Loyalty in exile (or being a Christian and a feminist?)

understand each other a little

understand the reason

of the reasons you have

to have reasons

has no object.

What matters

are the illuminations

the riot of blood

the movement of the veins

and open eyes.

Hugo Gutierrez Vega, excerpt from:

We must sleep a whole night II


It was my fifteen-year-old ceremony when I consciously decided to disobey what -should be-, I showed up at mass without prior confession…, upset with the priest for an observed conduct, I did not agree with the treatment he had towards my mother; He was close to my grandparents, the chapel was across the street, he visited them regularly, they invited him to eat, they talked, etc. I remember she rushed my mother to serve her she told her she was taking a while… she passed her in the kitchen. My mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, her hands had been deformed a few years ago, this did not stop her from continuing to carry out activities at home and driving a standard car, however she often felt observed by people, such as when she went to church on Sundays , said she felt the eyes of people on her, on her hands bent by the disease, she stopped attending, she was part of the women’s catholic action for years, she attended workshops and supported the activities that were organized in the kermeses to generate resources destined to improve construction, it was a large group of women.

The ceremony in gratitude for my fifteen years was the beginning of my senti-thinking autonomy. Fidelity to myself. As an adult, this loyalty has led me to split, to find spaces for dialogue beyond my immediate social, family, religious context, to listen to other voices with which I identify in praxis, physical and virtual spaces where I find fantastic women. .

Here, in the city where I live, I had the fortune to meet, to be with Rocío Morfín Otero, teacher in Gestalt psychology, to participate in her workshop From sorceresses to prophets in the year 2015; focused on women to work and heal individually and collectively. Her work is a rescue of the women of the Bible presented in a friendly format, a book and a deck of cards that refresh the archetypal feminine imagery loaded with meanings, women speak to our lives in the present. A tool that facilitates group work, sisterhood, growth for and among us, feel free to replicate a short version of this in small groups later.

In 2017, the first continental congress of feminist theology held in a recognized private university took place in CdMx, the experience set a precedent. In addition to presentations, dialogue tables, approaching, greeting and taking a photo with the admired theologian Ivonne Guevara, chatting in the coffee line with Father Alberto Athié, meeting and greeting fellow Tampiqueño Luis Madaria Alzaga, the event provided attendees with the opportunity to acquire recent publications, I acquired the book Mystics, prophets and believer reformers for today’s world, from the superior pastoral institute, first its cover attracted me, three hummingbirds stand out, then the title; I nourish my spirituality with reading, meditation, prayer, contemplation that are so necessary, sometimes more. Through this book I know of Octogésima Adveniens (OA), Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church (DSI), Gaudium et Spes, which encompass various commitments whose synthesis is oriented to fight against the structural causes of poverty, inequality, lack of work, land and housing, the denial of social and labor rights, to confront their destroyers, is a way of making history (Pope Francis speaks of solidarity).

The word book evokes in me significant places and experiences, life processes, to investigate, to venture into intuition, my right to write, to write myself. The search for characters from the past such as Hildegarda Von Bingen, writer, mystic, composer, holistic doctor, theologian, an approach to the aesthetic worlds created by her in the 12th century, appointed doctor of the church in 2012 by Benedict XVI. Knowing her letters thanks to the hard work of A Azucena A. Fraboschi (1942-2014), to the team that she formed at the Catholic University of Argentina. Passionate, dare to divulge something of what was discovered, in the municipal library. I have one of the 500 copies of the first edition thanks to my teacher and friend Francesca Gargallo on her last trip to Argentina, right at the Catholic university, she got it for me on request when asking for that favor. Francesca, philosopher, autonomous feminist, beloved referent of our American feminism, a few weeks ago she stopped stepping on this earth, her illuminating footprints-letters along the way I felt thinking left seed-fruit in so many people she touched. It was she who stayed in her house during the days of the congress, she admired Ivonne Guevara, I heard her comment on the exploits of the theologian in Brazil.

Women’s voices, in letters, books, cross the borders of space-territory, of time, embrace us feelingly thinking, perpetuate the memories of their lives, their steps through the world, our world, claimed. They are words, living prayers, useful praxis, flashes of light that illuminate the human future. They, lunar crucibles, accompany.

Loyalty in exile (or being a Christian and a feminist?)