I just found this wonderful article on Women Peacemaking and the Church by Father Dear, thanks to Jan who mentioned the article on her blog Yearning for God It reminded me of a book I read many years ago written in 1970s by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Tournier called The Gift of Feeling, in which he reflects on what the world would look like if women found their true place. At one point he comments “If women dared to be themselves, to realize their special mission and if their influence increased, would our society become more humane?”
Father Dear writes in his article:
“Women are the peacemakers. The world will not achieve peace without the energy and the work of women.” So writes Dolores Huerta of the United Farmworkers. Gandhi said the same thing in 1947: “Women are the natural messengers of the gospel of nonviolence, if only they will realize their high estate…. It is for American women to show what power women can be in the world. You can become a power for peace by refusing to be carried away by the flood-tide of the pseudo-science glorifying self-indulgence that is engulfing the West today and apply your minds instead to the science of nonviolence…. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with women.” Read more
Filed under: Christianity, gender issues, Peace, Religion, shalom Tagged: | Christianity, Peace, Religion, women
Christine, I’m glad you linked and wrote about Fr. Dear, though when I heard him speak, he said he preferred “Fr. John.”
[...] real life was not terribly effective. I had that thought as a result of reading the following on GodSpace, the blog of Christine Sine: It reminded me of a book I read many years ago written in 1970s by [...]