VOWME • 67 an ecumenical journal NUMBER • 2 THEof social concern

publication. Minority Women and Feminist Spirituality

and Pauli Murray reuse for The Politics of Pastoral Care William Stringtellow required Holistic Scripture: New Lectionaries Permission David Ross DFMS. / Church Episcopal the of Archives 2020. Copyright Letters

sage of the Incarnation is disturbing, Dangerous Precedent Editorial High Point especially in the light of persecution and THE WITNESS rightly labeled the Your editorial, "Blessed Are the Peace- hate. Ask St. Paul after Damascus. Ask United States "the Herod of imperial- makers" (December WITNESS) was a gay Christians today. ism, cutting off new governments before high point in good writing, maintaining To be Christ-like, the church should they have had a chance to develop," in your "right on target" prophetic tradition. no longer tolerate the prosecution of its December editorial relating to Grenada. We need your voice. I'm enclosing gift any of its children. Like Jesus, who Much has been written about the events subscriptions for some of my friends never put labels on anyone for their leading to the killing of Prime Minister who will be grateful for that voice and sexuality, we need to nurture, feed, Maurice Bishop and the subsequent who will help to assure that it continues share and love all our brothers and publication. military invasion of Grenada. to get a wider audience. sisters. James B. Guinan and But the new element was the so-called Roberta Nobleman "invitation" by members of the Organi- Deerfield, Va. Dumont, N.J.

reuse zation of Eastern Caribbean States

for (OECS) to the United States and other non-members to participate in the inva- Jesus Not a Murderer Granada Address sion. This was in violation of the very In the November issue of THE WITNESS I am very much interested in obtaining the addresss of Dorothy Granada about required articles of the OECS itself, and of inter- there is a so-called poem by Jim Janda national law as well. titled, "Jesus Feeds the Multitudes." whom THE WITNESS wrote in Novem- ber ("38-Day Fast for Life Ends With This revised application of the Monroe While Janda is obviously trying to Communion"). She ran our St. Luke's Doctrine constitutes a dangerous prece- underline the attitude of many of our

Permission Hospital School of Nursing in Puerto dent with serious implications for Latin church-going citizens, and I will admit Rico in the middle 1940's, and over the America as a whole and Central America that there are many of these Christians years we lost touch with each other.

DFMS. in particular. It allows members of a that feel great anathema insofar as / Now that I have "found her again," I regional security organization, enjoined homosexuals and homosexuality are would like to say, "Que tal, como estas?" and convinced by the United States, to concerned, I feel that Janda's placing You publish an excellent magazine Church invade a third nation, regardless of the Our Lord Jesus in the role of a murderer and you have championed the cause of internal situation in the latter, and in is disgusting and even blasphemous. Hispanics under official persecution. violation of that nation's sovereignty Surely the editors of THE WITNESS For that we praise you. Episcopal and international law. can provide their readers with articles, The Rt. Rev. Francisco Reus-Froylan The action coincides with the revival poetry and the like, which have a real the Bishop of Puerto Rico of of the Central American Defense Com- and positive Christian basis, and not the Several readers have written requesting mittee (CONDECA), by Guatemala, El kind of tripe that calls Jesus a murderer. Dorothy Granada's address. She can be Salvador, and Honduras at the instiga- Charles D. Cor win reached through Fast for Life, 4848 E. Archives tion of the United States, to resolve the Colonial Beach, Va. 14th St., Oakland, CA 94601. — Eds. Central American crisis through the

2020. military. It is now possible for example, Frightening Parody that El Salvador might call upon its J. Janda's "Jesus Feeds the Multitudes" Fox Called 'Disloyal' allies in Central America and the United is unthinkable, offensive, shocking — I am flattered by the prominent play Copyright States to resolve its internal crisis mil- yes indeed. The poem is a horrifying, which THE WITNESS accorded me itarily, or for Honduras to invite the frightening kind of parody. and the message I wrote when I resigned United States, through CONDECA, to What if the prodigal son, returning my commission as Captain in the U.S. invade Nicaragua. I believe that it is Army Reserves. I am grateful to you for against these possibilities that public home to his father, found him waiting, whip in hand? What if Jesus made a helping me make the most of this one- opinion must analyze and judge the time podium to express my feelings on Grenada episode. scourge and turned it on the children, instead of the money changers? What if our country's outrageous behavior in The Rt. Rev. Antonio Ramos one substitutes the word "gay" for Central America. (See December National Council of Churches Samaritan? WITNESS.) New York, N.Y. The message of the Cross, the mes- Continued on page 22 en ecumenical journal of social concern THE WITNESS THE

EDITOR Mary Lou Suhor

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Robert L. DeWitt

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Richard W. Gillett Hugh C. White publication. and STAFF Ann Hunter reuse Bonnie Pierce-Spady for Susan Small Lisa Whelan Table of Contents required Minority Women and Feminist Spirituality PUBLISHER Pauli Murray Episcopal Church Publishing Company Holistic Scripture Permission 1O David F. Ross ECPC BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Politics of Pastoral Care DFMS. / CHAIR 12 William Stringfellow H. Coleman McGehee We Win the War, Lose Our Souls Church VICE-CHAIR Mattie Hopkins 16 Michael Parenti SECRETARY Walesa, Socialism & Christianity

Episcopal Gloria Brown TREASURER 18 Jacques Ellul the of Carman St. J. Hunter In Celebration of Commitment ASSISTANT TREASURER 21 Robert Cromey Robert Eckereley Archives Otis Charles

2020. Steven Guerre Carter Heyward James Lewis v_>l CCJ1 lo Cover, Beth Seka, adapted from a design by Margaret Longdon; photo p. Copyright Joseph A. Pelham 5, © Janet Charles; graphic p. 7, Rachel Burger, CPF; graphic p. 11, Margaret Longdon; Robert Potter graphic p. 16, Julie Baxendell; graphics pp. 18-19, courtesy of Solidarity International, via Antonio Ramos Katallegete, CPO 2307, Berea, Ky. 40404; photo of Dr. McClintock p. 20, David Micklos, Kwasi Thomell Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; graphic p. 21, Margaret Longdon.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE WITNESS is published monthly. Editorial office: P.O. Box 359, Ambler, PA 19002. Phone Barbara C. Harris (215)643-7067. Subscription rates $ 12 per year. $ 1 per copy. THE WITNESS is indexed in the American Theological Library Association's Religion Index One: Periodicals. Copyright 1984 by the Episcopal Church Publishing Company. Printed in U.S.A. ISSN 0197-8896. Editorial

The Judas Generation

publication. by Henry H. Rightor

and Guest writer for this month's editorial is the Rev. Henry H. Rightor, J.D., D.D., Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Care and Canon Law at reuse Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria. He practiced as an attor- for ney and served as a representative in the Arkansas State Legislature prior to ordination. required e in the Western religious tra- bol for us to apply it to our whole disposed to repent our stockpiling W dition have always made asso- generation. There is, however, of nuclear weapons, the Judas

Permission ciations with certain symbols taken precedent of a kind in Jesus' per- story tells us how not to repent and from Scripture. When we have sonalizing a whole generation as to whom we should not give over behaved badly, Peter has often "wicked and adulterous," and then the profits from their manufacture. DFMS. / given us hope and an understand- contrasting them with the people For our basic betrayal has been of ing of ourselves; if a friend has had of Ninevah who heeded Jonah's the responsibility given us by God.

Church doubts, Thomas has been useful to call to repentance. Therefore, our repentance should us; many of our well loved com- be to God, and whatever "silver" munities have been named Salem. Identifying our generation we might have (from our profits or with Judas could awaken us to the

Episcopal the disposition of arms, the plants It would not come easily, how- iniquity implicit in arming for the that manufacture nuclear arms, ever, for people in the Christian nuclear warfare. God has made us of etc.) should be given to God's tradition to identify themselves or responsible for creation; and it needy children here and around the their generation with Judas — does not overstretch my imagina- world. Archives Judas who destroyed himself after tion to relate Judas' betrayal of our The alternative to such repent- he had betrayed our Lord for Lord to the steps we are taking

2020. ance and restoration is clear in the money, then repented, not to Jesus toward the betrayal of our respon- story of Judas, who went out and but to the chief priests who first sibility through the destruction of hanged himself. This is the first had bribed him, and then spurned God's people and God's world.

