Letter to the Editor from Carrollton, GA

Published: April 15, 2004

To the Editor:

On Holy Thursday I watched from the pews as 12 men, six Spanish and six American, sat to have their feet washed. Their faces showed their joy at being chosen. Their priest glowed among them after having just completed a sermon of his joy in his priesthood. The total picture deadened my spirits, and as the men prepared for the washing, I left the church.

The visible acting out of the male dominance was too much. What was hidden or refused to be acknowledged by me was now undeniable.

Were there Spanish-speaking women in the pews that had their feet washed in their home country a few years back as I had done? Did they too realize in this washing the gentle humility of the Divine? Did they too want to serve him more because of this experience?

I returned for the Eucharist half surprised when the Body and Blood were still offered to me. My hands and lips were worthy of the Divine, but my feet were not to be touched by a human. I was invited to spend an hour with the suffering Christ. An honor I wanted to keep. But I walked away with the new hurt of realizing in fact my exclusion from full participation in the Church.

Where do I go now to feel connected to Christ’s ministry?

The good news is I am now among the marginalized. So if Christ comes …soon…he will gravitate toward me as he gravitated toward the excluded in his lifetime. And I believe he will still be upset over the way human laws continue to place unbearable burdens on the masses.

My final question to the laymen is: Why are you supporting this decision to exclude the feminine presence?

Roseanne M. Havird, Carrollton