Celebrating Women in Theology (CWIT) partners with various colleges and departments within the University of Toronto in order to bring the university community together to listen, share and explore ideas and to celebrate the contributions of women.

In 2019, CWIT teamed up with with the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College to host a panel discussion on the importance of listening. In 2016, CWIT partnered with the Toronto School of Theology (TST) for its inaugural event to celebrate women’s voices.

The following messages from our partners illustrate how good things can happen with collaboration and how communion is fostered by teaming up.

PARTNERSHIP WITH:

THE TORONTO SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY (TST)

The Gift of Listening to the Other, the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, is a critical one for our world at the present time. So much injustice and violence are part of life on this planet, particularly affecting the lives of women and girl children. Yet in the mist of all that seeks to dehumanize and tear down there are countless stories of indominable courage in the midst of terror and pain, stories of abuse and the determination to become whole again – countless stories, which women from every part of the globe want to share and are looking for someone willing to listen. 

This is a different kind of listening than what we are used to.  So often we already have our response ready even as the speaker is merely half-way through sharing her experience.  We hear and we don’t hear because to hear is to listen and having listened to take on the story as our own. To listen, genuinely listen to the other demands focus and attention; it requires a commitment to hold the story as sacred and a willingness to respond.  

May this International Women’s Day be that kind of gift to all of us – a gift of truly listening to the other.

Dr. Dorcas Gordon, Interim Director, TST

The first TST-wide celebration of women in theology on March 8, 2016, was more than a chapel service, two panels, and a banquet.  It was the crystallization of a whole history of women at the Toronto School of Theology and beyond, a convergence point for diverse elements and forces.  From women born between the 1930s and the 2000s we heard reflections, exhortations, and music.  We connected with their stories of yearnings and encounters, uncertainties and achievements, puzzlements and discoveries, journeys begun, interrupted, and resumed.  And we celebrated.

Well within my own lifetime, there was a time when the gifts of women for theology weren’t at all widely recognized, and the ministries of women weren’t commonly affirmed.  Actually, that time isn’t entirely past.  Part of the reason for celebrating women in theology is precisely that they are here, despite some adverse odds.  “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

What do I remember from this very rich day?  The quiet time of worship with song, scripture, and candles.  The testimonies of women who took heart and inspiration from the examples of their forbears, saints like the visionary martyr Perpetua, the early Methodist preacher Elizabeth Dart, and my former TST colleague Mary Malone.  A panel of women calling us to join them in the fight for social justice.  Marion Taylor’s exuberant stories of rescuing generations of woman theologians, Bible interpreters, preachers, and writers from the River Lethe.  The tributes to Margaret O’Gara, one of the most influential and inspiring Canadian theologians of the past generation.  Appreciations for the extraordinary career of Lois Wilson, who doesn’t need any Very Reverends or The Honourables to dazzle us. The young pianist and the even younger photographers.  The spirit.  The blessing.

All this was put together by a creative, versatile, and committed group of women who shared in the planning and development of it.  Two members of our TST staff, Eve Leyerle and Diane Henson, were glad to give many hours towards logistical support.  But without a doubt the lion’s share of credit for this extraordinarily successful day belongs to the amazing Claudia Miatello, who has the very rare gift of bringing together breadth of vision and attention to detail, along with contagious enthusiasm, and an unconquerably positive spirit.

The first time an International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8 was in Saint Petersburg in 1917, and it triggered the Russian Revolution.  Our event in Hart House in 2016 was a lot less dramatic than that, but may God use it, too, as a transformative moment.

Dr. Alan Hayes – Former Director, Toronto School of Theology