My Year of Activism: Part II

The second outrageous act of protest came that same year, during the Feast Day of the Pentecost. Pentecost commemorates the “birth of the Church,” which is traditionally identified as the day recorded in Acts:2 when the disciples were hiding, presumably in fear that what happened to Jesus would happen to them. They were gathered together in the “upper room” and were visited by the Holy Spirit, which descended upon them as of “tongues of fire.” According to Scripture, after this miraculous event they went out from the upper room and the Tower of Babel came tumbling down; they were able to preach to all who were present, of whatever nationality or language and they were understood. Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter.

 

The Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Providence, Rhode Island is an interesting piece of real estate. It is an imposing edifice constructed of red stone in the Gothic style; high nave, wide center aisle, narrower side aisles, tall stained-glass windows. A proud feature of the Cathedral is a magnificent pipe organ. The stone steps that descend from the entrance are as wide as the Cathedral itself. They open to a huge stone courtyard known as Cathedral Square. Though none of this is unusual as cathedrals go, what is unusual about the cathedral in Providence is that “Cathedral Square” into which the faithful flow is not the property of the Diocese of Providence but of the City of Providence. So, all one need do to assemble lawfully, right in front of the Cathedral steps is to get a permit to do so from the City of Providence. Hehehehehe.

 

Spirited Women of Rhode Island could assemble and conduct protests in front of the Cathedral’s massive wooden doors without fear of eviction for trespassing.  On the Feast Day of Pentecost, 1991, there we were again, the bane of our Bishop’s existence. We planned a May Day ceremony that included a “sermon,” to be delivered by… you guessed it. Me.

 

My sermon entailed a critique (and a rejection) of the Church’s claim that the birth of the Church began in the “upper room.” It was my contention that the birth of the Church occurred much sooner than that, at the tomb. Some of you recall that according to the Gospel tradition (and this story is included in all four canonical Gospels and so, is considered “authentic” to the Apostolic tradition), several days after the death of Jesus, Mary Magdalene visited the tomb, which she found empty. In one account, Jesus appeared to her. She mistook him for  “the gardener” but then he spoke to her and in her recognition she advanced to embrace him. He said, “Do not touch me for I have not yet ascended to the Father…but go tell the others.” In the story, Mary runs to Peter and declares, “I have seen the Lord.” Peter races to the tomb to see. It is Mary, not the disciples of the upper room who is the first to believe and the first to proclaim. She is recognized by the author of the Gospel of John as “apostola apostolorum,” apostle to the apostles. The first moment of declaration, the spreading  of the “Good News,” the commission to “go tell the others,” the birth of the Church, began with Mary.

 

The Pentecost action was a combination of protest and ritual. We held placards and signs, prayed the prayers of dissent, sang the songs of solidarity and held hands.

 

One other moment I will recount occurred when Annie (a recent MTS graduate from Harvard Divinity School) invited me to appear with her on a 30 minute local television program on the role of women in religion and feminist theology. I arrived at the television station where I met Annie. As she introduced me to the director of the program, Annie said, “Here’s the other theologian who will be on tonight’s program.” After I shook hands with the director and she walked away to attend to production details, I leaned in and whispered to Annie, “I’m not a theologian.” She whispered back, “Yes, you are.”