Sister Dorothy Ettling's Prophetic Worldview

Sister Dorothy Ettling (1940-2014)

Sister Dorothy Ettling, Sr. Dot, became a transformative educator. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, entered Incarnate Word Convent in San Antonio when she was 18, took vows at 21, and ministered in orphanages and schools from 1961 to 1974 in Dallas, TX; El Paso, TX; and Old Mines, MO. She had earned an MSW at Worden School of Social Work at Our Lady of the Lake College.  

The Second Vatican Council 1962-65, was a major event in the Catholic Church that shifted emphasis from clergy as the main part of the church to the people of God, all united through baptism.  Religious congregations were called to renewal. The Incarnate Word Sisters took this call to conversion seriously and had a Renewal Team from 1974 to 1978. Sr. Dot was among the six sisters who were to help all learn to communicate and transform power structures. That team went around in a station wagon from convent to convent, from country to country. They invited each sister to listen on a deeper level, to get in touch with her own story, to share her story, and to listen to each other stories. As we know ourselves, as we know others, as we overcome fear, we can work to transform power dynamics. This is an ongoing unfinished process.

 In 1978, she was elected to the sisters’ leadership team and from 1984 to 1990, she led the team.  The congregation had about 700 members at that time. As a part of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, she influenced Sisters in many parts of the U.S. in renewal after the Second Vatican Council that brought greater service to people. When she was being interviewed in 1987, she said, “Today we are closer to the people and our orientation leads us to concern ourselves more with social justice and to defend their rights. Among us [the sisters] our relations  have changed  also. We live more by collegiality and the sharing of responsibility, something that has not always been understood by the Roman Congregation [formal Roman Catholic clergy in the Vatican].”   (Ettling, French article, 1987, CCVI Archives) She was always aware of the most vulnerable.

 After congregational leadership, instead of returning to social work, she focused on getting a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University, Menlo Park, CA, and facilitating change. In the late 1990’s she joined the Education faculty at Incarnate Word. In this “third career,”  she perceived education as the best way for her to promote individual transformation and systemic change.  

Many kinds of work are needed, but at this time in the history of world transformative education is particularly important.  The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals , the Charter for Compassion, and Pope Francis’ document on “Out Common Home,” Laudato Si are all meant to be transformative education inviting us to new realities. Women's studies are a part of this. 

Dr. Alfredo Ortiz notes: Sister Dot’s participatory worldview provides a deep philosophy for participatory and action research.:   “Openness to cosmic awareness is the capacity for ongoing critical reflection on one's own deeply held beliefs within an evolutionary consciousness. It calls us to recognize not only the multiple worldviews in a global community but also the possibility of rediscovering reality in the paradigm of a participatory universe. This capacity may challenge us to rethink the meanings of development and participation. It will most likely entail a stretch in our thinking and in our teaching so a new intellectual basis in transformative education can collaboratively emerge”.    (from  Ethical demands of transformative learning )

Sr. Dorothy had written “At its core, the mission is about  transforming us from VIEWERS of a disconnected and conflicted international reality, to PARTICIPANTS in creating a more interconnected and responsive global community."   

Background of Sister Dorothy's work 

A group of immigrant women strongly committed to solidarity with God’s global family responded to needs and formed relationships in 1869. Over the years the women institutionalized more and more, eventually being central animators in both educational and health care institutions.  As they received accreditation to be a junior college in 1919 and soon a full college, they emphasized equity in education. The Incarnate Word Sisters’ constitutional idea to “promote human dignity” has prompted them to an underlying commitment to systemic change.  For a period of years the largest number of Hispanic women who earned Ph.D. came from Incarnate Word College and Our Lady of the Lake College.  When UIW firmly established Ph.D. programs, a large number of Black women earned them.

Following this trajectory of emphasis on systemic change in society, institutions, and in education, in the early 2000’s UIW faculty brainstormed with Sr. Dorothy Ettling how to create a more just world. Both males and females involved defined and committed themselves to women and children as the more vulnerable in the world. Women’s Global Connection was founded and since 2003 has extensively promoted education and research that could transform unjust systems. WGC hosted two major research conferences. The website of WGC shows some of the research with links to dissertations and extensive articles.  

