Dignity of Catholic Women – Perspective through A Muslim Woman’s Eyes

Back

Dignity of Catholic Women – Perspective through A Muslim Woman’s Eyes

On his return flight home from the United Arab Emirates this week, Pope Francis admitted to the abuse of women religious by priests and bishops. Francis said that the Vatican is working on the issue, but that more needs to be done.

With the Pope’s words in mind, and the need for conversion so clear, we offer the following piece by Fr. Glenn Zimmer, OMI. After reading an article on the plight of Muslim women in so many parts of the world, Glenn reflects on the place women in our own Catholic church, and what insights an ongoing encounter with Muslim women might bring.

We also offer a link to an article from, Women Church World, the L’Osservatore Romano publication on the experience of women in the church and world today. The article, ‘Without Any Touching’, discusses the importance of human touch in the Gospel, and how sexual abuse – in this case of women religious – is robbing the church’s ministry of this crucial form of human communication.     http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/without-any-touching

___________________________________________________

With the recent historic visit of Pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates, and his express intention to forge more unity between Islam and Christianity, I read with particular interest an article in The Globe and Mail.

The recent op-ed, published during the last week of January in The Globe, focused on the rights and dignity of women (or lack of) within much of the Muslim world.  The article was written by Sheema Khan, who is a monthly writer about issues pertaining to Islam and Muslims,  and reflected on the courage of Rahaf Mohammed.  Rahaf, escaping Saudi Arabia, was detained in Thailand on January 5, and soon after given asylum in Canada.

Several lines in the article particularly struck me. Ms. Khan writes:

“(Saudi Arabia’s) uber-patriarchy treats women as minors from cradle to grave – and brooks no dissent from women.”

“I was reminded of my own personal journey when I, too, almost left the faith because of the way I was treated as a Muslim woman – by other Muslims, in the name of Islam.”

“I was told that a good Muslim woman shouldn’t study for a PhD and that men were superior.  The deficient nature of women was occasionally mentioned by some male students ….”

“At one point, I told myself that if my faith stipulates that, as a woman, I am inherently inferior, have no right to use my mind to study the world and am second-class to all men because of the nature of my creation, then I want no part of it.  Deep inside I knew God was fair;  the Islam shared by students was anything but.”

“As I absorbed the message of the Koran, I found inherent peace, with the affirmation that my creation was a blessing with purpose and meaning … no one was inferior – or superior – simply by the way she was created.  I came to learn that many beliefs and practices by Muslims regarding women were completely contrary to teachings found in the Koran and the example of the life of the Prophet Mohammed.”

“ … I have come to learn of a strong patriarchal strain – sometimes bordering on misogynistic – within Muslim practice.  I have seen it in community institutions here where women’s voices are marginalized  … It has been painful to know that centuries of Islamic scholarship have affirmed the inherent superiority of men over women  … a family, a community, a system that condemns them as inherently deficient at worst and second-class at best.”

I read the article a second time, with the question:  what might Francis, and all of us deeply committed to the Catholic Church, learn about ourselves from Khan’s troubling experiences? Might this conversation be a significant part of the larger quest for deepened unity?  Are numerous Catholic women and men perhaps speaking the same message in very similar words as this Muslim woman?

A few examples of changing the word “Muslim” to “Catholic”:

Catholicism’s  uber-patriarchy treats women as minors ….”

“ …. I, too, almost left the faith because of the way I was treated as a Catholic woman – by other Catholics, in the name of Catholicism.”

“The  deficient nature of women was occasionally mentioned by some male Catholics ..”

“As I absorbed the message of the Gospel, I found inherent peace … no one was inferior – or superior – …   I came to learn that many beliefs and practices by Catholics regarding women were completely contrary to teachings found in the Gospel and the example of the life of Jesus Christ.”

“ … I have come to learn of a strong patriarchal strain – sometimes bordering on misogynistic – within Catholic practice.  I have seen it in community institutions where women’s voices are marginalized  … It has been painful to know that centuries of Catholic  scholarship have affirmed the inherent superiority of men over women  … a family, a community, a system that condemns (women) as inherently deficient at worst and second-class at best.”

By more deeply engaging some of the lived experience of our Muslim sisters, might we see ourselves much more clearly?  What might Pope Francis and Catholicism in general learn about ourselves from an encounter (a favorite word of Francis) with the lived experience of perhaps many Muslim women today?

Sheema Khan’s article concludes:  “Let’s marshal our collective resources to fight for basic human dignity.”

By Glenn Zimmer, OMI