Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective
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Pagans over at the Wild Hunt Blog have been celebrating suggestions that the Pope may be moving towards officially recognizing Mary as co-redemptrix. Even if this is true I think their celebrations may be premature if they think this is equivalent to a shift towards feminism. If anything the Papal line against feminism seems to have hardened in recent years. Personally I see this as a way of controlling and domesticating feminist impulses within the Catholic Church.
In fact, having reflected on this further I would like to say a few more things. Firstly, in relabelling the Virgin Mary as co-redemptrix without relabelling Jesus as co-redemptrix, nothing has changed in terms of gender subordination issues. On the contrary, this co-redemptrix teaching projects gender subordination into the heavens.
Also, consider that some Catholic feminists have been highly critical of co-redemptrix teaching: Rosemary Radford Ruether has said, “it is churches with a high Mariology which are most negative to women. It is the Protestant churches without Mariology which ordain women … Mariology, as it is used by clergy, seems antithetical to the liberation of women.”
Reference – http://books.google.com.au/books?id=H1XZ-2l84AwC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=Rosemary+Radford+Ruether+mariology&source=bl&ots=NJaVW_oCy-&sig=cpfxiDoQwc0_3pwX1GuMT7ygfNo&hl=en&ei=6dogSoHoD9eBkQWq7Pj8BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7
In summary, I am inclined to suspect that Marian co-redemptrix theology may well be PATRIARCHY BY STEALTH. Feminists, if the Pope is warming towards it you should be more suspicious. If you want a feminist hero, I suggest looking towards Mary of Bethany instead. Not divine but a disciple worth imitating.
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Matt,
Thanks so much for this blog. I look forward to using some pics from your website in sunday school etc. when I teach.
However, I am a bit sad you do not understand ‘co-redemtrix.’ As a convert from Protestantism to Catholicism and someone who understands the difference, I must state it seems to me that you do not understand the term.
I invite you to read this article to get a better perspective.
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2007/0712fea1.asp
If interested, I can provide you with some more articles to expand the explanation.
Thanks,
John
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John
Understand that I wasn’t even attempting to give a comprehensive assessment of Catholic coredemptrix teaching in my above comments; that my interest in coredemptrix teaching is limited, for the most part, to what goddess worshipping neopagans have said about it.
What neopagans are looking for is a suggestion that Catholics are ready to elevate Mary to the same status as Jesus, to the same status of full divinity. I am merely pointing out they are in for a dissappointment if they think the Pope is about to turn her into a goddess. I don’t think too many Catholics would disagree with me on that.
What neopagans are also looking for beyond this is a suggestion that Catholics are ready to grant women the same functions as men in the church, that Rome is ready to ordain women as priestesses, to ordain women as Popes. The neopagans commenting on this seemed to think that formal adoption of coredemptix teaching by the Pope would somehow be a move towards this. I can see why Pagans would think this, but again, I think neopagans are in for a dissappointment if they think that’s the case. I don’t think that’s Pope Benedict’s intention in the slightest. Would many Catholic’s disagree with this assessment of Benedict?
If my interests were more ecumenical I may have worded this differently. As a former Catholic myself I am aware that Catholics draw a distinction between worship and devotion, that Mary and the saints are only offered devotion, that worship is reserved for the Trinity. I am aware that coredemptrix teaching doesn’t impinge on this. So, while I think Catholics over-honour Mary, I have no concerns that they’re about to break out into unrestrained polytheism. But that being said, I think coredemptrix language is absolutely awful if ecumenism between Protestants and Catholics is in any way a concern for Catholics. It could hardly be worse if they were deliberately baiting. The term invites misunderstanding by outsiders.
As for my comments on feminism in relation to high and low Mariologies, note that I was referencing Catholics for the most part. And even if I am proven wrong, even if churches with high Mariologies prove more open to women’s ordination than I give them credit, at the very least I could still say that high Mariologies are “unnecessary” for gender equality, demonstratably so, simply by citing my ordained female friends. And that statement alone blows apart the Neopagan reading of the situation.
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