Copyright generation that has had the means him and the silver he returned. Identification of our generation of destroying itself, along with its It would require considerable with Judas could awaken us in world. Pray God that we may "reorientation" of the Judas sym- another way. Should we become change our present path. • publication. and reuse for required Permission DFMS. / The Rev. Pauli Murray Church Minority Women Episcopal the of and Feminist Spirituality by pauii Murray

The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, a retired ome time ago, I did a comparative petitive diversion. Its exponents ignored Archives Episcopal priest, is one of the co- Sstudy of Black Theology and Femi- feminist theology and did not address founders of the National Organization nist Theology, seeking insights into the themselves to the special problems of 2020. for Women and has had full time careers dual burdens of race and sex. I discovered Black women. as lawyer, professor of political science that although the two theologies arose On the other hand, the revived women's and American studies, and advocate

Copyright for human rights. She is currently fin- out of parallel liberation movements in movement, led by predominantly White, ishing her autobiography to be pub- the United States and that certain his- middle- or upper-class women, had not lished by Harper and Row, and until torical similarities in the subjugation of successfully incorporated the aspirations her retirement served as priest-in- Blacks and women suggest a basis for of poor and minority women into its charge of Church of the Holy Nativity, solidarity and fruitful dialogue, consider- struggle. Both groups tended to concen- Baltimore. able tension existed between the two. trate upon a single factor of oppression Black theology, rooted in the male- without adequate consideration of the oriented Black Power movement which "interstructuring" of racism, sexism, and began in the late 1960s, regarded the economic exploitation. I noted that fo- emerging women's movement as a com- cusing on a particular factor of oppression could obscure the goal of universal libera- Alienation of Black Women our step-sisters stop superimposing tion and reconciliation which lies at the A typical expression of the deep- their needs onto us, we have nothing heart of the Christian gospel. seated alienation Black women continue to say to them. to feel toward White women 20 years Some feminist theologians, aware of This sentiment expressed by a Black after the rebirth of the women's move- this danger, stressed the necessity for an professional woman who is a deeply ment is that of Dr. Deborah Harmon inclusive approach, broad social analysis, committed Christian is echoed in various Hines of Meharry Medical College, and self-criticism which recognizes and ways by other Black women and is cause Nashville, and national president of the opposes the oppressive practices within for deep concern among those of us who Union of Black Episcopalians. Speaking one's own group. This feminist analysis work for solidarity among women as a on "The Black Women's Agenda" at a also points to the fact that women con- necessary expression of our feminist conference of the Episcopal Church's stitute half of every social class and their spirituality. Its implications go to the Task Force on Women in 1981, Dr. common concerns necessarily embrace core of our beliefs and actions and must Hines declared: the whole spectrum of the human con- be confronted honestly, however painful publication. dition. This offers possibilities for joint The Black women that I work this may be. and with, seek advice from, socialize action which can begin to transcend A review of recent literature in which barriers of race, sex, and economic class. with, go to church with come from reuse Black women have sought to define a wide variety of backgrounds, for At the time of the study I also noted that themselves and their priorities reveals the interlocking factors of racism and economic strata, educational levels, the consistent theme that Black women sexism within the Black experience await work, family and leadership ex- are the victims of multi-layered oppres- required analysis. perience. These women unequivo- sion. The "Black Feminist Statement" cally see their roles as maintaining, formulated by the Combahee River Col- With these findings as a point of strengthening and uplifting our departure, the question arises: What lective states: "We believe that sexual Permission race, our families, our culture and politics under patriarchy is as pervasive promise does feminist spirituality in the heritage, our men and ourselves. context of the women's movement hold in Black women's lives as are the politics And these women see racism as of race and class. We also find it difficult DFMS. for minority women—and specifically / our archenemy in this struggle. Black women—in their struggles for to separate race from class from sex oppression because in our lives they are liberation? In the broad sense, spirituality Dr. Hines spoke of the degrading Church experienced simultaneously." refers to that which gives meaning and images—"Aunt Jemima," "Jezebel," purpose to our lives, our vision of whole- and "welfare seeker"—with which Black To a much greater extent than White ness of being. Theologian Letty Russell women have to contend, and charged

Episcopal women, Black women are victimized by speaks of the spirituality of liberation that "my White step-sisters are often as

the racial-sexual violence which has deep which focuses upon partnership in situ- of guilty or guiltier than their menfolk in historical roots in slavery and continues ations of oppression. "Feminist theolo- perpetuating these myths about Black today in rape, forced sterilization and gians," she notes, "have sought to articu- women." (See THE WITNESS, 2/82.) physical abuse in family relations. They Archives late the groaning of women and to build She went on to say: constitute the most dis advantaged group solidarity among those working to an- in the United States as compared to 2020. ticipate the new meaning of human Black women find it extremely difficult to ally themselves with White men, Black men and White women. wholeness." They are found in the most menial, those who have not been part of lowest-paying jobs, and are dispropor- Copyright When I seek to apply this model, the solution, but a part of the tionately represented among poor, fe- however, I find that the severe tensions problem. Black women find it ex- male-headed and welfare families. Black existing between Black women and White tremely difficult to ally themselves women and their families suffer from women stand as barriers to the solidarity with those who say, 'We have all inadequate health care, high rates of which feminist spirituality envisions. suffered the same,' when we know infant mortality and other health hazards What follows is an attempt to highlight it isn't so. Black women find the associated with poverty and powerless- some of these tensions in the hope that situation intolerable when we are ness. an analysis will produce insights that told (by White women) what we point the way toward reconciliation and should do in our struggle, and not As Deborah Hines indicated, Black collaborative effort. asked what we want to do. Until women have had to struggle against myths and humiliating stereotypes which toward the women's movement have tribute the same sense of power to undermine a positive self-image. The ranged from indifference and outright both Black and White men is Black matriarchy myth which became rejection, to suspicion, to cautious ap- racist in the same sense that the popular in the social science literature of proval of certain of the movement's crucial role of white-skin privilege the 1960s has depicted Black women as goals coupled with aloofness and strong in our society is being disregarded. having an unnatural dominant role in criticism of perceived racism and classism It is incumbent upon White femi- family life, which has had damaging within the movement itself. nists to recognize the very real effects upon Black society. The ill Gloria I. Joseph and Jill Lewis of differences that exist between White effects attributed to the alleged existence Hampshire College, in a penetrating men and Black men when their of a matriarchal family structure included analysis of conflicts in Black and White degree of power is considered. juvenile delinquency, self-hatred, low feminist perspectives, maintain: "The While White feminists necessarily intelligence, cultural deprivation, crimes White women's movement has had its have directed their energies against a against persons, and schizophrenia among own explicit forms of racism in the way it system of male domination, Black males Blacks, according to one reviewer. The has given priority to certain aspects of

publication. and females are bound together in a sharp rise in numbers of female-headed struggles and neglected others, and it has political struggle against White racism and families in the Black community has often been blind and ignorant of the which has traditionally repressed in the reinforced this stereotype. conditions of Black women's lives." most brutal manner assertions of power reuse This matriarchy myth has come under for by Black males. Black women, feeling a While they acknowledge that many of heavy criticism during the past decade, strong need to support their men, have the issues raised by White women do particularly by Black women scholars. often perceived the women's movement

required affect all women's lives—e.g. contra- Dr. Jacqueline J. Jackson of Duke Uni- to be a "divisive" tactic which would ception, abortion, forced sterilization, versity Medical Center, has pointed to alienate them from their partners in their rape, wife battering, inequities in law, the demographic factor of a significant effort to throw off White domination. health care, welfare, work conditions,

Permission sex-ratio imbalance in the Black popu- Black women face the dilemma of the lation. She noted that in 1970, there and pay—they point out that "because were about 91 Black males for every 100 of the inherently racist assumptions and

