From 50 years ago to today, women’s role in the church has changed drastically, according to Dr. Teresa Berger, professor of liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School.
“My own journey would have been impossible for my mother or grandmother to take,” said Berger. “There was an increasing diversity of women’s lives [that] was part of larger cultural changes.
“We witnessed a profound expansion of liturgical practices … new forms of ministry, women in pastoral leadership,” she added.
Berger was the guest speaker at the 13th Annual Anne Drummey O’Callaghan lecture on Oct. 2 at the Regina A. Quick Center, which was organized by Fairfield’s Center for Catholic Studies and the O’Callaghan family.
“Dr. Berger is a patient and beloved teacher,” said Michelle Towster, administrative coordinator in the Center for Catholic Studies and a former student of Berger’s. “I can attest to the warm generosity she brings to the class.”
Berger explained that the changes for women in the church began with a combination of three documents in 1963: the “Sacrosanctum Concilium” — a constitution for the Second Vatican Council; Pope John XXIII’s “Pacem in Terris” Encyclical — establishing universal peace in truth, justice and charity; and the “Inter Mirifica” — a decree on the media of social communications, according to the Vatican’s site.
The documents revealed that the “aspirations of women for full participation in the church [were] one of the signs of the time,” Berger said.
Formerly from Germany, Berger’s work includes intersecting her disciplines of liturgical studies and constructive theology with gender theory, according to Yale’s faculty site. She wrote “Gender Difference and the Making of Liturgical History” in 2011 that was published in Ashgate series Liturgy, Worship and Society.
Berger also received the Herbert Haag Prize for freedom in the Church in 2003, according to the site.
Wednesday’s talk honored Anne Drummey O’Callaghan of Norwalk, who was interested in church history and women’s role in the church, according to a press release. She was a catechist and advocated for those who were intellectually disabled.
Callaghan was the director of religious education at St. Jerome and St. Joseph, two parishes in Norwalk. She was also the chair of Bridgeport Religious Educators, the press release stated.
Transitioning to discussing cyberspace, Berger focused on how the Internet is changing the Catholic religion.
“Once again there is a broad cultural change,” Berger said. “The spectrum is broad from website of parish to faith-based community online, and yes there is even a patron saint of the Internet.”
Considering the expanse of the Internet, there has been an increase in the “amount of freedoms of voices,” she said. However, this can bring either “information or misinformation.”
Ultimately, women need to focus on the “power of interpretation” in terms of liturgical studies and practicing Catholicism, Berger explained.
“If my look back has revealed anything,” she added, “it’s that there is no longer one way of being Catholic … in the 21st century. There are many different and divergent ways of living our faith.”
Focusing on women’s role in the church, Berger’s talk captured the audience’s attention.
“I thought it was pretty interesting with the history of women in the church and how it’s changing,” said Jenna Walsh ’17.
Freshman Aimee Donohue ’17 said, “It was interesting to look at religion through a female perspective because I never thought about it quite in those terms.”
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