William J. Grimm
PublisherWhy do we feature mothers?
The Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong said that “women hold up half the sky.”
In fact, they hold up much more than half.
That is certainly the case in the Church, where they get too little recognition, thanks, or authority
for all
they do.
Women religious may get a bit more recognition than their sisters, but even those religious are
frequently marginalized by a general focus on bishops and clergy, and their paternalistic and often
misogynist authority.
The real backbone of the Church in Asia (and the rest of the world, for that matter) is Christian
mothers.
It is they along with fathers who are, in the words of blessing at the end of the baptismal rite, “the
first
teachers of their child in the ways of faith.”
Usually it is a mother who teaches a child to know God and pray.
Mothers model the love of God. They give children their first experience of unconditional love and so
teach their children to love.
Many mothers are forced to love in far-from-ideal situations.
In situations of poverty, mothers struggle to provide food, education, and medical care for their
families.
Mothers and their children are the majority of refugees.
In Asia, millions of mothers have left their children behind to support their families by work as
near-slaves in foreign lands.
In much of the continent, the trials of motherhood are worsened by discrimination and even persecution
against them as religious or ethnic minorities or
members of a low caste or social group.
Indeed, Christian mothers are unheralded heroines of the Church who keep and pass on faith in Christ.
This may be especially so in places where they are least noticed by the world at large: in rural areas,
in marginalized societies.
They are unsung, but fully worthy of recognition and praise they do not seek.
And so, UCA News presents Mothers: The Catholic Church’s unsung heroines, a new series starting in June.
UCA News reporters will take you to meet Christian mothers whose dedication to
their families and their faith is the great story of the Church today and always.