DFMS. perspectives brought to bear on these / Black females in the United States. The growing excess of Black females over issues in the first articulations by the White women's movement, they were

Church Black males has been reflected in every census since 1860, but has become in- rejected by Black women as irrelevant, creasingly acute. By 1976, the U.S. when in fact the same problems, seen from different perspectives, can be highly

Episcopal Census reported that there were 80.7 relevant to Black women's lives." "Too

the Black males for every 100 Black females frequently," they assert, "participants in of over 24 years old. the struggles of parallel liberation move- This cannot be explained solely on the ments are blinded to each other and have

Archives ground that Black males have been over- only a limited understanding of each looked in the census count. Jackson other's priorities." 2020. finds that this sex-ratio imbalance is directly related to the high proportion of One area of misunderstanding has Black female-headed families and has been in the perception of male/female Copyright defined these families as an adaptation relationships. According to the Joseph to larger social structural forces. The and Lewis study: limited availability of marital partners The differences recognized in for Black women is also a factor in the sexual relationships between expressions of hostility toward White Black women and Black men in women who enter into sexual or marital contrast to White women and relationships with Black men. White men relate to the question In their embattled struggle for day-to- of power. . . To categorically day survival, Black women's attitudes lump all men together and at- competing claims of the Black liberation struggle itself. Where racism is rejected, church, and society. While Black movement and the women's liberation sexism has been embraced. Where class- male theologians focus almost ex- movement, each of which is a separate ism is called into question, racism and clusively on racism, White femi- entity based on its own distinctive sexism have been tolerated. And where nists primarily on sexism, and realities. The Black woman cannot sexism is repudiated racism and classism Third World theologians or Latin participate fully in both, but she cannot are often ignored." She declares bluntly, Americans concern themselves with afford to ignore either movement. "The failure of the Black church and classism, Black women are seeking Black theology to proclaim explicitly the to combine the issues of race, sex, Toward a Resolution liberation of Black women indicates that and class, because they are deeply The rise of Black feminism within the they cannot claim to be agents of divine affected by each. liberation. If the theology, like the church, past decade is an important development Further indication of Cone's move- has no word for Black women, its con- but it is not yet clear what direction it ment toward a more comprehensive ception of liberation is inauthentic." will take to resolve the Black woman's approach is his reflection upon the doc- dilemma. Some Black women's groups Grant also questions the thesis that the publication. trine of "woman's place," and the doc- central problem of Black women is re- have developed coalitions with White trine of "Black people's place," which and lated to their race and not their sex. She women on specific issues. Several Black leads him to ask, "Is it not possible that feminist groups have sprung up as a third says, "I contend that as long as the Black reuse the two doctrines are derived from the movement exclusively devoted to the struggle refuses to recognize and deal for same root disease? This does not neces- with its own sexism, the idea that women concerns of Black women, but their sarily mean that the struggles of White will receive justice from that struggle isolation and aloofness raises questions women are identical with Black people's required alone will never work." as to their effectiveness. Dr. Constance liberation. It does mean that oppressions M. Carroll, President of Indian Valley Significantly, these and similar criti- are interconnected." College, Novato, Cal., urges an alterna- cisms have influenced Black theologian tive course which is a "productive but Cone's new insight affirms the central Permission James H. Cone to reexamine his views. theme of my presentation. As feminist difficult and lonely road if the Black In his recent book, My Soul Looks theologian Rosemary Ruether has urged, woman is to achieve concrete benefits at Back, Cone confesses: "When I began DFMS.

/ it is "essential that the women's move- the end of her struggle. She must be the writing about Black theology, the prob- ment reach out and include in its struggle gadfly who stings both movements into lem of sexism was not a part of my achieving their goals—prodding the the interstructuring of sexism with all Church theological consciousness. When it was other kinds of oppression, and recognize women's movement into confronting its raised by others, I rejected it as a joke or a pluralism of women's movements in racism and working doubly hard for the an intrusion upon the legitimate struggle the context of different groupings." White Episcopal concerns of Black women, and prodding of Black people to eliminate racism." the less volatile Black movement into feminists need to recognize that racism the Cone traces his reeducation which

of is also a feminist problem and begin to confronting its inherent sexism and began at Union Theological Seminary deal with it as a necessary development righting the injustice it has done to Black where he was exposed to the women's of feminist consciousness. As Ellen women. She must become the sorely liberation movement. He says: Archives needed bridge between them if their Pence, a White feminist, has put it: While White women forced me goals are to be translated into reality." 2020. to consider the problem of sexism Knowing that we grew up in a Some Black women are beginning to in a White context, Black women society permeated with the belief follow this course—reexamining their forced me to face the reality of that White values, culture, and

Copyright position and becoming more vocal in sexism in the Black community... lifestyle are superior, we can as- their feminism, within the Black move- As I listened to Black women sume that regardless of our rejection ment at least. Several Black women articulate their pain, and as I of the concept we still act out of theologians have launched a critique of observed the insensitive responses that socialization. The same anger Black theology. The most pointed criti- of Black men, it became existen- and frustration that we have as cism has come from Jacquelyn Grant, tially clear to me that sexism was women in dealing with men whose doctoral candidate at Union Theological a Black problem too... Black sexism is subtle, not blatant, are Seminary. She observes that "Some women theologians appear to be the frustration and anger women theologians have acquiesced in one or developing a new comprehensive of color must feel toward us. The more oppressive aspects of the liberation way of thinking about theology, same helpless feelings we have in

8 trying to expose that subtle sexism Resources must be the feelings of women of color in working with us. Black Theology, A Documentary History; 1966- Common Differences: Conflicts in Black and The women's movement has rich re- 1979; Gayraud S. Wilmore & James Cone, White Feminist Perspectives; Gloria I. Joseph sources at its disposal to deal seriously eds. Orbis Books 1979. and Jill Lewis. Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1981. with this issue. One of these is the But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Our Search for Identity: Humanity in the Studies; Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, experience women have gained in con- Image of God, Marianne H. Micks, Fortress and Barbara Smith, eds. Feminist Press 1982. Press, 1982. sciousness-raising, which can now be Racism and Mental Health; Charles Willie, Growth in Partnership, Letty Russell, used to explore the ways in which racism Bernard Kramer and Bertram Brown, Univer- Westminster Press, 1981. has dehumanized women of all races sity of Pittsburgh Press, 1972. New Woman/New Earth: Sexist Ideologies & and classes in the United States. This is Black Macho & the Myth of the Superwoman, Human Liberation, Rosemary Ruether, Seabury already being done by small groups of Dial Press, 1979. Press, 1975. Black and White women in face-to-face discussions, especially in the academic publication. field. and Finally, if feminist spirituality includes the vision of wholeness of being, then reuse those who follow that vision have the Identity for task of reeducation within the women's movement, which involves both a search (Song for Two Voices) required for greater understanding and a capacity for self-criticism of the racism and class- What is black? ism which alienate us from one another. Black is a grackle's feather

Permission Feminist theology points the way tinged with blue, toward this imperative. Marianne H. a shadow washed with purple, Micks reminds us that "human selfhood

DFMS. a dot / before God is historical selfhood," and on a ladybug's wing. speaks of the need to "stretch ourselves, Black is the weather side

Church go beyond ourselves, as we enter the of an oak spaces of our common past which many after rain. of us have never visited. If we are to Black is the big round open letters in a child's first Episcopal understand each other today," she says, reading book. the "we must know more about Native Black is ebony, jet, of American experience, Black experience, and the heart of a daisy. and the experience of many additional I, too, am black! ethnic groups." Archives What is white? I submit that our openness to self- White is the breast of a snow goose,

