MARY WARD: WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP By J O A N

D. C H I T T I S T E R

ARY WARD S A I D , ' [ hope in God it will be seen that women in time to come will do much'. The psalmist said, ' H o w long, O God, will you cast us o f f ? . . . . We have no one to tell us, nor have we a prophet to say how long this suffering will last'. For a woman of the twentieth century to read the life of seventeenth-century M a r y Ward is to know the depth of the lament. For women over the centuries, little has changed. The forces arrayed against the participation of women in pastoral ministry which resisted M a r y Ward resist women still. The ideas and attitudes that branded women as inferior, as 'but women', persist yet. The proscriptions against the autonomy, independence and equality of women which made M a r y Ward's insights heresy, which condemned her to ecclesiastical prison and suppressed the religious group she founded, exist still. In some places, certainly, as in M a r y Ward's time, some women enjoy a basically free environment. But nowhere are women actually equal, either in Church or society, and everywhere male systems define, restrict and exclude women from their inner sanctums where deals are cut and decisions are made, even about them. M a r y Ward, however, stands uptight in history to refute all of this. In the face of the greatest lie of life, that women are inferior, inept, and incomplete both in nature and in grace, M a r y Ward indeed brings 'verity'. M a r y Ward had convictions that confronted the given wisdom of the age about the basic nature of women. One author calls the ideas 'dangerously novel for her time'. The problem, unfortunately, is that the ideas may be dangerously novel for our time as well. The important thing is that they demand consideration, they give hope, yet today.

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Women and grace M a r y Ward believed firmly that women were as capable of grace as men. Fervour, she argued, despite the opposition of churchmen of the period, was a feminine strength as well as a male prerogative. But the implications of the position were ominous. If women were capable of finding God and maintaining their spiritual commitment

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without the guidance of a male, then the structures that m i r r o r e d that kind of theology were e n d a n g e r e d . T h e notion that spiritual perfection was possible for w o m e n struck at the roots of a system that p r o n o u n c e d w o m e n inherently weak, and automatically put w o m e n u n d e r male spiritual directors and directly obedient to the chaplains and vicars and local bishops into whose care and jurisdiction they were given because, as one priest told her, ' w o m e n could not a p p r e h e n d G o d ' . C o n s e q u e n t l y , m e n wrote the Constitutions of religious orders; m e n c o n d u c t e d the canonical visitation of convents; m e n directed the internal affairs of w o m e n ' s groups; only male m e m b e r s of an order qualified to participate in the G e n e r a l Chapters or legislative assemblies of that order• T h e spiritual i m m a t u r i t y of w o m e n was, in fact, the given u p o n which the entire system was based. T o argue for the spiritual adulthood of w o m e n was, someone surely knew, to threaten the spiritual paternalism of the male C h u r c h and to endorse the possibility of spiritual leadership in w o m e n , a concept that is only now c o m i n g into sharper focus as w o m e n have b e g u n to do theology and to go to other w o m e n for spiritual direction and theological education.

Women as bearers of the faith M a r y W a r d clearly believed that w o m e n were called to teach the faith. H e r a r g u m e n t is a compelling one even in our own day. ' I f w o m e n were so inferior to m e n in all things,' she reasons, ' w h y were they not e x e m p t e d in all things as they are in some?' W h y , in other words, admit that they can do a n y t h i n g at all? If w o m e n are naturally deficient in some things, naturally excluded from some areas, a r e n ' t they really i n a d e q u a t e in all? Yet some things are required of them: ' H a t h not G o d appointed and c o m m a n d e d his apostles and others to preach? G o d ' s words are not in vain besides, you know, there are pardons to any that in any sort shall teach or instruct. This is granted to all, as well to w o m e n as to m e n . . .' It is true that in the seventeenth c e n t u r y she did not question the submission of wives to husbands, or the role of m e n in the sacramental system, or the ' p r e a c h i n g of the faith in public churches', but she simply calls ' a n e r r o r ' the notion that w o m e n cannot conduct their own spiritual lives, or learn, or teach. I n e q u i t y itself she u n m a s k e d as p r o o f of equality. Either w o m e n could do nothing and so should be e x e m p t e d from responsibility for anything, or w o m e n were also able to give spiritual leadership and so should be e x e m p t e d from nothing. In our own time, the question of e x e m p t i o n from some things b u t not from others, of having all of the responsibilities but only some of the rights of baptism is •

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b e c o m i n g increasingly m o r e evident a n d increasingly m o r e serious. W o m e n are said to be able to teach but not to preach; to p r a y for others but not to bless t h e m ; to counsel sinners but not to forgive t h e m . I f these insights of M a r y W a r d ' s are to c o n t i n u e to be ignored, then the whole theology of b a p t i s m , i n c a r n a t i o n a n d eucharist m u s t be r e t h o u g h t .

