Women's
Great Defender
Interview With Early Church History Scholar
By Miriam Díez i Bosch
MADRID, Spain, APRIL 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Church
has defended the dignity of woman ever since Christ
founded it, affirmed a scholar on the role of women in
early Christianity.
Father Fernando Rivas Rebaque, from the Diocese of
Getafe in Spain, spoke with ZENIT about why women's
roles in early Christianity are little-known and the
challenge the Church faces regarding the promotion of
women today.
Father Rivas specifies three types of female protagonist
roles within the Church in his book "Desterradas hijas
de Eva. Protagonismo y marginación de la mujer en el
cristianismo primitivo" (Banished Daughters of Eve: The
Protagonist Roles and Marginalization of Women in Early
Christianity).
Q: Perpetua, Felicity, Blandine, Melanie the Younger --
why do so few people remember the roles of these women
as protagonists in the Church?
Father Rivas: Very few people remember these women of
the early Church because history, in general, and that
of the Church, in particular, focuses preferentially on
the great events that "changed" history -- wars, reigns,
leaders -- and tends to forget daily life, the events
that make up the existence of every day.
This means, concretely, that the history of the Church
tends to be the history of Popes, bishops, leaders,
saints and theologians who have "marked" the life of the
Church, leaving forgotten or underappreciated the other
people, laypeople in the first place, more so if they
are women, due to their reduced possibilities of social
influence.
Only a few women who exhibited particularly outstanding
behavior in one field or another passed into the memory
of history.
Q: In what spheres did feminine protagonists stand out
in the early Church?
Father Rivas: Women's protagonist roles in the early
Church varied according to historical times and places.
Summarizing them, it may be said that there are three
types of protagonist roles common to all periods and
regions: that of ascetics, expressed mainly in virginity
and monasticism, that of martyrdom, and that concerning
the role of wealthy benefactors of the community, very
highly appreciated in the Church.
Furthermore, a type of protagonist role that developed
considerably in the Eastern world is that of
deaconesses, which did not have a counterpart in the
Western world.
Q: Are women gaining visibility in ecclesial spheres?
Father Rivas: To begin with, one would have to
distinguish between visibility, protagonist roles,
authority and power.
Christian women are present and visible in everyday
ecclesial spheres -- celebrations, groups, activities.
What's more, I would say that, in these cases, they are
not only a majority but, in some cases, practically the
only visible component.
On the other hand, in the measure that we go climbing
the ladder of directors, the presence and protagonist
roles of the woman remain practically reduced to a few
ecclesial spheres -- despite the fact that they could
enter into posts that are not united to ministerial
[roles] -- to the point of practically disappearing in
ecclesial cupolas.
This situation is far more worrying because it grows
increasingly distant from what is occurring in the
social field, where women's visibility, presence,
protagonist roles and power are daily on the rise.
Q: However, the Holy Father has recently denounced macho
attitudes and the vulnerability of many women who suffer
just for the fact of being women. What concrete action
is the Church undertaking to counteract this?
Father Rivas: The Church has struggled for women's
dignity ever since its origin because it has united
salvation to a personal and nontransferable option made
by each human being in relation to God and neighbor.
In this way, it broke away from other religious patterns
in which the ethnic-racial, national, class, gender, or
cultural factor was important, and has forced a sphere
of fundamental equality between men and women.
Moreover, the Church shows a marked preference or option
for the poor, which in many cases enables it to come in
contact with the world of women, many of whom are
victims of this condition; this has given rise to a
number of institutions, resources and measures in favor
of people in need, among which women have been and are a
majority.
The Church has even empowered women's participation in
many spheres of protagonist roles -- ascetism,
education, associations, relationships -- in which women
have been able to show the best of themselves, without
restricting themselves to the domestic sphere.
This does not change the fact that in every case, the
dominant culture, marked in great measure by patriarchal
tints, has colored many of her expressions.
More specifically, and within the spheres of my everyday
life, which are the parish of a working neighborhood and
the university, the Church has enabled many women to
attain levels of knowledge, relationships, activities,
and protagonist roles higher than those of the majority
of institutions they find around them.
[It] serves as a platform for the great majority of
women who have come into contact with the parish or the
university, [enabling] their personal development and
their progress as believers.