2020. criticism is an antidote to the guilt which a shaft of light often paralyzes our actions and makes with dusty motes, us resistant to change. I also believe that a dot on a woodpecker's back. White is a birch tree Copyright the sharing of personal histories and in the winter sun. feelings in face-to-face contact brings an White is the space between the big round open letters understanding which we cannot achieve in a child's first merely through the absorption of his- reading book. torical and statistical data. Both are White is ivory, crystal, important steps in the healing process and a daisy petal. which builds mutual trust and the basis I, too, am white! of genuine solidarity as we strive together —Georgia Pierce in our daily lives to make real our vision of human wholeness. • Holistic Scripture by David F. Ross

iblical sexism is the evil for which situation of a girl or woman in church the nature of God, and reflected in publication. Ban inclusive-language lectionary is has always been that of a daughter God's creation, is unmistakably a com- and the currently proposed corrective. Two whose mother goes quietly about her bination of feminine and masculine ele- versions of this remedy are now available, household tasks while her father sits ments. Nothing can conceal this; but reuse Hearing the Word, published by the praising the virtues and achievements of when the Word is transcribed, inter- for Episcopal Church of Saint Stephen and his sons, occasionally remembering to preted, and translated exclusively by the Incarnation in Washington, D.C., add that he loves his daughter too, male minds and hands, it becomes dis- and the National Council of Churches' because she is pretty and obedient. torted. It is through this distortion that required An Inclusive Language Lectionary, pub- Without going far beyond the bounds we receive the macho image of God that lished by Westminster Press. Neither of translation and into the realm of fan- denies us the hope of peace and denoun- has as yet been approved for liturgical tasy, we cannot do much at this stage to ces the hungry for their weakness. Without Permission use in the Episcopal Church, and another correct the invisibility of biblical women. addressing this issue, the inclusive-lan- acrimonious controversy can be expected The daughters of Adam and Eve are lost guage lectionographers can do nothing

DFMS. when the proposal is made. Zealots on to us forever, along with the name of to restore that balance of the feminine / each side will see bigots on the other, Noah's wife and the remorse that she and masculine qualities which Jesus laid with women's rights as the battleground. and her husband must have felt over the down as the foundation of his church. Church The smoke from this battle may well fate of their daughters. Substitutes can Because the opposition does and will obscure, however, a more fundamental be found for masculine pronouns, "Sons proclaim the contrary, it needs to be aspect of the problem. of Abraham" can become "Children of emphasized that the movement for inclu- Episcopal The issue of women's rights has been Sarah and Abraham," but when all is sive language is one of renewal, not of the said and done most of the people who of addressed by Claire Randall, of the revision. It is, in essence, rigorous Christian NCC, who points out that women expe- are memorable for their words and fundamentalism. The feminine element rience a "different kind of feeling" when deeds will remain male, and most of the is present in the Holy Scripture, but in a

Archives they hear Bible readings that include women who are identified will be known male-dominated culture it tends to be- them. Jack Woodard, of Saint Stephen only for their sexual roles. Women were come obscured and depreciated. This 2020. and the Incarnation, points to the bene- chattels in biblical times, after all, and was the situation that Jesus found when fits of "understanding that women have have been repressed throughout all of he came into the world. His teaching always been part of God's people, and human history. Even if we could con- lays such stress upon the "feminine" Copyright that women to this day are addressed by ceal this, it would not advance the cause virtues that the ethical content of the God's word as fully as are men." The of women's rights to do so. It is some- Gospel is not inclusive but downright thing, rather, of which we need to be feminist. Christians, in fact, have often more aware. The pulpit, rather than the felt it necessary to counter the image of The Rev. David ROM is associate professor of lectern, must be our principal recourse. sweet, gentle, meek-and-mild Jesus by economics at the University of Kentucky. An The more fundamental aspect of bib- pointing out that what he did required Episcopalian priest, he is author of the newly lical sexism, however, is one that can be considerable courage and fortitude, that published book, Gandhian Economics: he did lose his temper on occasion, and Sources, Substances and Legacy (Prasad attacked most effectively through the Publications, Bangalore). lectionary. The Word of God, reflecting that he resorted to physical aggression

10 against the money changers in the temple. it rationalizes the suppression of such torian or patriot who wishes to give The balance that is inherent in God's tentative propensities toward the lamb equal credit to the strong, courageous, will and creation could be restored in and consecrates the beast. and otherwise admirable women who the time of Jesus's ministry only by The metaphor of God as parent is so were borne up through the hardships throwing a lot of weight on the feminine fruitful that it cannot be eliminated and dangers of the wilderness and of side, and the same is true today. One without impoverishing the faith. It con- defiance to tyranny by the vision of a needs no other reference than the daily veys creation, authority, loving, caring, better life for their descendants, can newspaper to establish this. The current disciplining, teaching, sustaining, for- only do so by referring explicitly to "our personification of so-called Christian giving — everything, in short, that we forefathers and foremothers" or "our fundamentalism, Jerry Falwell, for ex- mean and can express in no other way mothers and fathers." So too it must be ample, opposed the showing of a televi- when we turn our thoughts to God. with God, if we are to preserve the par- sion program on the horrors of nuclear The error in the symbolism of the ental metaphor. war because it might induce support for Heavenly Father is merely that it is The problem with Jesus is more com- unilateral disarmament. Indeed it might; incomplete — it is part of our heritage, plex, because when the Word became publication. and it might even be granted that unilat- instead of everything that comes from flesh and dwelt among us, the flesh was and eral disarmament would be an inexpe- God. Grammarians may insist that the unquestionably male, and unquestion- dient approach to the world's problems masculine embraces the feminine and ably referred to God as "Father." From reuse at this moment in history. Still, nothing that "our Father," like "our fathers" and for these historical facts derives the father- could be more pure, fundamental, and "our forefathers," refers to parenthood son imagery of the trinitarian formula, orthodox in its adherence to the clear, generally, not just to the male line. leaving only the ambiguous Holy Spirit required explicit, and reiterated teaching of Jesus Nevertheless, for most of us they con- as a partial expression of the feminine than unilateral disarmament. Falwell jure up images of men —admirable men essence. Nothing in the doctrines of the must know this at the intellectual level, of great strength and intelligence who Trinity and the Incarnation requires us but it has not penetrated to the gonadal

Permission are brave, just, faithful, creative, and extraor- Continued on page 20 essence of his being. It is difficult to take dinarily farsighted, but definitely not so seriously such transparent jocks-for- remarkable as to incorporate female DFMS.

/ Christ theology, but we must, because it characteristics equally with-male. A his- is a caricature of something real and potent in the church. Church The problem is not, and probably never was, that people are persuaded to

Episcopal resort to force by faith in a scriptural the representation of God which exagger- of ates masculine values. That tendency requires no cultivation, and in fact thrives on neglect. Sunday-morning Archives Christians do not habitually consult the

2020. Bible before deciding how to deal with domestic, social, economic, and politi- cal choices. They are vaguely aware,

Copyright however, that Jesus said things like "love your enemies," "turn the other cheek," and "blessed are the meek." They cannot help but wonder from time to time how such articles of faith apply to developing a first-strike nuclear cap- Loue ability or invading Grenada. The super- man version of the Christian deity pro- fs not oust LO moted by such clerical and lay leaders as ano roeRe taLk Falwell and Reagan is dangerous because But sometY2\nQ rzeal anv> active.

11 The Politics of Pastoral Care

ow Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they publication. N laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of and those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the

reuse temple, he asked for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and for said, "Look at us." And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from

required them. But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. "And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made

Permission strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking DFMS. / and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement Church at what had happened to him. The Acts of the Apostles 3:1-10 Episcopal the of A nd as (Peter and John) were speaking to the people, the priests and the x\.captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed

Archives because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody... 2020. The Acts of the Apostles 4: ISA Copyright

12 an ecumenical meditation concerning the incumbent Pope by William Stringfellow

n the earliest experience of the can from this elementary source about there are no particular psychological or I Apostolic Church, during the period what a bishop is (or is supposed to be) similar implications assumed. Pastoral promptly after Pentecost. .. long before according to ancient experience. care has acquired narrow, partisan and the church acquired an ecclesiastical What is to be found and confirmed in self-serving connotations in certain ec- polity resembling what now prevails ... Acts is a priority of pastoral care epito- clesial precincts nowadays associated when the orders and ministries of the mized in the function and ministry of with assorted therapies. Possibly such publication. church were simply authorized charis- bishop. Administration, which so pre- have some worldly legitimacy, but, re- and matically and functionally ... prior to empts the attention of contemporary calling Acts concretely, none furnish the conformity and decadence sponsored bishops, is, in Acts, a matter, at most, of substitute for the new life, exemplified in reuse by the Constantinian Arrangement... quaint allusion. It is merely one specifi- Jesus Christ and informed by the vitality for the precedent for the office and service of cation of the pastoral office. At the same of the Word of God in the Holy Spirit. those who would, later on, be called and time, teaching in Acts virtually always None do more than foreshadow the new required ordained as bishops was established. So has the particular connotation of "teach- humanity in Christ which constitutes the it is that the vocation of a bishop is il- ing and proclaiming the resurrection exact vocation of the Church. Bishops luminated in The Acts of the Apostles. from the dead." It is more prominent have reason for both gratitude and cheer.

