Does the church need a new theology of women?

Pope Francis himself has stated that the church needs a "new theology of women." But what does that mean, exactly? And who might write it?

By Emily Reimer-Barry, assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. 

[Sounding Boards are one person's take on a many-sided subject and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.]

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A traditional Chinese proverb teaches that “women hold up half the sky.” Women also hold up half the church.

This truth may have been on Pope Francis’ mind when he told reporters in July 2013, “I think that we haven’t yet come up with a deep theology of the woman in the church.”

A few months later, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, he elaborated that women make indispensable contributions to society but also that “we need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the church.” Pope Francis argued that the presence of women must be guaranteed in the workplace “and in the various other settings where important decisions are made, both in the church and in social structures.”

The pope is exactly right: The church does need a deep theology of the woman, but the question we have to ask is: How do we get there? Are these just words, or are church leaders finally ready to begin to implement a more gender-inclusive agenda?

Is the church ready to construct this deep theology of the woman without running it through the clerical male filter? A new theology of women cannot and should not be authored by men. Rather than a new theology of women written by men, it is time for women in the church to have a voice in the construction of the church’s theology of women.

Some might object to this proposal by arguing that the bishops are the authentic teachers of the faith, that this is part of their job description. But you can’t teach what you don’t know. Bishops in the Roman Catholic Church are all male. Bishops cannot speak from experience about what it means to be a woman in the church. So they must listen to and learn from women.

If differences between the sexes matter—and in current expressions of Catholic theology they do—then the bishops should recognize their obvious limitations in this sphere of human experience and should welcome the voices of women.

But how can we fruitfully structure this conversation? We need a global consultation, led by female theologians and women religious, tasked with listening and learning from stories of everyday women and the social data that provides the context for those personal narratives. For this major undertaking to be successful, the women leading this process should adhere to the following five rules.

1. Consult widely.

Even the female researchers who might lead this project need to learn from other women.  We can’t speak about “women’s experiences” in the abstract. No two women are exactly alike, and when we recognize differences of citizenship, ethnicity, language, age, class, sexual orientation, and all of the other distinctive ways in which women’s experiences are formed and shaped, we then realize the difficulty of talking across these areas of difference. So one of the most important considerations is that global consultation is necessary, across all of the barriers that seem to divide us.

As researchers consult widely, it will be especially important for them to listen to survivor stories, so they may learn from women abused in intimate relationships; women who have lost children to war, starvation, curable disease, or gang violence; women in vowed religious communities who have been told that they are in grave error and in need of reform; women whose labor is valued less than their male counterparts.

Ask these women—indeed, ask all women interviewed—what they need to thrive. What do women, all around the globe, say they need to be the fully flourishing human beings that God created them to be?

2. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

The idea of a global consultation is certainly daunting, but we should remind ourselves that we would not be starting from scratch. Women have been a part of the church from the beginning. And our faith tradition contains stories of many remarkable women who shaped and passed on the faith, even if most of their stories were told by men.

The researchers who undertake this project should receive the fruits of the theologies that have already been developed by women in the church. Some of these women identify as feminist, while some prefer other descriptors. For example, many black women prefer the term coined by Alice Walker, describing their work as womanist theology, while many Latinas prefer to call their work mujerista theology.

Women have learned that doing theology from the perspective of women is life-giving, challenging, and liberating work. The task of feminist theology, as it emerged in its second and third waves, is not just to offer critical perspectives of past theologies or to uncover the lost stories of women but also to construct a way forward that is empowering of all. 

Feminist, womanist, and mujerista theologians have been doing this work in university classrooms, academic conferences, women’s spirituality prayer groups, and in publications like this one. Unfortunately their contributions have often met resistance from church leaders instead of open engagement. If we are to seriously develop a new theology of the woman, this new theology must incorporate what has been learned in this scholarship over the past 50 years.

3.  Seek common ground.

It would be tempting to focus exclusively on the particularity of each woman’s story and the differences among women’s experiences globally. But this task force should model cross-cultural engagement rooted in a process that seeks to build consensus around contested issues.

We should use our reason to reflect on our human experiences in order to draw norms about what is right or wrong. This is the natural-law approach to Catholic social teachings, which are addressed to all people of good will. The new theology of women should try to build bridges of understanding between women in different parts of the world and should seek common ground.

Some issues might remain controversial for some time. It might not be possible at this juncture to come to universal agreement on how to promote women’s leadership in the institutional church, or how to best empower women to make good choices in sexual relationships. But there are some issues which should not be controversial. If women in the task force can emphasize areas of agreement, these can be a fruitful foundation for further collaboration.

A good starting point in this area is to combat violence against women and the cultural expressions of this misogyny and disrespect: for example, attention to sexual slavery and human trafficking and the victimization of women in the pornography industry.

Other possibilities for building common ground include making childbirth safer for women globally, equal access to primary and secondary school education for girls and boys, and equal pay for equal work as women work alongside men in most sectors of the economy.

4.  Substantiate claims with evidence.

It might sound obvious, but this is an important rule for this global consultation task force. Researchers should consult data beyond the publications of the previous popes and councils. In crafting their new theology, the authors should cite from a range of sources, build a case, and substantiate their claims with evidence.

Too often Vatican documents on women contain simplistic stereotypes (like the nurturing mother), platitudes (like the feminine genius), or unsubstantiated claims (like the claim in Evangelii Gaudium that women possess more sensitivity and intuition than men). If the descriptive claims and normative conclusions of this new theology of women are to be taken seriously, they must be defended, not simply asserted.

Those who are tasked with constructing this new theology of women should avoid proof-texting from the scriptures or cherry-picking from the popes. And avoid at all costs the phrase “As we have always taught, ….”

5. Write in an open and dialogical tone.

Finally, the authors of the new theology of women should acknowledge the limitations of whatever new theology emerges and should encourage others to build on their work. A new document is not to immediately become the last word on the subject but would instead be a new point of conversation, a new jumping off point.

If scholars write in an open, inviting tone, nuancing their claims and not overstepping their legitimate authority, this new theology is more likely to be well received by a broad audience. When this new theology is presented in a popular form, it should be distributed widely, using the mass media as a pulpit for teaching.

Let’s creatively use social media and the mainstream press to build awareness of the equal dignity of women and the important contributions women can make to society and the church.

If women do indeed also hold up “half the church,” it is time to invite them to collaborate in the construction of theology. Enabling and empowering women to construct the new theology of women would be a good place to start. It is time to craft a process by which women are at the table, speaking from their experiences, constructing a more adequate theological anthropology that takes into account the voices of diverse women across the