St. Joan and the gender of God

I visited the Angry Twins today and they had a count down to Fr. George Wertin's retirement (woooo-hoooo!). He has been pastor of one of the most openly heterodox Catholic churches around. Visit their website St. Joan of Arc (make sure you click the "history of Sunday Mass" link way at the bottom of the page)--- A quick glance and you'll discover just how special they think they are---  Anyway I found Fr. George's message from the bulletin a couple weeks ago very interesting--- I just couldn't pass up commenting on it. From the Pastor:

I sometimes forget how unfamiliar many people are with addressing God as Mother. Addressing God as Mother has been a part of our parish experience for over thirty-five years. It is becoming more and more common to express the feminine dimension of God as Christians struggle with how to name the Divine Mystery. I personally have used feminine images of God for a long time—first, because they enrich our perception of who God is, and also because I realized how insensitive it is to women to view God in exclusively male and patriarchal terminology.

Proving that despite theology and 2000 years of Tradition Fr. George is a sensitive and caring man--- way more enlightened then the theologians who disagree with him--- so much so that he forgets that most of Church is still stuck on that sexist "Father-God" thing. He is carrying on the St. Joan tradition that began in 1967 under Fr. Harvey Egan--- Fr. Eagan is known for signing a front page newpaper statement opposing Humanae Vitae. He used Edward Schillebeeckx, Charles Curran and Hans Kung as resources for his homilies and often used non-biblical sources for the other Mass readings. In 1973 he made Teilhard de Chardin the parish's "patron" saint  (move over St. Joan!!!).

Fr. Egan was also fond of inviting non-clergy homilists to speak at Mass. Perhaps the most famous was in September of 1978 when he invited Gloria Steinam to be guest homilist. He was proud to be a charter subscriber to Ms. magazine and called Ms. Steinam his heroine. Fr. Egan was more then tolerated by Archbishop John Roach--- in fact when the archbishop got wind of Fr. Egan's shennanigans he was summoned to to the archbishop's office--- a summons which he ignored. In turn his disobedience was ignored and he continued on unimpeded until he retired in 1987. After Fr. Egan retired St. Joan's had a visting celebrant named Fr. Roy Bourgeois. He was fond of inviting women from the parish up to the altar to concelebrate with him. Many parishoners thought this was the greatest thing since sliced bread and but fortunately his superiors didn't and eight days after that little incident Fr. Roy was stripped of his faculties in the archdiocese--- None the less Fr. George has carried on St. Joan's "legacy" quite well. (information on St. Joan's history from "Ungodly Rage" by Donna Steichen)

The problem arises because “Our Father”—Abba, in Aramaic—is so indelibly enshrined in Christian tradition and theology.

It is understandable that the most vivid images of God in the Scriptures are those that connote power and authority. In a patriarchal society those names are inevitably equated with maleness.

Problem? What??? Poor Jesus didn't realize how insensitive he was being towards women? Oh---wait--- no it's those Gospel writers--- they snuck their hopelessly patriarchal bias into God's inspired word--- I guess even all powerful God could not overcome their culturally entrenched biases towards women. It couldn't possibly be that God's Fatherhood is essential to understanding what we can of the nature of God--- that it is an appropriate description theologically as well as "anthropologically".

But anyone at all sensitive to gender issue will note the Scriptural images of God as giving birth and caring for her children like a mother. God is identified with Wisdom (always feminine) in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus compares God to a woman in search of her lost coin, to choose but one example from the Gospels.

Referring to God as Mother is both the expression of an evolving feminist theology and a creative insight into the compassionate, nurturing qualities of a God whose love for us is beyond our comprehension. Maybe we should balance the scales and refer to God as Mother for the next couple thousand years. May She continue to bless us

But Fr. George--- isn't that stretching it a bit? Actually---the word “Father” reveals a truth about God that the word “mother” does not. One of the most essential insights of Judaism and Christianity is that God is wholly Other. Unlike ancient pagan beliefs that collapsed God into nature, the the faith of the Jewish people understood that God is completely other than nature--- outside of--- yet in relationship with creation.

This "otherness" quality of God’s creative action is how he is a Father in relationship to his creation. Despite his lack of a physical male body God exhibits in his divine act of creation a male quality. Human fatherhood embodies this otherness quality in a physical form.

Regardless of how much a human father loves and cares for his children, his life-generating contribution is apart, removed from, and spatially distant compared to that of human mothers. A father does not have the same intimate physical bond as does a mother.

Fr. Walter Ong, S.J., wrote an insightful books on the meaning of male sexuality in relation to the Fatherhood of God, entitled Fighting for Life. He states, “Male sexuality represents God the Father. God is likened to the masculine because he is a source of life that is ‘other, different, separated’ (kadosh the Hebrew word translated sanctus, hagios holy, means at root ‘separated’) from all his creation, even from human beings, though they are in his image and likeness.”

The Fatherhood of God is vividly displayed in the fact that he is the one who opens the barren womb of Sarah, enabling her to be a mother---- in fact the mother of an entire nation----and this when it was beyond human power for her to conceive a child. God--- in Abraham and Sarah fathers a people for himself.

God reveals Himself as a Father many times in the Old Testament. Through the nation of Israel, in the wombs of barren women--- There is a triumph between sterile women and God whenever they are finally blessed with a child----Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth in Luke’s gospel. It is important to notice that these women experience their power to conceive in relation to God, This paternity of God reaches its fullness in the birth God’s own Son, Jesus--- born of the virgin Mary. He causes them to be mothers despite what seems to be physical impossibilities.

It is true that many feminist theologians argue that Fatherhood is only one expression of God in the Old Testament because there are instances in Scripture where God refers to Himself in maternal terms. The text most often used to support God as a mother is Isaiah 49:14-15:

‘The Lord has forsaken me: my Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you"

It is important to notice that God is not called a “mother.” His love is compared to that of a mother. Manfred Hauke points out in his book "Women in the Priesthood", feminine images of God in the Old Testament are aberrations that arise in relation to a particular crisis moment. These images have limited and passing symbolic life in Israel’s relation to God. It can be compared to a father of a family whose mother is absent or sick that says to his children “don't worry--- I will not only be your father but also like your mother while your mother is ill/absent.” Another favorite passage cited by feminists to show that God is equally a Father and mother is Isaiah 66:13: “As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.”

In all preceding verses it is Jerusalem who is the mother. It is stated of her, “Oh, you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts”. This maternalism is not applied directly to God. When read in context we notice the passage compares God’s comfort to that of a mother and that God’s comfort is mediated through Jerusalem who is the mother. God may be occasionally referred to as being like a mother but he is never directly called a mother.

Lastly--- both the Old and New Testaments consistently refer to God with masculine rather than feminine pronouns. Also feminine pronouns consistently and openly refer to creation, Israel or the Church. God,is always called “Father" and most notably by Jesus Christ His Only Son.