Jesuit Journeys
Winter 2002
Ignatian Spirituality:
We must lend more than our ears to hear
 | | By Sr. Carol Ann Smith, SHCJ and Fr. Gene Merz, SJ |
Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society is a document that gave expression to what happened in the early months of 1995 when Jesuits from around the world gathered for their 34th General Congregation (GC-34) and spoke “out of what we have learned from women about ourselves and our relationship with them.”
A conversation resulted about the many struggles of women around the world with which the Jesuits were familiar. From employment discrimination to sexual violence, many issues demonstrated to the Jesuits the great complexity and gravity of the issues which confronted the Society of Jesus as it considered its own response to women in the Church and in modern society. While acknowledging that complexity, the document stated, “In response, we Jesuits first ask God for the grace of conversion.”
GC-34 then urged Jesuits to do the one thing possible for each of them regardless of their age, nationality, ministry or community: listen to women. Listen to women in their literature, in their scientific research, in their financial acumen, in their medical training, in their pedagogical expertise, in their legal insight. Listen to the woman who answers the phone, who chairs the committee, who suggests nominees, who nurses your grandparent, who invites you for dinner, who sells your house, who stops you in the parking lot, who directs your retreat or who makes your reservation.
In the words of the document: “...we invite all Jesuits to listen carefully and courageously to the experience of women. Many women feel that men simply do not listen to them. There is no substitute for such listening. More than anything else it will bring about change. Unless we listen, any action we may take in this area, no matter how well intentioned, is likely to bypass the real concerns of women and to confirm male condescension and reinforce male dominance. Listening, in a spirit of partnership and equality, is the most practical response we can make and is the foundation for our mutual partnership to reform unjust structures.”
Listening in a spirit of partnership and equality challenges both listener and speaker. The listener, more than just keeping quiet and letting the other have “air time,” must begin with the assumption that the other may have an insight or perspective which will be new and different from one’s accustomed way of viewing the world. Listening demonstrates a hunger for that portion of reality beyond what our limited experience has already revealed. Real listening means allowing oneself to be changed by what one hears. It can mean asking a question that is genuine in its search for further understanding.
Questions in this dialog cannot be for the sake of finding what is missing in the person or the words. Nor can they be for the sake of increasing the data in one’s stereotype of women or men.
Speaking also makes demands upon us. Feminist literature has highlighted women’s need to “find their voice,” i.e., to speak from the base of their own experience and self-understanding rather than from others’ definition of them. Since this “voice” is new to some women and to the men in their lives, expressing and receiving it may take courage and practice. Sensitive listeners among both women and men will reverence this new “voice” and listen for God’s new action within it.
Frustration with the new demands made upon us in dialog can cause either speaker or listener to give up and to terminate the dialog. If we are to respond to the invitation to listen, all of us need to ask God for the grace of conversion so that we may hear God’s voice within our conversations.
“Listening [and speaking], in a spirit of partnership and equality, is the most practical response we can make and is the foundation for our mutual partnership to reform unjust structures.” The conversation of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-42) offers a scriptural paradigm for our conversations and encourages us to recognize the thirst for God that undergirds all human search and dialogue. Jesus not only breaks from cultural taboos, but he and the woman also engage in a genuine dialog which demonstrates the understanding that real listening can produce.
As you – whether man or woman – reflect upon your daily conversations with women, ask:
What was new for me in the conversation?
For what purpose did I listen or speak in the conversation?
Sr. Carol Ann Smith and Fr. Gene Merz
can be reached at the Center for Ignatian Spirituality,
P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881 / Tel: 414-288-5000
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