Today is a guest post - whoohoo! As you know, Sarah and I read The Authentic Catholic Woman together. I'm glad to share with you her take on the topic. The last two paragraphs are my favorite!
I very much enjoyed reading The Authentic Catholic Woman, particularly, as Elizabeth mentioned, the first and last chapters of the book. One chapter in particular that I found very interesting and which I have thought of since finishing the book, was the one titled “The Church as Teacher”. As someone who had a short foray into the teaching world, and who completed about half of a MA in education, I was very drawn to her chapter about the vocation of both Church and woman as teacher.
Most people know that teaching, at least at the primary level, has historically been a woman’s job. Even today, it is rare to find a man who teaches any grade level below middle school. Even though professional teachers who are dedicated, motivated, and skillful are vital to the success of children, I also know that teaching is not a role that is delegated to paid professionals. All mothers (and fathers) are the primary educators of their children. Priests, nuns, coaches, and scout leaders, most of whom are not paid professionals, all serve as teachers in many capacities. Adults too, have many teachers. Mentors in the professional world, spiritual directors, personal trainers... the list is exhaustive.
As the author says, “The teaching profession belongs to more than those who train for it professionally; it encompasses all who are entrusted with leading others toward the truth” (71). Kineke spends this chapter of her book specifically looking at the ways that women specifically contribute through the role of teacher to the common good, and how that vocation reflects that of the Church’s vocation of teacher of the faithful.
One of the most interesting sections was that where she discusses the brains of women, which are wired differently than men’s. “Women have a strong capacity to transfer data from one side of the brain to the other, leading them to use both sides in an integrated way, while men more often operate from the left side” (72). The left side of the brain is the seat of logic, mathematical skills, verbal memory, reading, and writing.
Women are more able to integrate the functions of the right side of the brain with that of the left, thereby making them more adept at recognizing faces, reading social cues, nonverbal memory, spatial relationships, sense of direction, and sense of smell (just to name a few!).
This information becomes important when we look at the historical role that women have (or have not) played in education throughout the history of western civilization, especially when one takes note of the separation of theology and philosophy as distinct disciplines in the 13th Century.
The basic effect of this separation was to remove all students who were not clergy, and thereby end the dialogue which had been taking place between the academy and many Abbesses. As Kineke claims, once this rift occurred, “the schools no longer benefited by the presence of women and their integrated way of thinking” (75). Again, she explains, “In terms of theology, this meant that women were not allowed to participate in the elaboration of the theological syntheses to which they could have brought important contributions. Their own faith experience suffered in turn because lack of training inhibited them in expressing adequately what they were learning from the holy Spirit” (75).
AHH! It makes me (a) very glad I didn’t live in the 13th Century, as I have very much enjoyed my ability to study theology and (b) sad for the shortsightedness that robbed the Church and culture of the many valuable contributions that could have been made by so many women through the years.
Kineke brings this all together so nicely, introducing a case study of Maria Montessori, who showcases just how much women can contribute in educating those around them, when they are given the resources and platform to speak. Maria Montessori was a Catholic woman living in the 19th and 20th Century who revolutionized the field of education with her theories of teaching. She took what she knew, what the holy Spirit had revealed to her as a woman, and created a new way of educating children which “approached education as the integration of body and soul to transmit truth” (76).
I hate to quote vast swaths of the text, but I could not parse the following any better myself:
“Maria underscored the foundation linking children’s initial curiosity about their surroundings and their potential creative genius, which can unfold if they are well directed. This incorporation of the senses mirrors the way the Church herself has taught... Signs and symbols permeate Catholicism, from water to incense to bells - all of which stimulate the senses. So in pondering this way of teaching, one sees a rich exchange, in which the Church offers truths of God through physical realities of His creation, to which the grateful soul responds with creations of its own” (77).
Beautiful!
The last section is one where she cautions all women to remember, that although we are entrusted with the humbling and noble task of leading those around us to the truth, ultimately we are doing God’s work, and it is God who will complete it. In other words, not to become discouraged or give up if we do not seem immediate results. To steal a somewhat cliched phrase, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” We are called to be horse-leaders, if you will, though our motto as teachers, and as the Church, might more aptly be: “You can lead a soul to truth, but you can’t make him believe”.
Women, in all of the ways we educate, are called to cultivate our God-given gifts and abilities, as well as our unique brain power, in order to lead others to the truth. The beauty of this is that there are as many ways of being a teacher as there are women to teach! The work, then, is to discover how I, Sarah living in 2010 in America, am called to lead others to the truth. How are you called?