9/15/02

Blessed are you among women...

On Labor Day, I was in Los Angeles for the dedication of the new cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The first cathedral in this country in Baltimore was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption. The first U.S. cathedral and the most recent U.S. cathedral, one on each coast of the country, are both dedicated to Mary, as is the country itself, under her title of the Immaculate Conception.

In his letter for the occasion of the cathedral’s dedication, Pope John Paul II wrote to Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, that the call to be holy (cf. Romans 1:7) is “the clarion call of the Church in every age, and especially so at the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium... The call to holiness is addressed not just to a select few, but to all. In striving to respond to this call to love God and to do his will, we embark upon ‘a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications’ (Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 33). On this journey, we have no greater model and advocate than our Lord’s own beloved Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary...”

The Church understands herself in terms of holiness; the world understands the Church in terms of power. Nowhere is this contrast of understandings more evident than when speaking about women in the Church. This local Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago, is blessed by women and men dedicated to the pursuit of holiness.

Among women, we should note especially those who are gathered into contemplative communities. We need to make an effort to notice them, because their way of life is designed not to draw attention to themselves. There are three communities of contemplative Sisters in the Archdiocese. In the north, in Des Plaines, the Discalced Carmelite nuns live in quiet contemplation and in active prayer for the needs of all of us. In the center of the city, the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity live in St. Procopius parish. In the south, the Poor Clares are temporarily living in the convent of St. Symphorosa parish and slowly collecting the funds necessary to build their monastery in Lemont, near the Holy Family Villa. These contemplative and cloistered Franciscan Sisters have a spiritual vigor which brings joy to their hearts and to the lives of all who seek them out. They need funds to complete their monastery, and donations can be sent to Sister M. Teresita, P.C.; 6119 S. Austin; Chicago, IL 60638. I am particularly eager to see this work completed so that a contemplative convent of religious women will exist in each area of the Archdiocese.

Women dedicated to the life of contemplative prayer are joined in our Archdiocese by many thousands of women whose good works, along with their prayers, build up the Church. The Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women (ACCW) is the umbrella organization which represents women gathered into many different Catholic societies and clubs, women, married and single, who give of themselves “to support, empower and educate all Catholic women in spirituality, leadership and service” and to “respond...to the needs of the Church and society in the modern world.”

The ACCW (an affiliate of the National Council of Catholic Women) has commissions on family, the Church, community and international concerns. These cover a full gamut of efforts around family welfare, child and parent education, religion in the home, the care of the environment, personal and public health, aging and economic policies. In training its own members to lead and in dialogue with others, the ACCW and its leadership make this a living Church, better able to sustain all Catholics on the path to holiness.

In the governance of this local Church, the Archdiocesan Women’s Committee is part of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Since its formation almost three years ago, the Committee surfaces and presents issues of concern to women. It advises me on women and society, most recently with a substantial report on domestic violence. The findings and research were given to the Presbyteral Council. Its implementation is still being worked out, along with recommendations for publishing a book of essays and prayers for peace written by Catholic women here. It advises me as well on women in the Church. Many of their initiatives will come together in a “women’s track” at the Archdiocesan Festival of Faith to be held at Navy Pier next year.

Since the Church herself is described as a woman, as virgin, bride and mother, she recognizes God’s call to some women to consecrate themselves publicly as virgins so that the Church’s relationship to Christ may become visible for all. The consecration of virgins attached to a diocese rather than to a religious community is an ancient practice that was given new life after the Second Vatican Council. In the liturgical rite of consecration, always conducted by a bishop, a woman pledges perpetual virginity before God and is set aside as a sacred person who belongs to Christ alone. As the Church belongs only to Christ, the consecrated virgin is a living image of the Church’s love for Christ, her Spouse. The consecrated virgin is not a member of a religious community, although she lives an intensive life of personal prayer. The bishop of the diocese is her guide and she is responsible to him. She has a special responsibility to pray for the priests of the diocese. In making visible the Church’s love for Christ, the consecrated virgin is, in a certain sense, the female counterpart or opposite number of a diocesan priest, whose vocation makes visible Christ’s love for his Church. The Archdiocese now has three candidates for this consecration.

Pope John Paul II has spoken of a “new feminism” which will respect the nature of women as well as each woman personally. This vision goes beyond and beneath contemporary feminism’s designation of nature as a patriarchal construct, designed to oppress women. The freedom that Christ brings is for all human beings, both women and men; but many issues have still to be worked out theoretically and practically. Pope Paul VI wrote in 1976: “The Church desires that women should become fully aware of the greatness of their mission; today this role is of capital importance both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church.”

Christian freedom is found in relationship to Christ himself, not in autonomy or individual independence. Identifying the sources of enslavement today is part of the discernment of spirits which marks our quest for holiness. In this quest, we are always together, men and women, bishop and people. We are nowhere more together than in prayer with and to the Mother of our Lord. May Mary, especially in the difficulties of these days, keep us close to Jesus and, in him, to one another. God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

Top

Back to Archive 2002