Capacity Building https://www.womensglobalconnection.org/research/capacity-building/  Early Childhood and Girls https://www.womensglobalconnection.org/research/early-childhood/    Microfinance for Women’s Economic Empowerment https://www.womensglobalconnection.org/research/microfinance/  Nutrition and Health: Agriculture, Food Security, Clean Water Access  https://www.womensglobalconnection.org/research/nutrition-and-health/    Current faculty in Humanities, Business, Nutrition, and Health Care have been involved in research, traveling, and presenting in conjunction with WGC. 

Dr. Kevin Vichcales and Sr. Dorothy co-edited a book Reach Out Africa: Studies in Community Empowerment, Sustainable Development, and Cross-Cultural Engagement. Unfortunately she died before the final release of the book. 

Worldview of Sister Dorothy Ettling as revealed in some of her professional writings

These can be found by searching the UIW library resources using her name:

 Improving Teaching Through A Community of Practice

Herbers, M. Sharon ; Antelo, Absael ; Ettling, Dorothy ; Buck, M. Alison

Journal of Transformative Education, 2011-04, Vol.9 (2), p.89-108

 Reach out Africa : studies in community empowerment, sustainable development, and cross-cultural engagement

Dorothy H. Ettling editor.; Kevin B. Vichcales 2014

 Ethical demands of transformative learning

Ettling, Dorothy

New directions for adult and continuing education, 2006-03, Vol.2006 (109), p.59-67

 Teaching for change : fostering transformative learning in the classroom

Series: New directions for adult and continuing education, no. 109

Edward W Taylor 2006

 Learning toward an ecological consciousness : selected transformative practices

Edmund O'Sullivan 1938-; Marilyn M Taylor 2004

 Learning to learn: women creating learning communities

Ettling, Dorothy ; Hayes, Neomi

ReVision (Cambridge, Mass.), 1997-06-22, Vol.20 (1), p.28

 ... and collaborating with women who want to become change agents in their own lives. Building on previous studies where women shared their stories of personal change (Ettling 1994...

 The Joy of Learning: A Case Study of a Transformative Educator and Activist

Buck, M. Alison ; Mercer, Wanita N ; St. Clair, Norman S ; Herbers, M. Sharon

Adult learning (Washington, D.C.), 2019-08, Vol.30 (3), p.101-110

 Dr. Dorothy, “Dot,” Ettling was a contemplative practitioner, a spiritual leader, a scholar, and a mentor... 

 Worldview of Sister Dorothy in some of her personal actions:  

When she died, the Pax Christi Vow of Nonviolence was found in her manual, the traditional place that IW Sisters keep papers about their vows.

Over Thanksgiving Weekend, 1975, she, Ada Maria Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, Sr. Mary Walden, an Ursuline Sister, and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk drove to the first Women’s Ordination Conference in Detroit. They returned to their ministries and continued to raise questions on how women might be recognized created in the divine image. They thought of this in solidarity with United Nations goals of gender equality.

To enter the 2000’s she, Sr. Neomi Hayes, and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk participated in “Millennium 2000, Walking the Ways of Peace,” an Inter-faith retreat with about 500 people including Fr. Daniel Berrigan, SJ, Dec. 28 to Jan. 1, 2000. She was among those choosing to participate in civil disobedience at the Nevada Nuclear Test site. She incarnated her words seeking a peaceful world by being arrested in the first hour of the new millennium.

 She, among both San Antonio and Houston Incarnate Word Sisters worked towards women’s empowerment through a website Women’s Place.  She with her close friend Sr. Neomi Hayes  gathered UIW female and male educators and others to envision a way to promote  systemic change. The group defined and committed themselves to women and children as the more vulnerable in the world. Women’s Global Connection was founded in 2003. See a glimpse of this history within ideas of engaged scholarship and service learning at the University of the Incarnate Word.  She promoted Women's Studies. 

