For more than 55 years as a Benedictine Sister, Joan Chittister has been a powerful voice for justice, human rights and the place of women in the church. Katherine Marshall sat down with her recently to discuss feminist distrust of the church, the Benedictines' passion for peace and why women make great peace builders.
What got you involved in issues of women and peace?
Purely and simply, it is because I became a Benedictine. I did not come to the issues through the peace movement or the women's movement. I have never been part of any secular organization. It came through the Church.
The Benedictines are over 1,500 years old; no institution of the Church is older, except perhaps the Church itself. And the Benedictine model has always been about peace, at every and any level. Yes, that means inner peace and a contemplative bent, of course. But the significance of peace goes far beyond. The Benedictines as a religious order worked for centuries basically to reclaim Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. That was a time of great insecurity. People were not safe on the roads or in their towns, and there were no soldiers to protect them. Benedictine monasteries served as hospices, each one no more than a day's ride from the next. We were absolutely the first motels in Europe, and offered hospitality for hundreds of years. In the chaotic Europe of the time, the monasteries were the anchor and the sign of peace at every level.
So if you are a Benedictine, peace is on your mind. Benedictines take a vow of stability, not of chastity and poverty. That entails a lifelong commitment to a particular community in a particular place. That sense of community is very important to us, and it is how we see ourselves and our social and civic responsibilities. It is right in our DNA. In addition, we very much see ourselves as a women's order; Benedictine nuns were the first to educate women in Europe.
And so after Hiroshima and World War II, how could we, as an order, not be very conscious and alert to what peace means in our time? I was prioress in the period after Vatican II. We saw it as a call to our communities to change and to act. What else are we here for? So the corporate commitment of the Benedictine sisters embraced the causes of nuclear disarmament, of ecological stability and of commitment to the poorest of poor -- especially women. For us, these were not separate causes, and we were keenly aware of the linkages.
How old were you when you joined the Benedictines? Did you have an interest then in women's issues?
I became a Benedictine nun at 16! That was in 1952, after I had plagued the prioress for two years to take me.
My concern for women's roles and welfare were very much on my horizon even then, though I did not have the language then to express it. I saw my mother's life, from a very early age: she was truly brilliant and special, but she was totally undereducated. Left a widow at 21, during the Depression, with a child, she could not support herself and never forgot it. My stepfather was a good man but she was twice as smart. I saw the distorted division of labor between them and knew that it was wrong.
She was the one who was needed, but he had the job and position. My mother was clearly a feminist though, again, she did not use that language. I remember clearly that all my life she stressed that I must study and work hard so that I could take care of myself. It was a life experience that was burned into my mind. I knew from the time I was six years old that life was upside down, and that life was very precarious.
So when I met the ideas of feminism, I simply said, yes, this is right. I did not have to throw off any role or shake off ideas. I just jumped off the high diving board. It was the only show in town that made any sense.
Do you see divides between the religious and secular worlds increasing or decreasing? How wide is the gap?
In the United States, Europe and Australia, secular habits and institutions are pretty well established. And the divides can be quite yawning. And I understand them. I understand why religious women are skeptical about the feminists and vice versa. Their respective images, of bra-burning feminists and insensitive priests and nuns, have been formed in the historical patterns of past decades.
Until the mid 1960s, within the Church, it was simply unthinkable that a nun would question a priest. There was no women's authority and no women's agenda. At a meeting once, a lay woman stood up and refused to participate until the nuns left. I was the youngest nun in the room and was shocked by her anger at us and her insistence. When I asked why she wanted us out, she said: "Because you nuns have said 'yes, father' all your lives and taught every generation of women after you to do the same." I began to realize that women were angry at us for not enabling them to become full adults.
I came to my commitment to women's issues through religion and through the women in my life, including wonderful nuns. But some women have to leave religion to be able to come to the confidence and understanding that will allow them to think for themselves. I think it may be necessary for nuns to be able to hear these voices outside the religious systems. They can become healers between the systems. I don't know of any other way to do that, unless religion begins to look more women-friendly.
You now serve as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, facilitating a network of women peacebuilders. Why should we focus on women's roles for peace?
I am completely convinced that until women are more than token members of any movement and institution, there will never be peace or action on environment or real action on poverty. Women bring real differences in terms of style, goals, agendas, presence and real skills in conflict resolution. The fact that existing institutions do not deal with women in any systematic fashion is a real issue.
What differences do you see in approach and style between women and men?
You see differences everywhere, in the tone and agenda of discussions. To take one example, when I was at the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious), a priest was asked to be a consultant on some organizational issues. He was someone whose style was to get things done, then tell others how to go about the next steps. After the first meetings with the LCWR he was ready to quit because the style was so different -- it was a group decision making process. But some time later he told me that he came to see that the work was energized as a result of the process.
I have seen more than one man go through a similar process of learning. The male model of decision-making is fast and seems effective, but, understandably, it is immediately rejected by the other side. It becomes a taffy pull, a tug of war. The cooperative decision-making process, in contrast, engages all personally so that they want to get the work done. It slows down decisions in most instances, but it does it better.
Where is action most sorely needed? Where should we be exploring and pushing as we move ahead?
