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Living, Not Lobbing, Stones

This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on March 28, 2004, 5th Sunday of Lent

"In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" John 8, 5

ON HEARING THIS GOSPEL of the woman taken in the act of adultery, questions come to mind. Where was the other party? Where were the scribes?

Jesus did not seem to demand a confession or purpose of amendment from the woman. Was he too dismissive of the sanctity of marriage?. Surely adultery is a threat.

The focus of the gospel appears to be the oppression and destruction of women in the name of religion. The idea of throwing stones is abhorrent to the modern mind. Then we hear of similar punishment still meted out in Africa and the Middle East in the name of Islamic fundamentalism. Human rights lawyers rather than clergy seem to be the main critics of such penalties. While stone-throwing disturbs us we ourselves live all too comfortably with other methods of death dealing, such as lethal injection. It is too easy to dismiss the problem as one that only pertains to others.

I was with a group of self consciously progressive Catholics last week who shared their outrage at the treatment of women by our Catholic hierarchy. They cite the exclusion of women from priesthood, from Holy Thursday's foot-washing rites in some dioceses and from service as acolytes, even when the Pope allows it at the Vatican. They wanted to know if I was blind to the exodus of women from the church on the issue of sexism. Since the second largest religious grouping in America after the Catholic Church are inactive Catholics, I acknowledged the pertinence of the argument, though I have personally been more impressed with the remarkable growth of the parish I serve.

While the treatment of women within our church concerns me, I have been perhaps more upset by the punitive attitude toward women by our larger society. I recall the execution of Fanny Faye Tucker in Texas, despite her religious conversion while in prison and her plea for leniency. I have always wondered why the old chivalrous attitude that protected women and children first in time of shipwreck should not apply to the death penalty as well. Efforts were made to exclude juveniles from capital punishment in Virginia this past year to no avail. Our pope lights a candle whenever a nation agrees to end its use of the death penalty.

I recall a woman I met at the Arlington detention center. She shared the scriptures reverently and handled the Eucharist with great care. One day she asked me to pray for her. She was to receive a judgment for her crime. Since she had a young child she did not want to be separated from her child for a long time. She acknowledged killing a man, who she claims was bent on shooting her mother and daughter. She was condemned to 25 years and sent to Fluviana VA, far from Arlington. His family may have had better lawyers. I do not know all the facts, but still wonder at the extent we go to protect our community and tend to believe that an oppressive attitude to women is not restricted to religious people.

When Jesus was faced with the decision to condemn, he wrote on the ground with his finger. Various interpretations are offered. Some say he was writing the sins of the accusers. More likely he was doodling, like people writing on the margins of the bulletin during a boring homily. He did not grace his questioners with an answer. For his lack of interest he was rewarded with the cross , another form of the death penalty. Some complain that there were too many lashes in Mel Gibson's movie. Doubtless, yet was not once too much?

He disassociated himself from punitive treatment of women. Let us purify religion so that as a church we may stand more clearly in the footsteps of the master. Let us use these forty days to reflect deeply on his message of forgiveness so that we can join him in a cross of reconciliation. Let that cross put an end to violence against women wherever it is found.

  or  2004 Homilies