Women and perfection M a r y W a r d was intent on the fact t h a t w o m e n could be perfect as well as m e n . I n fact, M a r y W a r d contested the notion that m e n were b y n a t u r e superior to w o m e n . ' I f we look u p o n m e n as p r o p h e t s , we shall see their imperfections, b u t if we look u p o n t h e m as m e n , we shall see t h e m far otherwise. Y o u m a y k n o w t h e m b y the fruits of their counsels',, she instructed h e r sisters. T h e teaching was a r e v o l u t i o n a r y one: m e n are not u n u s u a l l y graced creatures; they are h u m a n j u s t as w o m e n are. L e a r n to d i s c r i m i n a t e in w h a t they tell y o u a n d y o u will not be either misled or disillusioned. O b v i o u s l y , w h e n their counsels m e a n t the d e r o g a t i o n of w o m e n a n d the d i m i n i s h m e n t of the quality of their creation there was in M a r y W a r d ' s m i n d no truth, no profit, no praise of G o d , no veritas Domini in that. T h e tension, of course, lies in the fact that to this d a y the inference is that w o m e n c a n n o t possibly be as perfect as m e n . O t h e r w i s e , h o w a c c o u n t for the fact that all the truths of the faith are discerned a n d defined b y m e n only? H o w a r g u e the fact that w o m e n are not p e r m i t t e d to teach in seminaries except that no w o m a n can possibly h a v e a n y t h i n g to say to a m a n a b o u t G o d ? H o w justify the notion that m e n can be o r d a i n e d p e r m a n e n t deacons b u t w o m e n c a n n o t w h e n , as a m a t t e r of fact, w o m e n m a y , b y special injunction at least, do e v e r y t h i n g of substance that deacons can do: distribute the Eucharist, baptize, preach, a d m i n i s t e r a parish? W h a t is the c o n t i n u i n g i m p e r f e c t i o n u p o n which this exclusion is b a s e d a n d h o w is it to be explained, especially in view of centuries of deaconesses in b o t h the E a s t e r n a n d W e s t e r n C h u r c h ? I n the w o r d s of M a r y W a r d , ' I t is certain G o d has looked u p o n y o u as he n e v e r looked u p o n a n y . . . N o t better, not in a g r e a t e r or m o r e excellent m a n n e r , n o r with m o r e love . . . b u t as he n e v e r looked u p o n a n y ' . G o d , p e r h a p s , b u t not m e n .

Women, faith and feminism M a r y W a r d saw c o m m i t m e n t to f e m i n i s m as a sanctifying concept a n d an eternal truth. C o n v i n c e d that h e r insights a b o u t w o m e n w e r e f r o m G o d , she accepted as her spiritual d u t y the

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moral obligation to proclaim them, despite almost fanatical opposition from those clerics and cardinals alike who considered n u n s without cloister, choir, habits, and direct male control as heretics. In several of the speeches to her sisters she repeats insistently h e r disagreement with the F a t h e r M i n i s t e r who insisted that w o m e n could not m a i n t a i n the fervour of their religious c o m m i t m e n t without men. ' W i t h respect to the good Father, I must still say, that it is not t r u t h but a lie to say that fervour must necessarily decay, and that we are " b u t w o m e n " . . . H e m a y have m u c h knowledge, and perhaps he hath all other knowledge and I have only this knowledge and the light of this only verity, by which perhaps, I m u s t be saved'. For M a r y W a r d in the seventeenth c e n t u r y and for m a n y christian feminists in t h e twentieth, it is the gospel itself that compels that sexism must be c o n f r o n t e d w h e r e v e r it is if the C h u r c h is to be credible. Insight into the truths of G o d was the essence of 'verity' to M a r y W a r d . M u c h in the t e m p e r of evangelist M a r y D y e r years later who said, ' T r u t h is m y authority; not authority m y t r u t h ' , M a r y W a r d pressed b e y o n d the conventions of the system to the centre of the vision.