Sr. Dot dancing on one of the Women's Global Connection trips to Africa. See more about research and service learning in Africa and in Peru https://wgctravelblogue.wordpress.com/about/ 

UISG | Women and the Environment: Notes for a Different Economy

"Women and the Environment: Notes for a Different Economy," is an article in the UISG newsletter that addresses the importance of gender in economic development. The authors state that "Re-thinking the relationship between women and the environment is part of a broader project to re-think the economy as social science" (Corsi & Guarani, 2020, p.14).

Bollettino 172 ENG by Katty Huanuco on Scribd

Columbian Women Peacebuilders

Columbian Women Peacebuilders 

How are women impacted by war? Why should they be involved in peace and security decision-making? What roles should they play?

World Beyond War notes, “Violence against women is and always has been integral to war and all armed conflict. It pervades all forms of militarism. It is not a random aberration. Furthermore, the role of women in peace and security has not been given appropriate attention. Take, for example, treaties and peace agreements that are most commonly negotiated and signed in a male-dominated context, by state and non-state armed actors. This context utterly misses the reality on the ground. 

Women share a vision of societies rooted in social justice, equality and everyday experience; are disproportionately impacted by war; are an important source of practical experience about life in a war zone; and typically better understand on-the-ground realities. When women are excluded from peace processes, the experiences, knowledge, and needs of half of the population are lost before a  community or country’s efforts to rebuild have even begun.

Increasing the role of women in peace and security decision-making is one of the key strategies outlined by World BEYOND War in our book “A Global Security System: An Alternative to War (AGSS).”  

In Study War No More our free online study and action guide for AGSS, we develop these arguments further. We offer several additional resources, provide guiding questions to help you become more familiar with this essential strategy, introduce you to networks working on this issue, and provide suggestions for action to support a more gender aware approach to peace and security.”   Learn more on Women and peacebuilding 

Women, Participation, and Peace

Eleanor Brackenridge and Mrs. H.P. Drought campaign for the vote for women in 1916. 

The pendant says, “Votes for Women.”

In this season of Pentecost, when the Christian community remembers that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are poured out on all persons, it is important for women not to hold back, but to come forward and share their gifts. Canada has just named the first Ambassador for Women, Peace, and Security. San Antonio, Texas, is beginning a Female Majority City Council. This month, June 2019, is the 100th anniversary of legislative approval of women’s suffrage in the US.

“Gender equality is a more reliable predictor of peace than a country's Gross Domestic Project or level of democracy," said Maryam Monsef, Canadian Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality.

“In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 1325, the first of nine resolutions to recognize the unique effects of armed conflict on women and girls, and their important role in resolving conflict and building peace. It urges Member States to increase women’s participation and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts, and to take measures to protect women and girls in conflict situations. To date, approximately 80 national action plans on women, peace and security have been adopted globally. Canada launched its first National Action Plan in 2010, and its second in 2017.” Read more HERE.

In San Antonio, Texas, Elaine Ayala wrote of the female majority and extensively quoted the first Hispanic woman on the council Maria Antonietta Berriozabal: “San Antonio joined a nation, a whole nation, of women that at some point said, ‘We can do it, too.’ ” She continued, “Invest in human capital,” exhorting leaders to connect the dots between women, children, education and economic prosperity. “To me, the biggest challenge is how we grow inclusively, democratically, with transparency, and work at not leaving anyone behind.”

The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was passed by both the House and the Senate on June 4, 1919, though it took a year for that to go into effect. The first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, Jeannette Rankin from Montana, said “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” Her comment invites questions about the long term consequences of violence. Many people refuse to face those questions and choose short term greed and power rather than a long term commitment to the common good.

The first “Motherhouse” of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word was the Brackenridge Villa. It had been the home of Eleanor Brackenridge who is called the “Mother of Women’s Suffrage in Texas.” She was a champion of civic and social betterment.

“In San Antonio, Eleanor became a champion of civic and social improvement. In February 1912 Brackenridge was elected president of the newly organized San Antonio Equal Franchise Society. The formation of this society stimulated interest throughout the state, and delegates from seven Texas cities met in San Antonio and organized the Texas Woman Suffrage Association in April 1913. … In 1918 she was the first woman in Bexar County to register to vote. She died after a cerebral hemorrhage, on February 14, 1924. When reporting her death, the San Antonio Express called her "in many respects the foremost woman citizen of Texas."”

