Correspondence

Correspondence A central problem Austin, Texas To the Editors: Many of us too young to have been aware of the ecumenical discussions of the last few decades find it difficult to locate our...

...The seminary is an all-male club, and if theology is the "Queen of the Sciences" it is the drag queen...
...CHRISTOPHER MACKIN Industrial Cooperative Association...
...If in fact the present Christian understanding of symbol can be as Father Nolan describes [Correspondence, June 18] this demands renovation of Catholics' perceptions of our own faith and of that of our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ...
...Those who have a stake in protecting God and "holy mother church" from real women are either actively hostile or exude a contemptuous charm, happy enough so long as you maintain your proper place...
...As Dorothy Esther Connors's "Quo Vadis, Women's Movement" [Apr...
...There were giants on the earth then, emitting a larger-than-life aura not uncommon to pioneers in a new field...
...The Movement has made inroads at this level, 'but . . .' It has duly labeled and properly prescribed for the silent killer of the emotionally mature female,, 'but...
...The economic crisis beguiles her perhaps more than her sisters to suspend risk-taking, to play it safe...
...Studies Indiana University Yes, but...
...These emotional cross-currents can swiftly trap what it should tap...
...Having taught in a seminary I can say that it is extremely difficult to maintain the kind of healing presence she imagines in an environment that is inherently sexist and hierarchical...
...New Alexandria, Va...
...Cort's story closer to home, it is worth mentioning that here in Massachusetts there now exists the first American statute (Mass...
...MARY JO WEAVER Assoc...
...Whenever the bishop or the apostle delegate came to the seminary and there was a cocktail party, I was told, politely, that I did not need to drive "all the way back out here" for it...
...Those who consider themselves "liberated" are often naive and think the whole "problem" can be solved with a porridge of yin, yang, Jung and androgyny...
...CAROL L. DINCO Mondragon-style, U.S.A...
...23] correctly asserts, the Movement seems likely to diminish, perhaps even backslide into oblivion unless feminist momentum is renewed under umbrella priorities...
...General Law 157 A) which incorporates the unique internal financial and legal structure innovations which are key to Mondragon's success...
...To the Editors: John Cort's recent article on the Mondragon, Spain system of industrial cooperatives [June 18] should serve as encouraging news to progressive Americans seeking practical models of the kind of "truly" democratic society which they seek that reaches beyond the (Continued on page 479) Correspondence (Continued from page 450) achievements of the welfare state...
...is a Movement going somewhere...
...Karl Marx wrote that religion is opium-how easy it is to mistake that for truth: to wonder if Christ is real for me only in the sense that an addict's highs are real for her or him...
...Correspondence A central problem Austin, Texas To the Editors: Many of us too young to have been aware of the ecumenical discussions of the last few decades find it difficult to locate our Catholic faith among the scholarly discussions by liturgical Protestants about myth, symbol, and meaning systems that finally seem to boil down to a disconcerting relegation of religious truth to the realm of anthropology...
...It has gotten its foot in the door of most American institutions and traditions and continues to battle discrimination, 'but . . .' A single 'but' does not a Movement make, but...
...CATHERINE B. HEIMSATH The drag queen...
...In Philadelphia, the United Food and Commercial Workers are planning to re-open three supermarkets recently closed by A&P...
...To the Editors: The Women's Movement is alive and well and dwells at the end of this statement, "I don't believe in the Movement, but...
...In addition Connors takes exception to the empty rhetoric of current feminist leaders like Eleanor Smeal who states that the mere presence of a crisis, in particular, our current economic crunch, is enough to insure the Movement's growth...
...To the Editors: Abigail McCarthy's plea for "integral woman" [Apr...
...23] is lucid and reasonable, but probably not at all practical...
...Bloomington, Ind...
...McCarthy's "education of the imagination" doesn't need "a qualified woman" in the seminary, it needs many women in seminaries as teachers, students and priests...
...Somerville, Mass...
...On the contrary, economic catastrophes provide additional threats to a Movement whose base has broadened to the Edith Bunkers of Middle America...
...And in Burlington, Vermont, forty-five construction workers have organized themselves as a cooperative firm by the name of Moose Creek Restoration...
...but...
...In the '60s Betty Friedan brought from the closet "the problem that had no name," and joined it to its sisters, women's fight for education and suffrage...
...But there is also a paradoxical potential of support among the usually silent majority of everyday housewives who disavow the Movement and its activities, but...
...The By-Laws used in conventional American statutes, not being designed to promote industrial democracy, just will not do the trick...
...To name just a few, the Workers Owned Sewing Company of Windsor, North Carolina, is succeeding at employing fifty women, primarily black, in one of the poorest counties in the country...
...And so for me John Garvey's Easter essay was not "setting up straw men" but indeed addressed a central problem of my Catholic faith...
...This summer, the Industrial Cooperative Association will lead a small group of financial and religious leaders (including Monsignor George Higgins) on a tour of Mondragon...
...Long-range goals like equal pay and proportional female representation in Congress and concern over nuclear holocaust are, as Connors suggests, issues likely to win acceptance from most women and are ideal candidates for mainstreaming growth...
...I hope that this subject will be further explored in Commonweal...
...In addition to the law, actual democratically owned and controlled industrial cooperatives are also coming into being here in the United States...
...Even while she disavows the Movement and shuns active support, bottom-line economics demonstrates in particular to the middle-class female the necessity of strength through group-action...
...It's the 'but' that is the fertile seed...
...From childhood I have retained the notion that the main difference between Catholics and Protestants is that we believe the Eucharist is really Christ's body, whereas Protestants believe it is only a symbol...
...To bring Mr...
...but...
...Prof...
...We hope to bring home with us more in-depth, practical lessons on how to combine democracy and prosperity in industry...

Vol. 109 • September 1982 • No. 15


 
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