women leaders. These ecumenical Bible studies and workshops involved various denominations and ethnic groups and the use of Sinhala, Tamil and English languages.
Other resource persons include Audrey Rebera and Annathaie Abayasekera.
Workshops were done in the past year in Kandy, Moratuwa, Talawa, Hewadiwela, and upcountry areas. Topics included position of women in Greek, Roman and Jewish societies; position of women in our own society; Jesus’ response to women in his time; and gender.
The Women’s Committee of the Christian Workers’ Fellowship, Ratmalana, having done a study of Theri Gathas (Songs of Buddhist Nuns) relating to women’s oppression, also undertakes the study of Buddhist scriptures from a feminist perspective. The committee hopes to provide a meeting space for Buddhist lay and ordained women and women of other faiths.
In God's Image themes for 2005
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March - Asian Women Overcoming Violence |
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June - Spirituality |
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September - Mixed issue |
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December - Women and Mission (National edition - Philippines) |
Your contributions are welcome to any of these issues. Please send to: igi@awrc4ct.org.
Materials on womenet may be quoted and copied provided that womenet is acknowledged as source. Printed copies of womenet are available on request from the AWRC Office.