Permission I have participated during the last few than administration, yet it has the same They are not called to be amateur or years in the endemic dismay of church- emphatic aspect of nurture. Teaching is a ersatz therapists of any sort: they are folk — both within and outside of the feature of pastoral care. Much the same called, rather, to be pastors for the whole DFMS. / Roman Communion — at the ambi- can be affirmed, from Acts, concerning church in this world. valent, and poignant, behavior of Pope the confrontation with the world and the Yet if the pastoral ministry pertinent to

Church John Paul II. discernment of the needs of the world, as a bishop's office is free of heavy psy- Perchance I should mention, before the texts cited indicate. chological or personalistic or indulgent further comment, that I remember cir- In brief, the Apostolic ministry begins implications, it must be openly acknowl-

Episcopal cumstances when I, as with many other in pastoral concern for each member of edged that pastoral care does have political the non-Roman Christians, thought it im- the whole church and reaches into the significance. In this regard the whole of pudent to publicly volunteer my views of very interstices of the body of the church. Bible is redundant, and the book of The any Pope's conduct. That vain etiquette, Simultaneously, it addresses the worldly Acts of the Apostles is most notably so.

Archives however, has been obviated by, among regimes of the principalities and powers, Thus, the episode first related in Acts other things, John Paul's own construc- as well as all people everywhere, at once concerning the activities of the Apostles

2020. tion of the ecclesiastical primacy of the exposing every need and vouching for following their own renewal as persons papacy. the redemptive vigilance of the Word of and as a community in the Holy Spirit, at Hence, in the midst of my repeated God in the world. Thus, a bishop (as I am Pentecost, is archtypical of the episodes

Copyright bewilderments and multiplying disen- sure many bishops realize) is dialectically reported later on in the book. Acts is, chantments with John Paul, I turn to The positioned between church and world. simply, the chronicle of the confronta- Acts of the Apostles to ascertain what I This is really not a situation of grandeur. tions between the Apostles and the Maybe that is why, too often, where the Apostolic Church and the ruling authori- office of bishop has been rendered gran- ties. The witness and ministrypastorally William Stringfellow is an attorney and diloquent it has lost pastoral integrity of the new Christians is beset by hostil- theologian who lives on Block Island. This for either church or world. ity, harassment, surveillance, arrest, winter and spring he will be staying in New imprisonment, sometimes execution, per- York at the General Theological Seminary, While I name pastoral care as the working on a new book, and teaching at the venerable characteristic of the ministry secution. Over and over again, the story Cathedral Institute of Theology. of a bishop, I trust it is understood that of that experience which composes Acts

13 is, essentially, the same as that which on nuclear reality is a particularly sig- These parallel investigations affecting Peter and John knew in the first reported nificant example. Other bishops, includ- the Archbishop of Seattle (who has re- incident involving the healing of the lame ing some Episcopalians, now repudiate fused to pay taxes for war) and kindred beggar at the gate of the temple called the "just war" sophistry which has so bishops, and the attempts to manipulate Beautiful. benighted Christendom in the West for the governance of the Jesuits. Are these The lame beggar is healed (notice that so long. what they seem to be — attempts to in- the beggar did not seek or ask to be There seems, however, to me to be timidate factions or persons or powers healed, but only that he be given alms or such diffidence on these matters on the within the church who are apt to be conventional worldly charity), and there- part of the incumbent Pontiff as to raise a critical of the Pope and his ambivalent upon the Apostles are arrested. Peter query about whether John Paul—reputed politics? himself asks the rulers why he and John chief pastor of all in both church and It is a melancholy scene that attends have been kept in custody because of "a world — comprehends the inherently John Paul, one in which a politics is good deed done to a cripple." (Acts 4:9) political character of pastoral ministry as practiced that has a kind of anti-pastoral publication. Why should the political authorities take elucidated inActs in incidents like that of emphasis, or in which a pastoral ministry

and offense at that? Why were Peter and John the arrest of Peter and John. is professed which is anti-political. There arrested? And why did a similar fate At the least John Paul appears radically may be no timely remedy for this extra- reuse thereafter meet the pastoral effort of suc- ambivalent. One specific source of dis- ordinary shortcoming or confusion in the for ceeding Apostles? illusionment with his behavior is, on one ministry of John Paul. But I commend, to Peter's question is no conundrum. The hand, his bold and passionate pastoral one and all, that a fit remedy is awaiting authority invoked and deployed in ad- involvement in Poland — and the mani- application. It is in the politics of pastoral required dressing the lame beggar is that of the fold and continuing political ramifications care articulated in The Acts of the resurrection from death. The healing is of that care; coupled, on the other hand, Apostles. • itself a sign of the efficacy of the resur- with his paternalistic and caustic attitude Permission rection. But that is an authority which toward the need for a comparable ministry straightforwardly exposes the impotence and witness in Central America.

DFMS. of the authority of the rulers. Meanwhile, especially on the Ameri- / The authority of the rulers is not only can scene, John Paul sponsors the inter- Remembering helpless against the power of death, it minable suppression of women, particu- Church relies upon death and diverse threats of larly the religious, and exacts "loyalty THE death as its only moral sanction. And so, oaths" favoring male dominance ecclesi- UIITRESS from the earliest experience of the church, astically from nominees to the episcopacy. Episcopal the Apostles are poised against the rulers In that context, his views concerning UNITRUST is a tax-related term the of this world. That is the basic posture in describing a financial arrange-

of both sexuality and sex invite ridicule. To the relationships of church and worldly put it directly, does the Pope seriously ment that gives you substantial regimes. I believe this is a clue to the suppose that scoldings condemning tax advantages.

Archives political character of authentic pastoral masturbation as "a very grave moral dis- It gives THE WITNESS a care, especially as the pastoral ministry order" deflect attention from the oppres- gift—and at the same time guaran- 2020. is vested in the office of bishop. One sion of women or merit more notice and tees you a certain return (up to lesson to be learned from the arrest of effort than the threat of nuclear oblitera- 10%) for your lifetime. Call or Peter and John in consequence of their tion, about which the Pope has been write for additional information Copyright about this and other ways to help care for the beggar and their witness, cautious, if not equivocal? THE WITNESS through be- thus, to the world, is that when bishops Papal utterances concerning the sanc- quests. are most conscientious pastorally they tity of life sound hollow or hypocritical to are apt to be most cogent politically. many people who note the quietness or THE WITNESS Some bishops seem, lately, to return to coyness of the Vatican on Grenada, or El P.O. Box 359 this discernment (after the prolonged Salvador, or, for that matter, Lebanon, Ambler, PA 19002 manipulation of bishops and of the whole or the increasing probabilities of nuclear (215) 643-7067 church via the Constantinian Arrange- calamity. And, to me, most ominous and ment and its derivations). The American alarming are the official Papal inquests Roman Catholic bishops' pastoral letter into some of the women's religious orders.

