An Editorial
by
The Rev. Aida M. Diego
NOTE: During the last couple of years, the Women’s Ministry Program
Area of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has published three small booklets
advocating Feminist Theology. The first, written by Isabel Rogers, is
entitled _Toward a Liberating Faith: A Primer on Feminist Theology._ Last
Summer, the WMPA added two new titles to this “library,” _The womanist
Theology Primer Remembering What We Never Knew: The Epistemolgy of Womanist
Theology_, by Katie G. Cannon, and _Hacia una fe liberadora: Introduccion a
la teologia mujerista,_ by Magdalena I. Garcia.
When I met Aida Diego, I asked her to review the booklet on Mujerista
Theology. What follows is her response. Remember, Aida Diego is a
Cuban-American who has been ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament
by the PC(USA).*
Sylvia Dooling, Editor
– – -
January, 2002
Dear Sylvia:
I must have read Magdalena’s booklet on the above mentioned subject about
five times, and still don’t know where she is coming from or its purpose.
All I feel is that there is a rebellious cry out, with no proposed
solutions, other than the same ‘call to war of supposedly emancipated women,
struggling to change history and its mistakes, without proposing the how
to’s to practically and forever correct those mistakes and improve the
present and future of the women, children and men they are purporting to be
defending”.
The booklet is a combination of statistics gathered from existing documents,
and opinions of other Hispanic contemporary women ‘theologians”, which are
set out to force God Himself to admit that He has been wrong all along.
It is difficult to express an opinion on a subject without knowing the true
reasons and experiences which have contributed to set in motion a trend of
character, actions, attitudes and conclusions in a given situation, and I
don’t understand where is Magdalena coming from.
I met her a few years ago, during a local Hispanic women gathering here in
South Florida, and had an opportunity of briefly talking with her. She
seemed to me an intelligent, pretty and articulate young woman, with a clear
mind. We spoke about ministry, theology and the present state of our
society, and we did not touch on any issues, feminist or otherwise. At the
time it seemed, that our common ground was our love and service to The Lord.
When she starts her writing with statistics about the situation of women
worldwide, the reader expects to see some kind of proposal as to ‘what can
we, as women in general and as women in ministry within the church
organization start to plan and place in motion to help, educate and
‘liberate” , to use her much used word, the underprivileged women of the
world”, which are oppressed by ignorance, poverty, cultural traditions and
political corruption, power and control; and then in this group I would also
include the children and men that constitute the ‘poorest of the poor”
everywhere.
All I see in this booklet is the ‘struggle” to change the past; the
‘struggle” to change points of view; the ‘struggle” to change the
Scriptural writings, the ‘struggle” to change the comfort zone of women who
feel happy and content where they are, trying to enroll them in their
‘struggle” to prove everyone and everything wrong.
I believe that each individual is unique and a world in his or herself.
History, traditions, culture and education influence our perspectives and
objectives, but nevertheless, each of us is unique and one of a kind as
God’s creation that we are, and the influence that we can exert upon one
another, should always be constructive and positive, in order to uplift and
enrich ours and others lives.
Education should be at the core of any project to improve ourselves, others
and society. Statistics are good because they are the result of studies
performed on different subjects with a purpose. But, what do we do with them
after they are done? In Magdalena’s booklet, they should be used to gather
the educated and knowledgeable and seek real and practical up to date
solutions for the millions upon millions of poor children, women and men
that are caught in a no win situation everywhere in the world.
Are we in an ‘uphill” battle as women and as women in ministry? Yes we are.
But does that give us the right to hate and divide in order to ‘attain and
control”? Of course, NOT! We can ‘communicate”; we can ‘educate”; we can
establish ‘with feminine elegance and dignity” our ground; we must seek
rights and justice with a Christ-like attitude of love and compassion, and
start reading the Bible with Christ-like eyes, and stop using it as a
‘bungee rope” to suit our personal interests, likes and dislikes and to
gain power and control.
The booklet of reference was distributed at the ‘Encuentro III” gathering
in San Antonio last Summer. This is a Presbyterian Hispanic/Latino women
gathering and Magdalena was one of the main leaders/speakers. She had the
opening speech and curiously she opened it with the sad story of a very sick
11 year old undocumented immigrant girl in dire need of a liver transplant,
to illustrate her sermon which was named ‘Be courageousDon’t be afraid”
based on Isaiah 35 & Luke 13:10-17. The different themes were: I. God sees
our affliction; Weighed down by paralyzing fears; What do women fear?; II.
God wants to alleviate our affliction; Weighed down by degrading traditions;
III. God calls upon us to liberate others from affliction; Weighed down by
unequal opportunities; 1. Being a woman means to be less healthy; 2. Being a
woman means to be most probably a victim of violence; 3. Being a woman means
to be recipients of less education and be poorer; Conclusion: A new hope.
Her conclusion ‘A new Hope”, refers to the opening illustration of the sick
11 year-old and the solution to her plight, which was undertaken by the
interest of a male colleague reporter in her case, who insisting everywhere
found a hospital in Miami who was willing to operate the young girl for
free. That was great and had a good outcome, but what is very curious to me
is that it was not Magdalena’s interest and efforts to help this girl, even
being a promoter of justice as she is, but somebody else’s interest, in this
instance a male co-reporter who took upon himself to seek solutions for her.
