Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Reconciling Feminism and Religion

I am working on a piece that is taking me much longer than I anticipated, but it will be well worth it because it is a topic I feel is so large and a part of my identity that rushing feels wrong.  I am responding to external and personal requests to address how I identify as both feminist and Catholic.


Here's a sneaky peak.  This is a quote that is driving much of my writing.  It is taken from "This is Not Your Mother's Catholic Church," an essay published in the indomitable anthology Pinay Power.  This essay was written by Rachel A. R. Bundang.

For all its fault and limitations, though, the Catholic theological, verbal, and spiritual idiom has made itself a home deep within me; maddening as it is sometimes, in its obstinacies and inconsistencies, I respect tradition even as I contest it, disagree with it, and subject it to critique....My experience of the Church cannot be encapsulated in a single sticking point and is greater than one sole controversy....Allen Figueroa Deck's characterization of Latino theology [is] similar to my own stance and project.  He writes, 'Among Latinos the unity of the Church does not revolve around the resolution of differences of creed and doctrine.  While Latino theologians are generally not disloyal to the normative teachings of their respective faith traditions, the commitment out of which they write and teach is not so much the confessional, doctrinal faith-stance typical of their mainline religion as much as the cultural and social class commitment of their communities, their gente, their pueblos.'"

More coming!  

5 comments:

  1. that sounds like an extremely interesting topic. im always wondering what niko's take on this is. i always picture him being so conservative and u being so aggressive.
    cant wait for you to finish it. proud of you Shou-Lou
    lub u~~

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  2. I'm very interested to read more!

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  3. Anonymous1:07 PM

    Cannot wait. All of my independent study courses when I went back to finish a bacherlor's degree a couple years ago were on feminist theology. Okay so by "all of" I mean three, only one of which was non-Western (Fatima Mernissi on Islam), but it solidified my appetite for the topic. So glad you are tackling it from your own brilliant perspective.

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  4. Anonymous9:01 PM

    Can't wait for the entry...You have a wonderful Blog.

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  5. Check out Joan Chitistter for more on the topic of feminism and the Catholic Church. I took a course under her at one point- she is an advocate for women's ordination and has often been asked why she remains in the struggle. I'm not sure if this is proper blog etiquette- please correct me if I am wrong, but here is a link of her analysis of a Vatican document on feminism:

    http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn080204.htm

    And as a Catholic feminist who doesn't believe those words are mutually exclusive- thanks for beginning the conversation on this topic...

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