14 The 100th Monkey by Ken Keyes, Jr.

There is a phenomenon learned this social improvement. Thus, when a certain critical number Td like to tell you about Other adults achieves an awareness, In it may lie kept eating this new awareness our only hope the dirty sweet potatoes. may be communicated of a future Then something startling took place. from mind to mind. for our species. In the autumn of 1958, Although the exact number may vary, Here is the story a certain number of Koshima monkeys the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon publication. of the Hundredth Monkey: were washing sweet potatoes— means that when only and The Japanese monkey, the exact number is not known. a limited number of people Macaca fuscata, know of a new way, reuse Let us suppose for has been observed in the wild that when the sun rose one morning it may remain for a period of over 30 years. there were 99 monkeys the consciousness property In 1952, on Koshima Island of these people. required on the island of Koshima who had learned But there is a point at which scientists were providing monkeys to wash their sweet potatoes. if only one more person with sweet potatoes Let's further suppose tunes-in to a new awareness, Permission dropped in the sand. that later that morning, afield is strengthened The monkeys liked the taste the hundredth monkey so that this awareness

DFMS. of the raw sweet potatoes, reaches almost everyone!

/ learned to wash potatoes. but they found the dirt unpleasant. THEN IT HA PPENED! Your awareness An 18-month-oldfemale is needed Church By that evening named Imo in saving the world almost everyone in the tribe found she could solve the problem from nuclear war. was washing sweet potatoes by washing the potatoes Episcopal before eating them. You may be in a nearby stream. the the "Hundredth Monkey". . . The added energy of She taught this trick You may furnish to her mother. of this hundredth monkey the added consciousness energy Her playmates also somehow created

Archives to create learned this new way an ideological breakthrough! the sacred awareness and they taught their mothers, too. But notice. 2020. The most surprising thing of the urgent necessity This cultural innovation to rapidly achieve was gradually picked up observed by these scientists was that the habit a nuclear-free world. Copyright by various monkeys — Excerpt from "The 100th Monkey" before the eyes of the scientists. of washing sweet potatoes then spontaneously jumped (You can get The 100th Monkey by Between 1952 and 1958, over the sea— Ken Keyes, a short but compelling all the young monkeys Colonies of monkeys book raising consciousness about learned to wash on other islands nuclear disarmament, for the nominal the sandy sweet potatoes and the mainland troop of monkeys cost of $1.50 while supplies last, from to make them more palatable. at Takasakiyama THE WITNESS. Send your prepaid Only the adults began washing order to THE WITNESS, P.O. Box who imitated their children their sweet potatoes! 359, Ambler, PA 19002.)

15 publication. and reuse for We Win the War, Lose required ince our leaders are inclined to mini- there are influential military strategists water supplies for years to come. These S mize the catastrophic nature of and policymakers in Washington who are gargantuan assumptions, but let us Permission nuclear war, it is imperative that we have drawn that very conclusion. make them anyway. repeatedly remind them that no one The belief that no one would survive a What exactly would such a victory

DFMS. could win World War III and that both nuclear war has never actually been bring? A nuclear win against the Soviet / sides would suffer a total devastation. demonstrated — thank God. But never Union would obliterate not only the Yet it is not enough to rest one's desire having been demonstrated, it remains rulers but the ruled of that nation. Some

Church for peace on the argument that war an arguable hypothesis rather than a 260 million human beings, whom on would be mutually destructive. conclusive prohibition in the minds of other days U.S. cold warriors dream of For one thing, the mutual-destruction some. It is an empirical proposition, not liberating from the "Communist yoke,"

Episcopal argument contains the unintentional a moral one; it rests on no moral would now be judged better dead than the but stunning implication that the only stricture, only on crass self-interest. red. We are told that the Soviet people of thing, or most important thing, keeping Hence, those who have a different em- are the innocent captives of the Soviet us from incinerating millions of human pirical view might not feel morally con- system. But to vanquish that system by

Archives beings who inhabit the Soviet Union is strained to reject nuclear war. Indeed, nuclear arms we would have to slaugh- that we too would be destroyed. It starting from the same self-interested ter millions upon millions of unoffend-

2020. implies that if nuclear war were premise, persons in high places have ing men, women and children, obliterate winnable, and the destruction not mutu- calculated that under the right circum- their cities and farmlands, and deva- al, if the Soviets could not retaliate in stances the next war could bring a state and contaminate one-sixth of the

Copyright any seriously damaging way, then a resounding victory over the Soviet earth's surface. nuclear attack might well be an accept- Union, with only "minimal" losses to us. What would it mean to win such a able option at some future time. Indeed, Let us assume they are right. Let us holocaust? How many of us are pre- assume that the United States can win a pared to engage in the greatest mass nuclear war without sustaining millions murder in human history in order to Michael Parentl is an Associate Fellow at the of American casualties and without free the world — or what would be left Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, doing much damage to the ozone layer, of it — of Marxist persuasions (assum- D.C., and the author of Democracy for the Few, now in its fourth edition. Author retains and without contaminating the earth's ing the war would do that)? How many copyright© to this article. atmosphere and the world's food and of us want to demonstrate that Amer-

16 The Lost Ones They wander the streets of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle; every year, a million American kids run away from homes which cannot provide them with the time and the care and the love they need to survive.

For them, the pace gets faster and faster; every day there is more and more pressure in a rat race that never stops; they must earn money for clothes and books, working parents need their help

publication. with household chores and younger siblings; and, if they don't get grades in the top percentlle, and they can't qualify for the scholarships required to admit them to college reuse and save them from sharing the fate for of the untrained and inexperienced Our Souls by Michael Parenti for whom there is no future.

required They buy a ticket ican capitalism has produced a more We who oppose war, therefore, must do to wherever a bus will take them — lethal nuclear delivery system and a better than rest our polemic on an Minnesota Strip or Sunset Strip, in search of new lives Permission more insane leadership than Soviet amoral self-interested, cost-benefit cal- as models or disc jockeys; socialism? culation. they become the prey of hookers and pimps to whom they sell the precious instrument DFMS. In order to win a nuclear war our Nuclear war is to be denounced not / leaders presumably would have to strike only because it is unwinnable but which was intended to provide first. What moral justification could because even if "the enemy" sustains the deepest fusion of two human spirits for a few lousy bucks Church they possibly give to the world for an most or all of the losses, it is the most or a dirty bed in a flophouse. all-out attack? What would they claim horrendous, dreadful act of destruction as a sufficient casus belhl Would it be and murder one could imagine. Even if If they have no funds to buy a ticket Episcopal some unusually rambunctious state- we accept the highly improbable view they wander the streets of their hometown

the ment issued by Moscow? Or informa- that the war would not be suicidal, it on their own private "Highway to Hell";

of they escape from their well of loneliness and pain tion known only to U.S. intelligence would still be monstrously genocidal. A via a freeway overpass, a forgotten hunting rifle, agents that the Soviets were purported- policy that entertains the possibility of or a bottle of aspirin.

Archives ly planning to strike first? Or news that nuclear victory is not only "insane," it is the Red Army was at last rousing itself profoundly evil — even if achievable. The parents who want to help them must carry double workloads 2020. to make that long march into Paris To paraphrase the bishops, in trying to to earn enough for food and rent; which our cold warriors have been save our lives by preparing for World the counselors and crisis centers fearfully anticipating for almost 40 War III, we are in danger of losing our to which they might go

Copyright years? souls. are all victims of Reaganomics There is no moral justification. This is Our opposition to nuclear war and to which supports the Right to Life, the central point recently made by the the nuclear arms race, therefore, should but not the right to live. American Catholic bishops and by re- not rest primarily on calculations about The Highway to Hell is paved ligious leaders of various other denomin- retaliation and survival but on the un- with the souls of these, our kids, ations who maintain that nothing, not yielding, uncompromising, absolute whose lives were considered of less value even victory, can justify an act of moral rejection of mass murder and the than rapid deployment systems genocidal ferocity greater than all of instruments that increase the likelihood and neutron bombs. history's previous atrocities combined. of mass murder. • — Mary Jane Brewster

17 publication. Walesa, and

reuse Socialism for & Christianity required by Jacques Ellul Permission Jacques Ellul is Professor of Law and Jurisprudence at the University of Bor- DFMS.