Women, faith and dependence M a r y W a r d m a d e distinctions a b o u t d e p e n d e n c e that tap both the best and worst of catholic theology. Either w o m e n too, have consciences and m u s t follow t h e m , or they do not and therefore cannot be b o u n d to them. M a r y W a r d , in other words, wanted w o m e n to be d e p e n d e n t but she did not want d e p e n d e n t w o m e n . She wanted w o m e n whose d e p e n d e n c e was on G o d and who therefore were e m p o w e r e d by ' v e r i t y ' , not m a d e powerless in the n a m e of God. I n d e p e n d e n c e , she felt, was essential for w o m e n . In a case study of a c o n v e n t that failed she blames the failure not on the fact that the w o m e n lost contact with the fathers of the Society or because they were w o m e n , b u t 'because they placed their affections m o r e in the esteem of those m e n that for the present guided t h e m t h a n in this verity which is only G o d ' . T h e point is, of course, that the w o m e n went astray because they n e v e r took charge of their own lives in the first place; that they m a d e the m e n who were over t h e m their gods; that they had given their consciences away. M o r e , she u n d e r s t o o d that true d e p e n d e n c e differed from control. 'I beseech you all', she wrote, 'for G o d ' s love, to love verity and true d e p e n d e n c e and not to adhere to the Superior, to this F a t h e r or this creature for affection, so that if they are lost, all is lost'. T h e concept is a d a n g e r o u s one. It leads to decision-making;

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it leads to personal responsibility; it precludes blind obedience; it m a k e s G o d the u l t i m a t e n o r m of e v e r y action a n d puts w o m e n in charge of t h e i r o w n actions. It is the kind of p h i l o s o p h y of creation that shakes the f o u n d a t i o n s of hierarchical systems. A n d it was not accepted; neither t h e n in M a r y W a r d n o r n o w in the new f o r m s of g o v e r n m e n t that h a v e e m e r g e d in religious life for w o m e n since V a t i c a n II. T h e p r o b l e m is that w o m e n believe that M a r y W a r d was right, that the rights a n d responsibilities of w o m e n m u s t be recognized a n d accepted if the C h u r c h is ever to be a whole C h u r c h . She w r o t e with bold clarity: ' h e r e t o f o r e we h a v e b e e n told b y m e n we m u s t believe (and) it is true we m u s t . But, let us be wise a n d k n o w w h a t we are to believe a n d w h a t not, a n d not be m a d e to think we can do n o t h i n g ' .

Women and self-definition O f all of her perceptions, the keenest m a y be M a r y W a r d ' s awareness of the effect of m a l e definitions of w o m a n h o o d on the d e v e l o p m e n t of w o m e n . She simply tells h e r sisters to p a y no attention to t h e m : ' Y o u m a y k n o w t h e m b y the fruits of their counsels . . . for w h a t c a n this profit y o u , to tell y o u that you are b u t w o m e n , w e a k a n d able to do nothing, a n d that f e r v o u r [ c o m m i t m e n t ? stability? spiritual d e v e l o p m e n t ? ] will d e c a y ' . T h e p r o b l e m is not a small one. T h a t the definition of w o m e n b y m e n is limiting a n d false is difficult e n o u g h . T h e effects of these v e r y definitions on the d e v e l o p m e n t of w o m e n are e v e n worse. I f p s y c h o l o g y has t a u g h t us n o t h i n g else, it is at least clear n o w that the o p p r e s s e d internalize the m e s s a g e of the oppressor; that people live d o w n to their stunted expectations. Inferiority, in other words, is l e a r n e d f r o m the s t a n d a r d setters of a society whose access to the schools a n d courts a n d legislatures of a people h a v e the p o w e r t o define the rights of others. It is precisely a b o u t the n a t u r e a n d possibilities of w o m e n that w o m e n m u s t educate the C h u r c h , or h u m a n i t y m a y n e v e r c o m e to k n o w the fullness of G o d ' s creation. I f w o m e n h a d no other m i n i s t r y t h a n this, the world a n d the C h u r c h w o u l d be different t o m o r r o w .

