Catholic New World: The Interview

Teaching about women like ‘raising the dead’

Judy Logue has journeyed with women from Christian history for years as she has walked her own spiritual path. From the well-known, such as Eve and Mary Magdalene, to the more obscure, such as Priscilla and St. Hildegarde, Logue has found women believers to be role models and exemplars of the Christian life. The tragedy is, she said, that more people don’t know about them.

Logue, director of lay formation at Catholic Theological Union. will resurrect some of their stories in “Raising the Dead: Women Leaders throughout Christian History” May 3 at the final spring installment of “Tea at Techny.”

She discussed her topic with staff writer Michelle Martin.

The Catholic New World: How did you choose your title, “Raising the Dead”?

Judy Logue: I saw it in a book somewhere and I thought it was a good title for what I’d like to do, to raise the consciousness of women about our history, and the people in our history, our foremothers and our foresisters, if that’s a word. I think we’re pretty ignorant of our history in general, but particularly about women, because they are not written about.

Women in ministry have always been present. Their history kind of gets mixed in with the total history, and I am going to say, look at these gals.

TCNW: Who will you talk about?

JL: I’m going to start with Eve, simply because I think she’s kind of gotten a bad rap. It’s the interpretation of Eve as the source of all sin that has been detrimental for women. I want to spin the interpretation around a little so that we don’t end up as the source of all sin. ... Then we’ve got these wonderful matriarchs, and I use the term loosely, who were the wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, named Sarah, Rebekah and Leah and Rachel—they’re just great gals. Again it’s prehistory, but its wonderful stories of barren women who gave birth to sons and carried on God’s promise to Abraham.

There were prophetesses in the Old Testament. There were the judges of Israel early on, and certainly one was a woman. People don’t know that.

TCNW: Why don’t people know about the women in the Bible?

JL: We don’t read it. Catholics early on were discouraged from reading the Bible because they might misinterpret it. So we don’t read it, and homilies aren’t necessarily given on the women in the Bible, for whatever reason. I don’t think it’s a deliberate exclusion, but that’s not a popular subject to preach on.

There are so many. I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I’m going to leave somebody’s favorite out, I know.

TCNW: Who’s your favorite?

JL: Probably the one I am most familiar with is Martha of Bethany, because I did retreats early on that I called “Martha retreats” for women who are busy about many things. She’s good too, and she kind of gets a bad rap. …If you dwell on that Scripture long enough, it makes you mad, because it appears that Jesus is scolding her, and who’s going to do the damn work if she doesn’t.

TCNW: Does your talk go beyond the women of the Bible?

JL: The history of women in ministry is phenomenal. We have all these women in early history, the mystics, the abbesses. The abbesses are phenomenal. They are these women who saw a need and got it done. St. Louise de Marillac was a close associate of St. Vincent de Paul. She got out there on the streets in Paris and started helping the poor and the sick and other women joined her and they had a whole movement going. This is all throughout history. Women saw a need, banded together and got things done. Social justice, a lot of social justice.

TCNW: Do you see the social justice legacy carried on in the women’s religious communities of today? Do you see similar role models?

JL: Oh, yeah. The women religious of the 18th and 19th century in the United States—the nuns all came over here and they taught all the children and they opened all the hospitals. It was amazing what these women did. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the women religious. They were missionaries. They were martyrs. …

Patty Crowley just died, and there’s another woman … she and her husband started CFM, and she went on after her husband died. He died quite young. Dorothy Day, Jean Donovan, the laywoman who was murdered in El Salvador, one of the four.

TCNW: What are some of the qualities you see in women in religious history? What do they bring to the table?

JL: They bring a vision of how things could be better. And the courage to go out and get it done. Men have this also, certainly, but women are on the sidelines or in the background. And often you can see things and observe what’s going on when you aren’t in the forefront. People in the margins often have a lot to say that people in the center of the activity don’t really realize.

TCNW: How do you think things would be different if everybody did know these stories?

JL: I suspect that women would feel pride, take pride in their history, take pride in their accomplishments. Maybe there would be other kinds of leadership; I don’t know. If they knew how active women have been in church ministry throughout all of history, they might be more active. They would have the courage, or the inspiration or the opportunity to be more active. ... I think there needs to be a change in decision-making.

Logue will speak at Tea at Techny from 4:30-5:30 p.m. May 3 at the Divine Word Mission Center, 1835 N. Waukegan Road, Techny. Cost is $20 per person, with all proceeds going to women’s needs in Divine Word missions. Call (847) 272-7600 for reservations or information.

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