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. 

The 2019 Theme: "Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth"

Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over the past 15 years, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science.

At present, less than 30 per cent of researchers worldwide are women. According to UNESCO data (2014 - 2016), only around 30 per cent of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education. Globally, female students’ enrolment is particularly low in ICT (3 per cent), natural science, mathematics and statistics (5 per cent) and in engineering, manufacturing and construction (8 per cent).

Long-standing biases and gender stereotypes are steering girls and women away from science related fields. As in the real world, the world on screen reflects similar biases—the 2015 Gender Bias Without Borders study by the Geena Davis Institute showed that of the onscreen characters with an identifiable STEM job, only 12 per cent were women.

In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

More about the Day on UN Women's website.

Prayer for Women Activists

A Prayer for Women Activists
By Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU

God of Truth and Justice,
We thank you for the community of women activists,
Those who use their words to defend the human dignity
Of the oppressed, marginalized, and forgotten among us. 

We thank you for the community of women activists
Whose hands bring comfort to the afflicted,
And transform the rejected of society,
To claim their human rights
And to realize their full potential as citizens of the Earth. 

We thank you for the community of women activists
Who join hands across the globe and take to the streets
And call on impacted communities to rise
For their rights to dignity, freedom, and equality. 

We pray for the safety of our sister activists
Those on the frontlines who risk their lives
And reputations each time they confront institutions of power.

In a spirit of solidarity with out sister activists,
May we draw inspiration from their life's work
And commit to be active witnesses for justice.

Amen

A Reflection on International Women's Day from the UN

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

It is also an opportunity to consider how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal number 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and number 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Some key targets of the 2030 Agenda:

• By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes.
• By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education.
• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
• Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

2018 Message by UN Secretary-General António Guterres


This year, International Women’s Day comes on the heels of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice. Sexual harassment, violence and discrimination against women has captured headlines and public discourse, propelled by a rising determination for change.

International Women’s Day 2018 is an opportunity to transform this momentum into action, to empower women in all settings, rural and urban, and celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential.

Echoing the priority theme of the upcoming 62nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, International Women’s Day will also draw attention to the rights and activism of rural women, who make up over a quarter of the world population and majority of the 43 per cent of women in the global agricultural labour force.

They till the lands and plant seeds to feed nations, ensure food security for their communities and build climate resilience. Yet, on almost every measure of development, because of deep seated gender inequalities and discrimination, rural women fare worse than rural men or urban women. For instance, less than 20 per cent of landholders worldwide are women, and while the global pay gap between men and women stand at 23 per cent, in rural areas, it can be as high as 40 per cent. They lack infrastructure and services, decent work and social protection, and are left more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rural women and their organizations represent an enormous potential, and they are on the move to claim their rights and improve their livelihoods and wellbeing. They are using innovative agricultural methods, setting up successful businesses and acquiring new skills, pursuing their legal entitlements and running for office.

On 8 March, join activists around the world and UN Women to seize the moment, celebrate, take action and transform women’s lives everywhere. The time is NOW.

Content shared from http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/ 

#PressForProgress on International Women's Day (March 8)

International Women's Day 2018 campaign theme: #PressforProgress

With the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report findings telling us that gender parity is over 200 years away - there has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress. And with global activism for women's equality fueled by movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and more - there is a strong global momentum striving for gender parity.

And while we know that gender parity won't happen overnight, the good news is that across the world women are making positive gains day by day. Plus, there's indeed a very strong and growing global movement of advocacy, activism and support.

So we can't be complacent. Now, more than ever, there's a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.

International Women's Day is not country, group or organisation specific. The day belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. So together, let's all be tenacious in accelerating gender parity. Collectively, let's all Press for Progress.

