catholicPittsburgh.org

by John Houk

The feast days come so fast this year that it is difficult to keep up on the seasons. Sunday, Dec. 26 was the feast of the Holy Family and as I listened to the readings I was taken by surprise when the reader read Colossians 3:18 “Wives be subordinate to your husbands”. It took me by surprise because it has been years since I had heard this reading in Church and here is why.

Some years ago our Catholic Church became publicly aware of the prevalence of domestic violence. Women are the target of this violence 95% of the time and our Church recognized that some scripture readings were being interpreted to condone domestic violence. The U.S. Lectionary now provides for an alternative reading for the feast of the Holy Family that leaves out Col 3:18 just as we do not read verses that call for slaves to obey their masters. The Irish bishops asked Rome, in a document titled “Domestic Violence”, to omit Colossians 3:18 and six other readings from the Lectionary and added that if these passages were “quoted in any context, they should be suitably commented on in light of contemporary church teaching.”

The UCCB published “A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence” (Pub. 547-X) which says in part “As bishops, we condemn the use of the Bible to condone abusive behavior” and “Even where the Bible uses traditional language to support the social order common in the day, the image is never one that condones abuse.” Yet here we are still hearing this reading, without comment, through carelessness or intent, and one is as bad as the other. Perhaps our pastors do not know that if there are 100 women in the congregation listening to these readings that between 25 and 30 of them have been victims of violence in their own home, and that these readings continue to be used to support violent behavior on the part of husbands. Perhaps we should tell them what our bishops already know.