/ deaux. His most recent books published in the United States include The Betrayal of the West, Apocalypse, The Ethics of Freedom Church and The New Demons. Episcopal the of

Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa

Archives e must understand that Lech The socialism that is being created in Walesa's Solidarity Union is in Poland by Walesa and Solidarity comes

2020. W no way a rejection of socialism, a return out of a Catholic Christianity, deeply to capitalism, a reestablishment of the lived, exacting, determined and capable oourgeoisie. Quite the contrary! Yes, it of self-renewal and confrontation, with a Copyright certainly is anti-Soviet communism; but socialism stripped of its police and its at the same time it is the appearance of a ready-made ideas about economics and new socialism. The widely heralded so- administration. This encounter is not a cialism which starts from the base — pure and simple spontaneity, heeding all with a human face, self-directing, flex- impulses coming from the base. ible, progressive — will certainly not be The base is not "in itself" — the peo- put into practice by the Soviets or by the ple or the proletariat. It does not exist "in renewed, profound Marxist theories itself! It cannot be objectively defined: found throughout the world. it has a past, beliefs, hopes. It lives today

18 following a specific morality. Its "spon- order. But he does this precisely with the capitalism nor communism nor the Third taneity" will differ depending on the goal and perspective that moves to the World. They were both made in com- components it brings to the crisis. On this truth of socialism. He calls into question munist countries: Radovan Richta's in point, I believe that the Catholic Chris- the deviations, lies, and oppressions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Lech tian components explain this remarkable socialism, not socialism itself. That is, Walesa's in Poland in 1980. orientation in Poland toward a new Walesa does not wish to return the prin- In other words, these two methods socialism. cipal means of production to private were created from the harsh communist I believe the role of Christianity — if, control. On the contrary, he wishes those experience, as an attempt to go beyond alas, this were properly understood by involved in production to exercise con- it, to take the greatest advantage of tech- the churches in other nations — provides trol (and not a State and Party admin- nical progress by placing this progress in socialism with the possibility of an evo- istration to replace administration by the service of the most humble and weak, lution which, apart from the Solidarity cartels). He does not wish to reopen the to balance the excess of power by a re- encounter, cannot take place. There is question of the path to social justice. On turn to human values. In the capitalist talk about "Christians for socialism." I the contrary, he emphasizes it by de- world in the past 40 years, absolutely publication. believe there is only one example and manding suppression of the unjust priv- nothing new has been discovered in the and realization of "Christians for socialism": ileges of members of the Party and of the political or economic sphere — neither Lech Walesa and his Solidarity Union. Nomenklatura. the reorganization of society, nor the reuse In France and the World Council of He does not reopen the question of incarnation of Christian values, nor the for Churches, the link, even at times the union power, but he refuses to let the better utilization of science, nor progress identity, between socialism and Chris- union be an organ of the State and admin- toward peace: nothing. required tianity is excessively evident. The op- istration, so that the union can become The two fundamentally new methods posite, I suspect, is the proclamation in again a free association defending the are linked to socialism. In Richta's case, the United States, i.e., the incompati- freedom of workers. He does not reopen an intellectual foundation taking seriously

Permission bility of socialism and Christian faith. the question of socialist planning. On the humanistic values. In the case of Lech Walesa gives us a very important ex- contrary, he demands that planning be Walesa, the foundation is practical syn- ample. Of course, I am not about to truly socialist, that is, that it be based on dicalism and authentic Christian inspir- DFMS. / redefine socialism. I will only point out the real demands of people, and not on ation. that we must not confuse socialism, bureaucratic decisions. Everything he We should think about this. •

Church Marxism, communism and Stalinism. demands corresponds to a truer social- These are four different orientations and ism than that of Stalin. There is nothing The above article is excerpted from conceptions, and no single one necessar- anti-Christian in all this. "Lech Walesa and the Social Force of

Episcopal ily implies the others. I am speaking of Moreover, Christians must consider Christianity" by Jacques Ellul in the 1982 summer supplement of Katal- the socialism. the following: In the past 40 years, only of What is essential to me is that we see two attempts with genuinely new meth- lagete, with permission of the editors. in Solidarity an encounter, if not a union, ods sought to get the world out of its Copyright by Katallagete, Inc. between Walesa's socialism and what impasse (and not to resolve the economic Archives would seem to be in this respect the crisis — the situation is much graver!), to

2020. harshest, most irreconcilable, most in- find a new way which belongs neither to transigent form of Christianity: Roman Catholicism in Poland. Then the ques-

Copyright tions: Could Walesa be a bad Christian? On the contrary, his behavior repre- sented a lived Christian faith. Is he a bad Catholic? The Pope himself gave Walesa his total approval, blessed him, and de- clared him to be in the right. Is Walesa a bad socialist? He is cer- tainly an anti-Stalinist. He seeks to destroy the hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, police-ridden communist

19 Scripture ... Continued from page 11

to believe that the eternal Word is in any sense peculiarly male apart from the fleeting moment of the incarnation; nevertheless, "Jesus, the Son of God" so readily turns into "Jesus, God the Son" that theologians and laity alike identify the second person as a glorified version of the man who was born of Mary. Barbara McClintock, 81, was awarded the Nobel Prize recently for her pio- Since the doctrine of the Trinity is neering research in medicine. Dr. post-biblical, the most that can be done McCllntock's work In the corn fields to rectify this misconception through and in her laboratory in Cold Spring the lectionary is to emphasize the signif- Harbor, N.Y., moved the medical pro- publication. fession along toward solving riddles icant aspect of the incarnation — that and about virus-transmitted diseases, resis- the Word became human — and let it tant bacteria and cancer. stand as merely incidental that the par- reuse ticular form of human flesh was male. for This is, again, not revision, but the stric- test fundamentalism. Nothing in the canonical record of Jesus's life and min- required istry, except his circumcision, depends upon his masculinity. Both of the inclusive-language lec- Permission tionaries now available do an excellent Nobel Woman job of restoring what visibility is possi- DFMS. / For Dr. Barbara McClintock ble to female characters in the biblical drama. The editors of Hearing the Word, however, have approached the theolog- Church Your winter words and no one believed them ical problem with such caution and cir- staggered the world: because no one could imagine life changes before the egg! what had never been dreamed cumspection that the result is hardly noticeable. Pronouns are avoided to a

Episcopal before, until the news media No amount of lack of interest began to spread the Word great extent with reference to God, and the or neglect stopped you and a few accredited committees of "Son of Man" becomes "Chosen One"; from your job of smiling over verified it: What the woman says "Son of God" remains, however, as do the miracle in your yard, is true! Maize does produce the stunning erotics of poetry spontaneous genetic changes most of the references to God as "Father." Archives hidden by sheer commonness: and Christ is risen indeed! Those who are concerned about the dangers of macho theology can find sig- 2020. the double helix surprise And so we are encouraged nificant comfort only in the NCC's ver- of something new, an ear by our elders to go on sion, An Inclusive Language Lectionary. of corn deciding on variation telling in tongues of fire Here alone can be found "God the

Copyright within itself — what happens in secret cornfields at night and what unheard of Mother and Father" and Jesus, the you listened to grain grow, wonders visit our gardens at dawn "Child of God." The selections are, you watched, you told and call our names unfortunately for us, not precisely those what you saw over time, and tell us to weep no more. of the Episcopal lectionary. They coin- you amazed us with your maize, cide at many points, however — to per- — Alia Bozarth-Campbell you spoke a new tongue, mit extensive trial use in congregations like the women who saw which are sufficiently feminine in their the Resurrection and told orientation to value the spirit of the what the Angel said Gospel above the legalism of the canons.

20 publication. and In Celebration of Commitment reuse by Robert Cromey for

arriage is not a celebration of excitement with each other that they felt honesty about the emotional stuff that required M love; it is a celebration of commit- when they were first in love? happens between people. ment. Love is a basic ingredient in Yes, indeed. I think faithful monoga- Faithful monogamy must be nour- marriage. But the reason for getting my is absolutely essential to marriage ished by an open and full sexuality. In

Permission married is to make commitment public. and to committed relationships. Yes, the old Prayer Book, the couple vowed, It is the agreement to be faithful, people can try open marriages and rela- "With my body I thee wed." And that monogamous, and to be with the part- tionships. Yes, people can experiment free sexuality is a sacrament of the inner DFMS.