Women and self-development M a r y W a r d loved b o t h l e a r n i n g a n d k n o w l e d g e b u t learning, she knew, could c o r r u p t knowledge. T h e r e were, as a m a t t e r of fact, things for w o m e n to u n l e a r n . A n d that could b e d o n e only b y knowledge. ' T h e verity of o u r L o r d . . . not the verity of m e n , n o r the verity of w o m e n ' . It was u l t i m a t e t r u t h that M a r y W a r d sought for her sisters a n d instructed t h e m to seek. W o m e n m a y be perfect as well as m e n , she argued, ' i f they love v e r i t y a n d seek

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true k n o w l e d g e ' . It was lack of ' t r u e k n o w l e d g e ' that m a d e actions which otherwise looked good 'to be u n s e e m l y ' . M a r y W a r d asks w o m e n to look b e y o n d the m i n d of m e n into the m i n d of G o d . She was asking for speculation a n d c o n t e m p l a t i o n a n d r e a s o n of the highest d e g r e e f r o m w o m e n . She expected it. I entreat you to love and seek truth and the knowledge it brings you unto, for the end which it brings you unto is God . . . It is want of knowledge or want of true consideration of God which is the end of knowledge that we fear, not the words of greatness, not of princes or any other things besides God. M a r y W a r d asks w o m e n to be all they can be, regardless of who says they cannot. A n d M a r y W a r d p a i d the price of her knowledge of G o d ' s c r e a t i n g will for w o m e n , as do w o m e n t o d a y who seek to direct their lives a n d contact their G o d without m a l e control or m a l e consecration.

Women and the development of ministry M a r y W a r d gave her life to the d e v e l o p m e n t of this new lifestyle a n d service of w o m e n . It was ' k n o w l e d g e a n d v e r i t y ' which impelled her. She k n e w , h o w e v e r , that real reasons are not always acceptable reasons for d o i n g s o m e t h i n g a n d c a u t i o n e d her sisters that exactly their love of their c o m p a n y or institute would be the v e r y thing that would lead t h e m to lie, to give one r e a s o n or explanation or defence of a thing w h e n they really k n e w it was another. To bring others to know truth, you must lie. I mean you must say that which is not verity and that which you know is not truth, because if you speak truth to them, they will not understand it. Verily, it is a pitiful thing that to bring others to truth, we must speak that which is not verity, and which we know is not truth. T h e c i r c u m s t a n c e continues. W h a t e v e r w o m e n do m u s t l o o k like an accident r a t h e r t h a n a call, an expectation, a birthright. W o m e n are given parishes to a d m i n i s t e r b e c a u s e ' t h e r e is no one else to do it'. W o m e n are given the E u c h a r i s t to c a r r y ' b e c a u s e there is no one else to c a r r y it'. W o m e n are given pastoral p r o g r a m m e s to direct ' b e c a u s e no one else is qualified'. But w o m e n are given n o n e of these things for the real reason: they are baptized; they are c o m m i t t e d ; t h e y are h u m a n ; they h a v e b e e n given gifts by G o d that m u s t be used in the n a m e of G o d .

