Amazing Grace

Mahalia Jackson

When There is Nowhere Else to Speak

Sr. Joan Chittister, on meeting with Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, Argentinian spokesperson for the poor:

His deep dark eyes were sad. There was no doubt he understood. But then he dropped his shoulders, clasped his hands between his knees and began to shake his head slowly from side to side. “Jhoan, Jhoan, Jhoan,” he said. “What you say is true but you must never say it any place but here. For the sake of the church,” he said, “you must never say these things in public. Only here”---he gestured around the room—“only here behind closed doors, between ourselves.”

I understood his concerns. I know as well as he did that unity is a fragile strength. But I also knew what he didn’t. For the sake of the church, what women wanted had to be said in public because there was nowhere else for a woman to say it.

Excerpt from Called To Question: A Spiritual Memoir in this week's "Ideas in Passing" at Benetvision.