This takes me to my point of view that no matter how many books are written,
no matter what one’s position is in any given situation, if we do not take
action upon what we are standing for, what we say or believe is worthless.
Also very curious is that after her long speech on the above, as reported in
‘La Antorcha” of October, 2001, which dedicated the entire publication to
report about Encuentro III, a young woman from Chicago, Lucy Arroyo, dared
to ask Magdalena: ‘If we are all Christians, and consider The Bible as our
utmost authority, why do we need the Mujerista Theology’?” Since she was in
a rush and confrontations are never pleasant, she rushed an answer: ‘A
mujerista does not doubt the Bible’s authority but questions what is said by
those who claim to be the maximum authority in Bible interpretation; a
mujerista does not rebuke what is said in The Bible, but questions what is
said that The Bible says.” Oops!! Now she entered the realm of the inspired
Scripture and the translationsnot to mention the forefathers and theologians
that have helped us to understand God’s plans and purposes for each of us.
It is also curious to say that it is mentioned in her speech, that she is a
happily married woman for 12 years and has a 3 years old adopted son. She is
Cuban by birth, belongs to a middle class Christian family, and is well
known and liked by her Cuban brethren.
A baby cries out for attention, pain and food. What is the feminist movement
really crying out for? What kind of ‘lack”, ‘want”, ‘pain” or ‘food” are
they in need of? They all have a common need though, which is ‘a selfish
unending thirst for Power and Control”. They lack love, compassion,
sympathy and alienate those who do not think and agree with them; it all
reverts to ‘Power and Control”.
As another point of interest for those reading this opinion, I am a three
career professional woman, who owned business for 23 years in the corporate
world before being ordained as a Presbyterian Minister; married twice,
mother of three, step-mother of four and grandmother of 15. A Cuban-American
for 42 years, from middle-class extraction socially, a Christian by birth
and confessed since age 14.
After a lifetime of experience and experiences, I concluded a long time ago,
that as children of The Living God, we should all be of one Christ-like mind
and heart, in order to contribute to the betterment of this world in which
we live; that all Power and Glory belongs to Him and that we must love one
another and teach everyone we have the opportunity to meet about the Love,
Redemption and Salvation that is ONLY in and through Him, Jesus The Christ.
In His Love and in His Service,
Rev. Ada Melndez Diego
________________________________
*I was born in Havana, Cuba, July 31, 1940 to Episcopalian Christians, very
active in the Church. Attended a Methodist School for lack of a local
episcopalian one at the time, and graduated in 1960 from Candler Methodist
University, doctorate in Pedagogics. Escaped to United States, January 14,
1961 with my younger brother, and were admitted as Cuban refugees, which
status was later changed to Political Exile, due to the prevailing communist
government in Cuba.
Started to work as Secretary/Caseworker with the Episcopal Church in South
Florida in the newly established Cuban Episcopal Center, and from that
position, travelled to several of the large cities in the States, to present
and advocate the Cuban plight among the Episcopal churches, in order to seek
assistance and sponsors to relocate the great numbers of Cubans and their
children arriving in a constant flow.
It was at this time that I felt Called by The Lord to ministry; but the
church denied to sponsor me, because: “we are not ready yet for women
ministers……..”
I was also used as a English/Spanish translator for Christian Ed. curriculum
to be used in the Episcopal churches and missions in Latin America; was
school guidance counselor in a Episcopal Church in Santurce, Puerto Rico,
and finally established a Spanish congregation and outreach ministry in
Hoboken, New Jersey within a 100+ years old anglo congregation. All of these
happened between 1961 and 1969.
In 1970 I attended Hunter College in New York City, school of Social Work,
through a 15-week on-the-job training and schooling program with
certification for immigrant professionals, through the American Council for
Emigrees in the Professions (ACEP), sponsored by the State of New York. In
the on-the-job portion of the program I chose to specialize in drug
addiction, and did it at the Morris Berstein Institute, which is part of the
Beth Israel Health Systems in NY.
During that decade, I married and had two of my three children, and upon the
birth of my daughter, we moved down to Miami, Fl. to be close to family.
Between 1973 through 2000, I first became self-employed as
English/Spanish/English Court and documents translators, while obtaining
Insurance and Real Estate licenses, and opened an independent insurance
agency in 1976, which was sold in 1984 and joined Allstate Ins. Co. as
Accounts agent until 2000.
While an agent, I had the opportunity of attending a Pastoral Counseling
class in So. Fla. Center for Theological Studies here in Miami, and it was
there that my heart burned again to become a Minister of the Lord. This
time, everything fell in place, and I went to seminary full time, graduating
an M.Div. in 1996, and was ordained in 1999, a Presbyterian USA Minister of
Word and Sacrament.
Since being ordained, I have worked as Parish Associate, Interim Associate
Pastor,
hospital Chaplain and served in different Committees and Commissions of our
Church. At the moment I am at-large, writing, translating, attending
trainings and continued educational seminars, while waiting for The Lord to
point the way and open doors.
I am married. My husband had four children, three of which I helped raising.
We have 15 grandchildren, 9 local and 6 in Georgia.