St. Mary of Magdala, Women Witnesses Celebrations Abound
Catholic venues in 2001 see increased biblical scholarship,
ecumenical cooperation, media coverage
By Christine Schenk
Even though the feast day of St. Mary of Magdala (July 22) landed
on a Sunday this year, hundreds of groups across the country and
around the world found creative and varied ways to celebrate the
"Apostle to the Apostles." "For our first effort,
we had over 140 people," enthusiastically reported Barb and
Jerry Ryan about the St. Mary of Magdala celebration sponsored by
Call to Action (CTA) North Carolina. "Thanks to our host pastor
and a youth minister many young people came too. . . Hope for the
future!" The prayer service brought "lyrical" praise
as did the biblical presentation by Dr. Theresa Berger, professor
at Duke Divinity School. The North Carolina Catholic story about
the event was picked up by the Davenport Messenger.
"We celebrated at each Mass with special prayers and a homily
about Mary of Magdala" writes Sr. Fran, a nun from St. Mary's
parish in Long Beach, New York. "We even celebrated in Spanish."
Individual parishes and small faith communities as well as Call
to Action regions and affiliates sponsored an estimated 250 celebrations
involving at least 15,000 people. Other organizations promoting
the feast included Canada's Catholic Network for Women's Equality,
Dignity, Pax Christi Maine, Atlanta's Magdalen Project, Tulsa's
Monos Community, CORPUS, WomenChurch and the Women's Ordination
Conference. Twenty parish celebrations were held earlier in the
year during Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide, and international celebrations
occurred in the UK, Kenya, Australia, Guatemala, South Africa and
Canada.
As in prior years, Catholic parishes, retreat houses, motherhouses
and schools hosted over half of all services with the remainder
occurring in private homes and Protestant churches. Coalitions in
San Diego, St. Louis and Cincinnati attracted hundreds. In Cincinnati,
sixteen groups including parishes, spirituality centers, the diocesan
office on religious, and various peace and justice groups co-sponsored
a lively celebration.
Ecumenical Outreach
Ecumenical cooperation expanded in 2001 even while the percentage
of Catholic parishes holding programs increased. Activists in the
Church of England sent a booklet on St. Mary of Magdala to over
200 female Anglican priests in England and Ireland. In the U.S.
five Protestant pastors attending the Kansas City's Heart of America
program used the Mary of Magdala resources in their own denominations.
Twelve Protestant churches opened their doors to Catholics who had
been refused worship space in their own denomination.
Focus on Biblical Scholarship
This year, more groups sought biblically-based lecture programs
to complement their liturgical celebrations. Atlanta's Magdalen
project attracted 170 people to hear Dr. Kathleen O'Connor from
Columbia Presbyterian Seminary. Rev. Dr. Bonnie Thurston, professor
at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of Women in the
New Testament, addressed CTA Pittsburgh. Cleveland's FutureChurch
heard Dr. Dolores Christie, general secretary of the Catholic Theological
Society of America, speak about "Beloved Disciples: Women in
John's Gospel." Fr. Conrad Pecevich, biblical lecturer at Nichols
College in Dudley Mass. and Sr. Jane Morriessey SSJ teamed up for
a Worcester diocesan-wide celebration attracting nearly 100 people.
In Youngstown, a women's prayer group was delighted when their first
celebration drew over 120 people from surrounding parishes who came
to pray and hear Sr. Christine Schenk speak about the biblical and
historical Mary of Magdala.
Connecting to the Celebrating Women Witnesses
Project
Two CTA leaders, who also happen to be siblings, collaborated on
a special celebration this year. Sally Orgren (Western New York)
and Rosemary Moon (Saginaw) developed services highlighting the
women featured in the new FutureChurch/CTA Celebrating
Women Witnesses resource as well as Mary of Magdala. The Western
New York celebration was co-sponsored by the Diocesan Commission
on Women and the Catholic Biblical School, and featured dramatic
readings about women ranging from Dorothy Day to Thea Bowman to
Mary of Nazareth. The service received advance coverage by the Buffalo
News, which quoted Orgren: "We too are called by the spirit
and should answer that call."
Meanwhile, in Saginaw living representatives portrayed each of
the twelve Women Witnesses featured in the Celebrating Women Witnesses
project. Dr. Marion Moses played Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic
Worker movement. Moses, the personal physician to both Day and Cesar
Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers Union, shared her experiences.
The CTA Saginaw event merited a full-page story in the Saginaw News,
which included a beautiful graphic of Mary of Nazareth. The article
quoted Moon: "The mentality that only men can lead is so outdated,
it just can't stay that way and survive."
Media
In addition to media coverage in North Carolina, Saginaw, Cincinnati
and Buffalo, Magdalen celebrators garnered coverage in the Seattle
Times, the Chicago Sun Times, New York Newsday, the Green Bay Press
Gazette, the Worcester (MA) Telegram and Gazette, The Catholic Telegraph
(Cincinnati) and the Worcester Catholic Free Press. Austrian TV
interviewed Sr. Chris Schenk for a program that also aired in Germany,
and A&E's
Biography program on Mary of Magdala concluded by mentioning
"a Cleveland nun, who is promoting hundreds of celebrations
all over the world."
The Mary of Magdala effort is a flagship program for the Women
in Church Leadership (WICL) Project developed by FutureChurch
in partnership with Call to Action. The celebrations serve two primary
goals of the WICL project: to educate about the radical inclusivity
of the historic Jesus and to advocate in behalf of lay ministers
in the Catholic church, over 82% of whom are women.
The celebrations provide a prayer
service which encourages women to serve in visible liturgical
roles and to preach. The Celebrating Women Witnesses resource was
also developed by FutureChurch in partnership with Call to Action.
It features prayer services and essays written by experts about
twelve historic women of faith who resisted the patriarchy of their
day because of belief in Jesus.
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