From the Editor When I was studying for my Masters in Divinity (MDiv) at Loyola University Chicago, we were required to take a class called Liturgical Leadership. Our professor, a woman, said to all of us, “If this class was for seminarians, it would be called Preaching and Presiding, but since it is designed for laity, it is called Liturgical Leadership.” Looking around at the class of mostly women, it was evident that the reason the school couldn’t call it preaching and presiding is that most of the students enrolled in the MDiv program were women. In that class, I was given a gift many Catholic women are not given. We learned to preach and preside. Our professor explained that we were equipped with these essential skills because we would be called upon. We are called upon! Pope Francis writes in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia: “Women make their contribution to the Church in a way that is properly theirs, by making present the tender strength of Mary, the Mother. As a result, we do not limit ourselves to a functional approach but enter instead into the inmost structure of the Church. In this way, we will fundamentally realize why, without women, the Church breaks down.” By virtue of our baptism, through the power of the Spirit, we have been called Priest, Prophet, and King and we all have been given the authority to be life-giving, to pray, to speak prophetic truths, and to nourish bodies and souls around the Eucharistic table. I often get asked if I felt the call to the diaconate and my response has been, “I don’t know, it’s never been an option.” All I can tell you is that women like myself have a unique set of skills. For myself, I was not called into religious life nor was I called to serve in campus ministry or to work in a hospital. I have a great love and understanding of sacred scripture, sacraments and ritual, and yet, without this space that I have found at IPJC, how would I, a Catholic woman with MDiv use her education, skills, and charisms? And I’m not alone. So many women like myself have asked the same question. Each of the articles in this issue of A Matter of Spirit, represent the unique pathways of women like myself, who have been called to live out a specific vocation—to preach, to pray, to serve, to mourn and laugh, and to live out the Gospel call to love one another. As you will see on each page of this issue, women all over the world are carving out new, prophetic pathways in ministry and it is up to the Church to decide if it will be moved by these Spirit-led pathways. Samantha Yanity, MDiv Cover art © Kelly Latimore This cover art shows us the various sacred pathways to God through women as presbyters since the early Church. 2
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Pastoral Call and Prophetic Response BY CHRIS MAYER
“Compassion” © Sister Mary Southard, CSJ, www.ministryofthearts.org
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God’s Calling used to work as a technical writer at The Chicago Tribune, but was laid off with about 700 others. At the time, I was also questioning my work, my role, and wondering how I could contribute. I was organizing some papers and found a small pamphlet from church about the corporal works of mercy, like feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked. My father was a Minister of Care at hospitals and nursing homes for years following his retirement, and I remember him asking, “Now that your Trib job is over, what will you do?” I said, “I want to do what you do.” At this time, many difficult emotional things were happening in my life. My husband (at the time) and I were struggling with infertility. We endured eight artificial inseminations, six in vitro fertilizations. Once I got a call that I might be pregnant; the blood test was inconclusive. The next day, the blood test showed that I was not pregnant; the nurse and I cried on the phone. It was a lonely time for me, since this was happening to my body. My husband tried to understand, but how could he, really? I remember self-isolating, turning down invitations to baby showers and baby birthday parties. I never wanted other women to use these ways of coping with their pain. I wanted to accompany women and men who were sad or going through their own versions of hell. I wanted people to know that they were not alone.