Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is an exceptional Catholic woman from Mumbai. But make no mistake - she’s not a nun. With a Masters in Microbiology, a PhD in Medicine and a diploma in tissue banking, Astrid prefers to call herself a scientist, and heads the tissue bank of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. Holder of a diploma in Theology for the Laity, Astrid is an author of books. She writes extensively in India’s leading Catholic journals and also teaches at St. Pius X College, the Archdiocesan Seminary in Mumbai, and the Jesuit Regional Theologate, Gujarat. A member of a few Indian and Asian theological and church groups, she is engaged in women’s issues, collaborating with the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and Bombay Archdiocese. But what’s most fascinating about Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is that she is a mother of three and wife to a Hindu, living out her Christian commitment in an interfaith marriage for the past 25 years. This affable feminist theologian visited us at Vatican Radio, here in Rome, and we were curious to find out how she manages to combine her professional career at Tata Memorial Hospital with her role as a wife, a mother and a dedicated Catholic.
Click here to listen to the interview.
Let's pray for the synod. Let's pray that the bishops are willing to face the real issues of family life, including issues in the life of the church as a family. In the church as a family, the most crucial issue is the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. Hierarchy is not the problem. Patriarchy is the problem. Would Jesus, in today’s globalized world, choose 12 males to represent the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel?
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered why Jesus chose 12 to represent the 12 Tribes when he very clearly said that he came for all humanity.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we should study Genesis Chapter 1 & 2 much more to understand the qualities with which God created man and woman, qualities that were freed to be acted out in less than Godly ways by the Fall.
Clearly Eve the woman had a dominant motivation for affiliation- she was not defensive as to why she ate and even gave Adam an out. On the other hand Adam was dominated by power and went aggressively on the offensive.
What one sees is much more than male patriarchy in the hardly spoilt man who reacted according to his nature.
The Patriarchy we know today is a social development as man struggled to be in the world but not of the world; where women have convinced themselves to suppress their special affiliative motivation to be worthy of equality with man. Nowhere is there any sign of man even trying to curb his appetite for power or woman identifying this negative aspect of man’s character.
We have taken a great deal of trouble to understand animal behaviour and motivation and extrapolated it to apply to ham persons. Why do we ignore what stares us in the face – or do we doubt the authenticity of god’s word.