The Cathedral and gender

This second Sunday after Epiphany, we attended Church in the Anglican Cathedral in Pietermaritburg. Or should I write, in one of the two Cathedrals. There is one old, St. Peter’s, if I remember correctly, which is quite small and one modern, the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity, with possible 1 000 seats. (I did not count!)

It’s a round church made of bricks and concrete. I wouldn’t describe it as a beautiful church but on the other hand there is nothing ugly to it. Rather functional, I would say. We attended the second service, starting on time at 8.30 am. A typical Anglican procession with incense, the cross, candles, a choir, lay ministers, deacons and the presiding priest at the end. Beautiful and also with a message that many people are needed when the people of God gathers to celebrate Sunday.

The presiding priest, Rev. Tobias P’Onek, is from Uganda, we learnt afterwards. He is married to a South African and moved to South Africa nine years ago. As always in the Anglican liturgy, others were more active in the liturgy. One of them was a Deacon, Dr. Makhosi Nzimande, who preached this Sunday. She holds a Ph D from Texas and has taught theology for many years at University of Zululand, which is another University in the Province. The sermon was excellent! Starting with a reflection about the Church Calendar, she put the preaching text in its right liturgical context, together with the coming of the magi on Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus, last Sunday. Today we heard the Gospel about Jesus making wine out of water and the preacher took that as a picture of God using our humanity (water) and turning it into something divine (wine). But then we need to be prepared for this change. Or rather this transformation! She spoke about us being agents of transformation and that we need to be prepared to leave our comfort zones. This is a message we often hear in South Africa. I believe that it is needed. Not only in South Africa, by the way.

When preparing the gifts, the presiding priest happened to spill some of the wine onto the bread. Not a big problem, but after the service he apologized for doing that. Some of the communicants had received wafers, which were a bit soft from the wine. He wanted to acknowledge that he had made that mistake and nobody else.

I would like to emphasize those two details: a humble, male priest, who admits his mistakes in front of the congregation and a female deacon, who delivers a strong and powerful sermon. The reason for writing this is having read two blog posts today.

The first is written in Swedish and the other in English. One of them by the Very Rev., Dr. Dag Sandahl, Nord Öland Parish, who writes about the forthcoming election of a new Archbishop in Church of Sweden. The focus is one the gender of the candidates (although the whole process has not really started yet). Dag is known to be critical about the way Church of Sweden has treated those, who do not accept women priests. His wife is an ordained priest in the Church of Sweden, though, so maybe he is not actually against women in the clergy. I really don’t know! Anyhow, in this blog post he writes more with satire than anything else. (Which he usually does!) He writes in the end that he is somewhat a functional atheist, when it comes to electing a bishop nowadays. His point being, I guess, that God is not allowed to be part of the process. One can of course ask, how Dag would know that. But let's leave at that.

The other blog post is written by the Extra Ordinary Professor, Rev. Hans S A Engdahl, University of Western Cape. He is discussing the male dominance in Church and Society and argues that there is a need for a levelled field when it comes to appointing people for leadership positions. Men and women need to be treated with fair ground rules, the same for all. Hans has seen something else coming in, saying that

… an altogether different category or rule has been allowed to play a role. What it amounts to when it comes to ensure that women get into leadership positions is simply a decision to favour women before men. It must be made clear that we are talking about two different systems here. One is about ground rules that must be the same for all, while the other is outright in favour of the one side, against the other. In line with this is to bring in quotas, for example making sure that we have an equal number of women and men.

Then he continues to compare this with the system of Affirmative action in South Africa, and describes it as a mechanism put in place

… in order to help blacks entering those parts of society that previously had been the sole privilege of whites.

Hans is critical about the fact that this mechanism still is in place, 18 years after 1994. But he also admits that it has served a purpose. Just like he admits, quoting the late Professor Per Frostin, Lund’s University, having said already in the late 1980s that

… systematic theology is still the domain of white, male theologians, and it is not just because the others are not good enough, because they are, but we have a culture that makes it difficult for the others to come in.

I am glad that this quote came. I started to get the feeling that Hans was arguing along some other lines. The whole matter is tricky, though. I definitely agree with Hans, that gender cannot be the first qualification to be taken into account when you appoint people to different positions in Church and Society. Just like ethnicity or racial identity likewise cannot be the only parameter. But on the other hand you have to bear in mind exactly what Per Frostin is pointing at. “The Other” is sometimes not allowed to take part.

I have asked the question before, together with Dr Fulata Moyo:

Who is missing at the table?

Hans is ending his blog post with some examples, from different continents, of female theologians who really show that they are there for the sole reason of quality and ability.

Today’s Church Service was held in a context where gender was not an issue. The people around the altar interacted in a wonderful way, seemingly with no regard to gender, ethnicity, age or anything else that could have taken the focus away from the central things. We were very happy to be part of this fellowship.

Lastly I need to mention the Rector of our local, Anglican Parish, The Archdeacon, Rev. Bellina L Mangena. She is on sick leave, and therefore had an opportunity to attend the same service as we. She came to us after the service and volunteered to be our host at the tea afterwards. We are very happy to have met her and we feel that we want to get to know her even more.

Prayer for Afrika, by Bishop Trevor Huddleston, Community of the Resurrection, a famous Anglican priest in Sophiatown, who fought against apartheid in the 1950s.