Name that planet

A group of [sort of?] religious women are putting their heads together to reinvent God. What else could be the outcome of this?

BERLIN, Germany (UPI) -- A group of progressive female theologians of various faiths in Germany formed a religious group to reflect on their traditions from a feminist perspective.

The Inter-religious Conference of European Women Theologians is a conglomeration of Muslim, Christian and Jewish women who want to take religious interpretation into their own hands, Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday.

'Until now, dialogue among women in the church was kept at the level of exchanging recipes or pouring each other tea,' said Rabeya Muller, one of the group`s founders.

A German convert to Islam, she said we are 'rarely allowed to talk about the real fundamental theological topics, or there always had to be spiritual support from the men present.'

Um, Earth to Rabeya, what planet do you inhabit? What churches have you visited on that strange piece of rock? You couldn't have spent time in a Christian church in this world and come to that conclusion -- or maybe you weren't ever Catholic. I know in some of the non-ecclesial communions, perhaps Mary, all the women saints, daughter Jerusalem, and holy Zion don't stir up any feminine images the way they do in communions linked to Rome. Of course, other confessions don't have women Doctors of the Church (from varied times and places), abbesses (for over a millennium), and a wealth of feasts celebrating events in the life of a young Jewish maiden, who happened to be daughter, spouse, and mother to the Holy Trinity.

Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Elizabeth Ann Seton may have shared an occasional cup of tea with friends, but it certainly wasn't the pinnacle of their religious experience. Rather than waiting for male support, often the men around them had to hang on for dear life as they tried to grasp what the Holy Spirit was doing in them -- and so many other women saints, mystics, theologians, foundresses, and philosophers.

Whatever religion you make up to assuage your feelings, ladies, it couldn't compare with reality. Wake up and smell the coffee (from Catholic beans, of course!)

Comments

[Teresa]

Great post on some of our great female saints... but don't forget our female martyrs. Like Agnes. Hardly a tea drinking shrinking violet.