/ ner in sickness and in health for a with other partners for sexual and per- grace and peace that comes to a couple lifetime. sonal pleasure. Many people in our who really deeply care about each other.

Church Commitment is a rational act. It is the society do just that. Unfortunately, it Faithful monogamy is nourished by willing, free choice of a person to be just doesn't work. It might work for a constant expressions of appreciation, committed to another person. Love is time. It might last a year or two. Or respect and love, not just once in a

Episcopal not rational. It is an emotion. It is three. Or four. But something will soon while, but regularly, constantly. Each

the flecked with highs and lows. It is give. Either the marriage will break up partner must tell the other what he or of mercurial, full of passion and pain. or the outside relationships will end. It she likes and appreciates. Out of that Commitment is rational. It is a reason- sounds rational and possible to main- great well of love and appreciation will able statement and promise and pledge tain relationships where there are other come the capacity to be even more Archives that two people make to each other. partners. But my experience, both as a honest about resentments and troubles. priest and as a therapist, having talked

2020. Commitment is not bondage. Commit- Julia Poppy, a good friend, has a ment, when entered into willingly and to hundreds of couples, is that it just wonderful line. She says that she be- freely, brings great freedom and peace. doesn't work to try to be in a deep comes all women to her husband, and relationship without the commitment of Copyright Is it reasonable to think that in our her husband becomes all men to her. life and time faithful monogamy can faithful monogamy. And when people get that notion and work? Isn't it an old-fashioned notion? Monogamy needs help. It must be live from that point of view, there is the Can people in a faithful monogamous nurtured by a radical, complete open- possibility for true faithful monogamy. relationship keep up the interest and the ness and honesty. The couple must be Well, what happens when one person willing to share with each other their is attracted sexually to another person? dreams, their fantasies, their emotions, The first thing to do is to talk about it their resentments, and their demands in immediately to the married partner. The Rev. Robert Warren Cromey is an Episco- pal priest-counselor and rector of Trinity considerable detail. It is not just an Radical openness and honesty is to tell Church, San Francisco. honesty about the facts of life. It is an that partner "Yes, indeed, I am attracted

21 to Sam or Sally, and yes, while I am Letters... Continued from page 2 On Yielding Sovereignty sexually attracted, I choose not to do anything about it. I renew again my vow Although there were those who did Near the end of last year, I, along with to be faithful and monogamous with try to hit me with their flack of criticism, millions of others, watched "The Day After" and the panel discussion which you." One must be able to talk about I am buoyed by the greater number of people I have since come into contact followed. I was terrified — not by the sexual attraction in some detail with his movie which depicted scenes far less or her partner. And the partner must be with who are supportive of my action and who have a deep and abiding con- frightening than those I've imagined, able to listen and to understand without but rather by the paucity of hope offered judging the feelings of attraction. Those cern with the Reagan Administration's policy toward Latin America as a whole. by the panel which contained a good feelings are absolutely natural and The Army, however, views things representation of this country's most normal in life. When they can be ac- differently. I was informed in my "exit respected opinion-makers. The least dread- knowledged and shared, then the per- briefing" that despite my 13 years of ful vision was offered by Robert son who feels them can turn to his or her honorable service, two Meritorius Ser- McNamara who felt that a reduction partner and say, "Yes, I have these vice Medals, Army Commendation from 40,000 to 20,000 nuclear weapons publication. feelings, but I am not going to act on Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal during the next decade might be possi- ble. My God!! That reduces the number and them." And the full monogamy is and a couple of other awards, my offi- cial files are now flagged and I am to only (insert your guess) times affirmed. that's needed to destroy the world. reuse Persons in any committed relation- categorized as "disloyal." Well, I expected for ship are one body with their partners. that, and if speaking with a conscience is In many disciplines, we learn that when a problem appears insolvable, it's And yet they are separate. They are disloyalty, then so be it. I intend to continue. time to re-examine the assumptions. required close, yet free. Being one yet separate is Although not explicitly stated, all of the a dynamic tension that exists in a Peter Fox Billings, Mont. "unacceptable" solutions are based on marriage. Learning how to do this is one the assumption that no nation will relin- of the challenges of a committed re- quish its sovereignty to a higher author- Permission lationship. An Aid to Hope ity. It is axiomatic that, in such an When persons have a full commit- Your December WITNESS is worth the environment, each nation must protect

DFMS. itself against aggression to the best of its / ment to another person, they grow, are total price of a year's subscription. I am enhanced, flower and blossom. And an 80-year-old Unitarian Universalist, ability. And, when potential enemies they can change, often for the better. and do not expect to live much longer, distrust one another, an arms race is Church That certainly is one of the wondrous but THE WITNESS helps me to hope inevitable. It must be remembered that for a better world. every arms race in the history of man- by-products of a full committed relation- kind has ended in war. Lynette Colbert

Episcopal ship. Finally it is important to say a word Arcata, Cal. In this nuclear age, when war is no the longer an acceptable means of resolving of to those who are not in committed conflict, the root cause of war, national relationships. Not all people are called Children's House Excels sovereignty, must be eliminated, and a to that state at any given time in their Thank you for the December issue of supreme world government established. Archives lives. Sometimes we go through life- THE WITNESS which included the On a lesser scale, our founding fathers long periods where that kind of relation- excellent article, "Who's Minding the realized this when they replaced a weak 2020. ship or commitment is not available to Children?," by Connie Myer. confederation of sovereign states with us. Perhaps we are not ready. Perhaps We are most appreciative of this high- our present form of government. It's we have not met the right person. People lighting of the church's role in child time now to move this thought process Copyright should not feel bad because they are not care, a role which has tremendous impli- up a level, i.e. to sovereign nations. in that kind of relationship. That may cations for the church as well as the We tried it after World War I. The not be what they are called to be. nation at large. The Episcopal Church threat was not real enough, particularly may well be proud of the Children's to the United States whose failure to But those of us who are called to be in House, one of our demonstration pro- join essentially killed the League of a committed relationship must take jects and the boxed focus of the article. Nations. seriously the issue of full, faithful It is indeed a significant ministry. We tried again after World War II. monogamy as a joyous and wonderful June R. Rogers This time we, and only we, had the way to be in the world. Commitment Child Advocacy Office bomb and our insistence on a veto in the needs celebration. • National Council of Churches United Nations, to insure that that body

22 could not dictate to us, doomed that experiment to failure. What Will It Take to Prevent Now with two super-powers — each with the power to destroy the world — Nuclear War? and at least four other nations in the "atomic club," yielding national sover- It Will Take People! eignty is no longer unthinkable — indeed, our only hope of survival lies in a world • prophet-people who dare to lay bare the fallicies that choke government with the power to resolve and blind us even if we cannot hear their words nor dream international conflicts through a rule of their dreams; law. • parent-people who look with love at the work of their crea- Donald L. Pike tion and refuse to leave their children only a heritage of Santa Barbara, Cal. destruction; publication. Different View Helpful • nurture-people who grow plants and feed birds and pick up dirt from the earth and love what is great, fresh and and Thank you for your witness. Your arti- growing; cles on Central America are especially reuse important. It helps to have facts and • healing-people whose hands touch others into life and for different viewpoints when talking about well-being, struggling always against the forces of death; that area. Robert and Jean Wagner required • poet-people who call us beyond where we are, point to the Chapel Hill, N.C. lastingness of life, the folly of choosing death ever;

• fun-people who lift up and lighten and laugh others into

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Copyright skills and principles of organizing. The • little-people who don't know themselves as special but who Institute has a working relationship are in truth the 'salt of the earth,' feeding and clothing and with ACORN, the nation's largest organi- housing the human family from one end of day to the next. zation of low to moderate income fami- lies (over 80,000 family members in 27 WE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO WILL PREVENT NUCLEAR WAR states). AND WE ARE ON THE MARCH! For information contact: Institute for Social Justice, 4415 San Jacinto, Dallas, Jane, Blewett, Center Focus TX 75204 Center of Concern Terry B. Thompson Washington, D.C. Dallas, Tex.

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