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Women and spiritual leadership M a r y W a r d u n d e r s t o o d her opposition well. She knew that m e n considered t h e m radicals, ' n e w beginners of a course n e v e r thought of before'. She knew that the expectation was that they would fail and not be able to ' b r i n g to pass things b e y o n d the compass of such weak creatures as they have ever esteemed w o m e n to be, who expect to see o u r f e r v o u r decay and all come to nothing, ourselves to shame and confusion'. But she knew too that there were others who looked u p o n t h e m 'with a n o t h e r conceit, expecting all the world to be bettered b y us'. T h r o u g h it all she persisted. T h r o u g h the local investigations and complaints, t h r o u g h the accusations and disapproval, t h r o u g h the e x a m i n a t i o n b y the C o n g r e g a t i o n of Cardinals, t h r o u g h the suppression of the Institute, t h r o u g h the house-arrest in the convent in Anger. So strong was her faith that w o m e n , too, were created in the image of G o d and that w o m e n were no lesser creatures t h a n m e n that she laid d o w n her own life to release the lives and gifts of other w o m e n . But in 1985, t h o u g h some gains have definitely been m a d e for some w o m e n - - i n education, in legal rights, in social inclusion, in theological developments and pastoral p a r t i c i p a t i o n - - n e v e r t h e l e s s most of the poor, most of the h u n g r y , most of the disenfranchized of the world are still w o m e n ; all of the authorities of the C h u r c h are still m e n a n d the laws still prescribe cloisters, choirs, habits and male approval of w o m e n ' s religious groups. W o m e n are still considered i n a d e q u a t e to contact G o d sacramentally. I n 1985 M a r y W a r d still speaks to us all a b o u t how to minister to o u r own times. W o m e n must k n o w their own w o r t h and instill that w o r t h in other w o m e n , M a r y W a r d instructs. W o m e n must seek and speak eternal t r u t h regardless of the lesser truths that bind. W o m e n must develop their own spirituality, i n d e p e n d e n t l y of male m e n t o r s , and hold fast to it because o t h e r spiritualities are derogations of w o m e n . W o m e n must claim equality in the face of inequity. W o m e n must be 'truly d e p e n d e n t ' and so i n d e p e n d e n t of e v e r y t h i n g that is not of God. W o m e n m u s t see themselves as entrusted with the gospel and p r e a c h it. W o m e n m u s t listen to w o m e n . W o m e n must see c o m m i t m e n t to the full d e v e l o p m e n t of w o m e n as a m o r a l and therefore a sanctifying obligation. W o m e n must be steadfast in their c o m m i t m e n t . W o m e n must not fear to speak their truth to the great and the princely 'to effect or b r i n g to pass w h a t e v e r is necessary'. Indeed, she taught, w o m e n had special gifts to b r i n g to ministry and m e n were not infallible in r e g a r d to the d e v e l o p m e n t of women.

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M a r y W a r d ' s sense of w o m a n was a searing t r u t h in the h e a r t of the C h u r c h a n d in the hearts of the w o m e n as well w h o persisted o v e r t i m e in the ideals of this p r o p h e t . So certain was she of the t r u t h of her b e i n g that her m o s t p o i g n a n t insight into the p o w e r of creation within her m a y well be her declaration: I confess that if there were not God, or if I did not do what I do for him, that which I find within myself were sufficient to make me do all I do or shall do. And indeed in that I am unsatisfied because I know not from wherever this proceeds, though I hope, well. M a r y W a r d did not prevail, except in part. T h e theology of limitation is the c a t e c h i s m on w o m e n to this day. But M a r y W a r d does raise b o t h questions a n d models that will not die. D o e s G o d value w o m e n as m u c h as M a r y W a r d did? A n d if so, w h y does not the m a l e C h u r c h ? T h e a n s w e r given to w o m e n a b o u t the strictures on their gifts, w h e n all o t h e r answers intellectual a n d biological a n d social h a v e b e e n given the lie, has always b e e n ' t r a d i t i o n ' . But the real issue for o u r t i m e is why is this the tradition? ls the exclusion of w o m e n f r o m the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e , s a c r a m e n t a l life of the C h u r c h b e c a u s e it was not s u p p o s e d to be or b e c a u s e no one w o u l d allow it to be? A n d is not the continual r e - e m e r g e n c e of great w o m e n who do great things that great m e n say m a y not be d o n e b y w o m e n also p a r t of the tradition? T h e question is w h y do we n e v e r legitimate that p a r t of the tradition? M a r y W a r d a l r e a d y h a d the answer. She wrote: ' I w o u l d to G o d that all m e n u n d e r s t o o d this verity, that w o m e n , if they will, m a y be perfect a n d if they would not m a k e us believe we can do n o t h i n g a n d that we are b u t w o m e n , we m i g h t do great m a t t e r s ' . It is four h u n d r e d y e a r s later. T h e spiritual leadership of w o m e n d e p e n d s yet on the witness, the verity, of c o u r a g e o u s w o m e n . I t d e p e n d s as well on the h o n e s t y of conscientious m e n who will call their o w n systems to the gospel truth. O r as a c o n t e m p o r a r y feminist said, ' I f y o u d o n ' t risk a n y t h i n g , y o u risk e v e n m o r e ' .