Coinciding with International Women’s Day, a conference titled “Women in the Church: architects of humanity” will be held on March 7 and 8 at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome. I found out when I received a collective book edited by the Urbaniana University, with the same title “Donne nella Chiesa artefici dell’umano”, coordinated by Silvia Mas and Lorella Congiunti, which brings together articles by professors from various Roman universities and the Catholic University of Ávila , as well as members of Vatican dicasteries.
The holding of that congress was agreed upon in another held in 2022 under the title of “Doctors of the Church and co-patrons of Europe”, and in next March there will be an analysis of the role of women through the figures of ten female saints. , among them Teresa of Calcutta, Laura Montoya (Colombia) and the first African saint, Josefina Bakhita.
Starting from Pope Francis’ phrase about the “saints next door”, the book can read explanations such as “a first characteristic of feminine holiness is the trait of everyday life. Because of her sensitivity, she seems more capable of testifying to the primacy of fidelity and determination through the small gestures of each day. He highlights women’s capacity for perseverance and remembers that all the recent pontiffs have taught, both with the Magisterium and with practice, that the heroic exercise of virtues can be both masculine and feminine. Throughout the text there is no shortage of references to Teresa of Ávila, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Lisieux, Hildegarta de Birgen, Edith Stein, Brigida of Sweden and others. The content of the book could be summarized in that the center is “holiness in the feminine.”
Within a few dates of each other, another book arrived to me, “The Church of Women” (New City), by Giulia Galeotti and Lucetta Scaraffia. With a historical vision they review the liberating influence of Christianity in the history of women. In addition to highlighting the identical dignity of women and men, they make reference to man-woman equality in marriage, considering that the indissolubility of marriage has protected women while imposing emotional and parental care duties. men towards their children. Beyond the marital sphere, female monasticism led to strong and cultured women who were self-governed and enterprising, and among them came some with great strength who thoroughly vindicated and had enormous influence, such as Clare of Assisi, Catherine of Siena or Teresa of Jesus.
The two Italian authors explain in the final part of their book that the relationship between women and the Church was historically solid until the sexual revolution of the 60s of the last century caused a rupture, with the development of contraception and the generalization of divorce. .
These texts present an alternative discourse to the prevailing one and are a breath of fresh air in the face of the confrontational feminism that has penetrated much of the Church. For various sectors, it is not about people (in this case women) getting closer to God, but about being “empowered” and hence the tiresome debate about being priests. When spiritual life is not understood as surrender, approach to God, but as “power”, everything is distorted. In the spiritual realm, true “empowerment” is “holiness.” And one component of this is the courage to accept without complexes not being fashionable.
As Chesterton wrote a century ago, “the Church is the only thing that saves man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his time.”