The most important advice is that we have to tap into women's agendas and then honor those agendas. Whenever the Bishops meet somewhere, women should meet in a commission right across the street. They should discuss exactly the same agenda and at the end publish their recommendations. This is not flip: It's a serious recommendation, because we need women's political inputs on every major political issue there is.
Giving voice is of the first importance. If this world is ever going to change, if this world is ever going to have peace, women must be involved.
An extended interview with Sister Joan Chittister can be found here.
This interview is fourth in a series of conversations with activists working for development and peace who draw their inspiration and direction from their faith. The series is based on interviews led by Katherine Marshall, as part of policy explorations for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue.
Follow Katherine Marshall on Twitter: www.twitter.com/patlakath
The Role of Women in Peacebuilding and Reconstruction: Lessons ...
Raising Women's Voices: Peacebuilding
Women call for greater role in conflict resolution - USATODAY.com
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Sister Joan is one of many nuns that are at their core feminists. In these women I have seen a powerful intellect combined with a strength of character , wisdom and joy. It is one of the many misconceptions about non-secular women that they lack an individual voice when in fact they have been courageous in many parts of the world and at home.
What continually happens is that we get a distorted picture of who women are and what we have historically accomplished. Each time I discover another woman warrior or a community of women warriors, I am first dismayed that their voice has not reached so many of us. Women have been in the forefront of SO MUCH social change .For example, before we had the modern women's movement we had the Civil Rights Movement that was primarily powered by AA women. However we also need to acknowledge how it was both black and white women that risked their lives during the Civil Rights era and not just the men.
Great and inspiring read on the subject:
http://www.amazon.com/Hands-Freedom-Plow-Personal-Accounts/dp/0252035577/ref=
Sister, I love you for that insight and speaking it!
I believe silence of woman on issues of war is by design. The powers to be have guided women to think of issues of themselves, their families and children and not much is left on the plate for world issues.
In America, many mothers have to feel for their sons, husbands, fathers and friends going on excursions of death into the Land of the Muslims. Why the silence?
Where are the loud and resounding voices of women organizations and power brokers not screaming about this death march into Muslim lands, adding to the all ready inequality ratio of women to men, and these wars are adding to this count.
By design, the powers to be have women worried about making it on the private sector, her rights in the work place and trying to prove that she is as good as any man. And fashion, beauty and elogance is a major concern, and yet, she is still not caring in total about the murdering and being murdered in Muslim lands. This is by design!
The woman X factor should be explored and pushed for she can offer a breath of fresh air in getting her country out of murderous wars of no-win!
Thank you Katherine Marshall for telling of the Benedictine order, for I have heard of them. It is in line of the [new] 'Lightworkers' that is important to educating our future children. However, unlike the lightworkers, they are 'aware' of the Akashic records, or original gospels. If sister Joan was my neighbor, I would knock on her door and tell her what I know of the Unconditiona Love that has been hidden from her and her order. Of the tens of thousands that have crossed over, those that had a 'Near Death Experience' tell of what is in the original Gospels. Like in the video's of the new Indigo, Crystal and Rainbow children talk of the same things, which can be Googled. Pope Pius ll said of Rome, "The only city run by Bastard's".
www.thereluctantmessenger.com
Are you trying to sound "spiritual"? Erudite? Trying to make it complicated so only the initiated will understand?
The Civil Rights movement was powered by AA women...of faith.This predated the women's movement which was pretty much powered by affluent or middle class white women.
single handedly, people wanted to forget, he continued to live in Vienna and was spit on, had his house fire bombed and yet he persevered. Peace comes at a price, he said we must fight for our freedom everyday and for peace as well I would add.
- Plutarch, "Sayings of Spartan Women"
Women are big fans of war.
As to the other wars, I do like what Obama said regarding S. Korea, this past week. We only need look to the North to know that there was no tie, the South won.
And the troops who would defend us from the terrorism of Islamists........thank you, I am grateful.
Viet Nam, Iraq? I am grateful to each and every soldier who served, thank you. They didn't make the choice that the country go to war, nor did I.
As to women and war, I tend to favor the Amazon women. It takes a hell of a woman who would take up arms, and cut off her breast in order to be free, don't you think?
Both men and women should pull the trigger equally.
It will be women who champion the real change. But we need women who are in touch with who they are--not gender confused women who do things in the same way as men. I think a lot of people are waking up to the idea that real change is not going to happen in the current system. Our recent elections have demonstrated to me that we put false hope in political people and governmental systems.
Women will create new ideas and forge new solutions outside of the male dominated institutions we now have, including religion and government.
Watch any episode of "To the Contrary" on PBS. Half the women are always conservative (think tank conservative) and half are liberals. Spirited discussion ensues, but there is always respect. Here is the latest episode you may watch on-line:
http://www.pbs.org/ttc/index.html
I find it interesting that the Republican side see Pelosi doing so much as a weakness and the Liberal side sees it as a strength. Oy.
lol
There is a visible backlash towards male children growing up today (post feminist movement). As a mom, I have no problem saying: culturally we punish boys for not being girls, by assuming that the female is everything good, honest, fair, compassionate, loving, nurturing - as if boys are never those things and girls are never rotten.
I meandered. Sorry.
The pendulum can swing wildly, but I guess if we had total agreement on everything, we might never move forward, even if that means taking a backward step at times.