#PressforProgress NOW

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IWD campaign theme continues all year

March 8 sees the annual IWD campaign theme kick off for the year ahead, although many groups around the world adopt and promote the campaign theme from early in the year. The IWD campaign theme provides a unified direction to guide and galvanize collective action. The campaign theme does not end on International Women's Day. It's just the start. Throughout the year many groups worldwide adopt the IWD campaign theme for further campaign work, gender-focused initiatives, continuing activity and events. A great example of this was in 2017 when the USA Women's Hockey Team went on to adopt the #BeBoldForChange IWD campaign theme to later rally for equal pay, boycotting the national finals unless a suitable deal was struck. Many fans and further teams supported the campaign.

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Collectively we can all play a part

Collective action and shared responsibility for driving gender parity is what makes International Women's Day successful. Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights."

Started by the Suffragettes in the early 1900's, the first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911. International Women's Day belongs to all communities everywhere - governments, companies, charities, educational institutions, networks, associations, the media and more. Whether through a global conference, community gathering, classroom lesson or dinner table conversation - everyone can play a purposeful part in pressing for gender parity.

So make International Women's Day YOUR day and do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women. Press for Progress!

Leave No One Behind: End Violence Against Women

From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. The international campaign originated from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991.

This year, the UNiTE Campaign will mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence under the overarching theme, “Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls”— reflecting the core principle of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls” reinforces the UNiTE Campaign’s commitment to a world free from violence for all women and girls around the world, while reaching the most underserved and marginalized, including refugees, migrants, minorities, indigenous peoples, and populations affected by conflict and natural disasters, amongst others, first.

As in previous years, the colour orange will be a key theme unifying all activities, and buildings and landmarks will be lit and decorated in orange to bring global attention to the issue of violence against women and girls.

Join us!

Share your photos, messages and videos showing how you orange the world at facebook.com/SayNO.UNiTE and twitter.com/SayNO_UNiTE using #orangetheworld and #16days. For more information about the theme, download the Action Plan. For more information about Orange Day, please contact Natalia Tuerogerman, natalia.tuerogerman@unwomen.org [at]unwomen.org

http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu 

COMMITTED TO LIFE

The focus of gender in light of current challenges

By Dr. Sandra Lassak*

Talking about feminism and theology may seem like a contradiction, which isn’t surprising given the inequality between men and women: the structural oppression of women, femicide, divorced couples, and discrimination against homosexuals among others.

Despite the fact that for decades women have been doing theology in our churches and theological spaces, most of these spaces remain highly patriarchal, if not downright misogynistic. The identities of women are fixed, formed around constructions of gender and sexuality justified by a religious and theological discourse which promotes the ideal woman as: virgin, submissive and servile. From this dichotomy of macho men and servile women a whole system of inequality and oppression based on gender has been constructed and continues to be maintained in some ways to this day.

Theology seems to be a field of men, despite the fact that women have been doing theology for decades, and it is because within the pyramidal structure of the Church we are outside the positions of power and decision making. Changing or questioning the structures and ideologies of this system is not in the interests of some male pastors, priests and theologians because it would weaken the power they want to maintain. That is why we find so much resistance and rejection to gender theories, because it is an approach that shows the unjust inequalities and offers help to overcome them in order to build communities of equals.

Since it emerged in the 1980s, feminist theology has been a theology articulated from the marginalized experiences of women and at the same time a critique of the patriarchal character of Theology. Based on realities and concrete experiences of women, feminist theology was part of the feminist movement, sharing the struggles for a social and political transformation, for equality, and dignified conditions for all. Therefore, feminist theology is not a theology only of women and for women, but is a theology that problematizes 'gender' and therefore should be important to all.

Clarification of feminism and why it is important to continue talking about feminism

Declaring oneself a feminist puts you in a position of suspicion accompanied by images and prejudices such as being a macho dressed as a woman, a lesbian, a woman who hates men, etc. However, national and international news indicate that misogyny, oppression and violence against women continue to be one of the biggest problems today at the global level.

In times of capitalist expansion, new excluded groups are spreading with greater speed and brutality, and among them are women. Social, political and economic interests have created structures of inequality throughout the centuries. And although thanks to the struggles of so many women - which have occurred throughout history – there have been some changes achieved, there is still a long way to go to have societies and communities of equals.

Women still belong to the most disadvantaged group.  They are the most affected by violence, poverty and discrimination as well as by the ecological crisis. They suffer from the effects of climate catastrophes, land grabbing and the destruction of life's foundations. Faced with this situation it is imperative to ask for new forms of solidarity including regional, national and international.

How can we, in these struggles for better living conditions, dignity and equal rights, connect and share among all women, who from different local contexts are organizing to promote processes of change (for example, the 'Ni una menos' or Women's March)? How can we and should we be part of this work as Christians?

In Latin America, religion has sold itself out by having an important role in the construction of gender legitimizing a patriarchal, capitalist and heteronormative social and economic system. Therefore, doing a social analysis we cannot leave out a religious analysis and a critical theological view.

It is also important to see the variety and diversity of experiences of oppression, recognizing the same structures of inequality and power behind them. Because at the core of talking about and analyzing gender relations is talking about power relations.

The conception of gender does not depend on an a-cultural biological determinism, but rather on each culture and worldview, “in that sense, every society, every community, every group and every person has a particular gender conception, based on their own culture.[1]” We learn from childhood to identify with the worldview and conception of gender roles in our culture. Because in the nation we live, as Simone de Beauvoir one of the first great women's rights defenders said, “One isn’t born a woman, one becomes a woman.”

Current challenges

According to theologian Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, theology always has to do with dreams and visions of a more just and united world; an issue that deeply touches humanity.[2] For this reason, it is necessary to articulate a de-patriarchicalization and decolonization from and with the women who, in their daily struggles, face colonial, capitalist and patriarchal oppression.

They are peasant women, indigenous, from popular urban sectors and also women who question - from their individual and collective experience - colonial and patriarchal relations; who fight together to overcome all kinds of oppression. In this way “... feminism is not just another theory, it is a theory, a conception, a worldview, a philosophy, a politics born from the most rebellious women against patriarchy,”[3]  says Bolivian Aymara, Julieta Paredes. Practically, feminism is a way of life, “a new way of understanding life and human relations,”[4] as theologian Ivone Gebara puts it.

The reality of our world, challenges us to permanently relocate in different senses, to leave the offices, the classrooms, the parishes, and place ourselves in the 'street'. Displacement impacts us, we will have to move from traditional spaces of religion and oppression and search for new spaces where more integral and equal spiritualties can be lived.

From the pluralities we have to construct new forms of heterogeneous and inclusive communities of coexistence with all people, with nature, and between countries and continents, and break down the mental as well as social, economic and political barriers and hierarchies.

What nourishes us is a spirituality of resistance and rebellion fueled by the sharing of realities and daily struggles, of solidarity and sisterhood. This spirituality is made real through action, a collective and diverse expression that seeks to build new relationships and another world of which we all dream.

This is the only way we will we be able to offer relevant contributions to the questions and problems that people live today. Because the discipleship and following of Jesus requires us to be part of the processes towards equality and justice.

Questions for reflection:

·      What would it mean to decolonize and de-patriarchicalize?

·      What does it mean to do theology from our context, our social and pastoral commitments?

·      For what would I want to make a commitment? 

*Dr. Sandra Lassak holds a Doctorate in Theology

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[1] Lagarde, Marcela, “El género, fragment literal: ´La perspectiva de género´, en Género y feminismo. Desarrollo humano y democracia. Ed. horas y HORAS, España, 1996, pp. 13-38.

[2] Vease Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth, Discipulado de Iguales, Una Ekklesia-lógica Feminista de Liberación. (Mujeres haciendo Teología desde Bolivia – Volumen III), p.214-235.

[3]  Paredes Julieta, en: Gargallo Francesca, Feminismos desde Abya Yala, Ideas y proporciones de las mujeres de 607 comunidades de nuestra América, Ciudad de México 2014, p. 96.

[4] Gebara, Ivone, Las aguas de mi pozo. Reflexiones sobre experiencias de libertad, Montevideo 2005, 133.