In a recent article from U.S. Catholic, Common Law lawyer Karen Gargamelli and her newly founded lay community Benincasa are profiled. Established in New York’s Upper West Side, Benincasa, is named and patterned after 14th century mystic and theologian, Catherine of Siena. It was established as house/retreat center, the emphasis of which is placed on prayer and the pursuit of social justice.
While Gargamelli practiced housing law she found it difficult to incorporate an ethos of Christian justice and spirituality into a secular matrix of thought. At the same time, living alone in a studio apartment, Gargamelli also felt an alienation and lack of spiritual support from her local parish. “I have a sense that before my time parishes were places where people felt supported,” laments Gargamelli, “I don’t know that the parish is really a home base anymore.” Gargamelli cites the Church’s focus on sacraments, along with less emphasis on theological reflection/adult education, as perpetrators of her spiritual malaise.
Fast-forward through twist and turns, and you find Gargamelli’s vision for activism and contemplation realized in the founding of Benincasa. When I first read this article I thought of the Beguines, a 12-14th century group of laywomen.
There were two different kinds of beguines; the majority who led a stable life in homes called beguinages. Many supported themselves with jobs or work from their own hands. All monies earned were pooled for the needs of the community. While some beguines lived a life of seclusion with strong emphasis on voluntary poverty and simplicity, there was also a need to practice charity toward the weak or disenfranchised. For those who found the calling to be “in the world,” there were three activities that stood out: charity, manual work, and teaching. A second way of living as a beguine was to be itinerant, wandering and begging much like the Franciscans of the 13th century. It was this latter way of being in the world, unenclosed, that contributed to the Church’s need to ultimately declare all women who lived outside of established religious orders as beguines to be heretics.
If you situate the beguine movement within its ecclesial context, there emerge various reasons why women were so drawn to this life. They were basically free agents, able to stay as long as they desired without a lifetime commitment, leaving with a large portion of the money they came in with. They were not subject to a Rule as nuns were, they came from all classes, and were able to live out the apostolic lifestyle or imitatio christi, popular during this time. Care of the sick, lepers and the orphaned, as well as teaching, all-the-while studying scripture and for some, composing texts, offered women agency outside the watchful eye of a church that found the female sex suspicious and dangerous.
A second impression I have from my read was Gargamelli’s age and her spiritual needs. While Pew Research does an exhaustive job of breaking down the various reasons for the exodus from Catholicism, I find a gender analysis, specifically older women understudied. In Gargamelli’s case, it was the overemphasis on sacraments at the cost of theological inquiry and spirituality that sent her searching for an alternative. For some Catholic women, once their children have received the sacrament of Confirmation, the last of the Sacraments of Initiation, Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation, it seems to me the pressure is finally off, they have fulfilled their duty as parents in the religious education of their child/ren. Now what?
Again, for some the focus turns inward with the realization that their spiritual needs have been neglected, ignored or are no longer in line with the official Church. Doctrine no longer holds but is replaced by the pursuit of a spirituality that makes sense for their lives. While much emphasis is placed on millennials and their departure from organized religion, I would love to see the same analysis given to the demographic of women over fifty and their creative and diverse ways of encountering the divine in themselves and others.
Addendum
My travels through Belgium this past January brought me to the city of Bruges. I stumbled upon the 13th century beguinage that housed some of the first beguines. Now run by the Benedictines, the grounds house a museum dedicated to these women and their daily lives. I centered my MA thesis on the beguines—how their strategic resistance to ecclesial authority shaped their own vision of what it means to live with spiritual agency. I fell in love with this movement of women who sought out inner truth and authenticity for themselves. This is preciously why the Beguine model, in my estimation, is so useful today. The medieval experiment of spiritual self-reflection and action did not begin with them, but they offer a thoughtful example of women pursing an alternative vision in the quest for the divine.
I’m uncertain if Gargamelli has studied the movement of beguine women, but I find her realized community a worthy reflection of them and what women pursuing spiritual agency are able to create.
Cynthie Garrity-Bond, feminist theologian and social ethicist, is completing her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in women studies in religion, with a secondary focus in theology, ethics and culture. Her research interest includes feminist sexual theology, transnational feminism, animal theology/welfare, women and incarceration, historical theology with particular emphasis on religious movements of women, agency and resistance to ecclesial authority, embodiment and Mariology.
feminismandreligion.com 
“A second way of living as a beguine was to be itinerant, wandering and begging much like the Franciscans of the 13th century. It was this latter way of being in the world, unenclosed, that contributed to the Church’s need to ultimately declare all women who lived outside of established religious orders as beguines to be heretics.”
I have been fascinated by these women who had the courage to live their lives as outsiders in every sense of the word. They developed into women who were self directed, women who chose lives of personal meaning while educating and assisting others along the way. I wonder who would be left if we didn’t, as a body of women, have heretics in our midst.
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Bring on the beguine. A movement whose time has come again! Thanks for this inspiring post.
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I have a very clear vision of how to establish such communities now. Anyone interested is invited to email me.
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From a woman, well over 50, thank you for this thoughtful reflection grounded in our faith history!
I am in the midst of writing on how laywomen in Anglican Canada, responded to sexual misconduct in the church, on behalf of women and children. This is based on interviews of six feminists who collaborated on initiatives in policy development and education to victim support in the 1980s and 90s. They exemplify the contributions of women working collaboratively, outside religious orders and communities. The interior or faith life of each woman led her to critical reflection and response to ecclesial silence and secrecy.
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Far too often, I find that the problem with our religious worship is that we stop there. Become frozen. Close down in the face of ‘authority’ as it’s been handed down to us. We become co-opted by dogma, ritual, the ‘way we do things around here’, and an entrenched ‘protect the institution at all costs’ mentality. We have to remember that theology is, historically and even today, ‘dictated’ by a still heavily paternalistic mindset. Contextual theologians have made some important inroads, to be sure. Women, persons of color, and the poor are writing profound things– and are finally being read. But we have so, so far to travel yet. We must ‘double down’ on our efforts to bring new, previously marginalized voices to the fore. And to remember that all theology is experiential and contextual in the end. And, if theology is ‘God Talk’, it needs to be a conversation… not a lecture from someone who assumes to possess the sole truth.
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Let’s talk about forming a platform based on the crux of femininity itself. Let’s create a world wide web of women talking to each other about HER. Lets talk about starting a financially self supporting grass roots organization. Go to http://www.cmsorority.com See my work introducing raising our consciousness of our inherent connection to the Femi nine Divine.
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I find parish liturgies lacking. It’s a “made in Rome” by elderly men kind of program.
But I know of women changing things. Creating liturgies that are vibrant and alive and relevant to our time and place. Which is what I think the Beguines were doing – finding the Spirit outside the power structure. There was a Beguine community in Washington State, but I think it has now expired with it’s last member.
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I agree with your critique! Well put. Do you know where that Beguine community was located in WA? I am brainstorming with Lisa, at Estancia Serenova, about a vision to re-establish a prototype women’s community. Lisa is in Rome at the moment researching the ancient feminine temple sites and the beguines origins.
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I don’t remember where in WA it was. I don’t think the members were living in one house, but were living in their individual homes and gathering regularly for prayer, sharing and helping each others. I’m reminded of the “Home Churches” or “Base Christian Communities”. The Beguines however were different in that they were women, and never asked for Rome’s approval. If I was going to learn more about them I wouldn’t go to Rome, but to Germany. Some German Dominican Friars got into all sorts of trouble for supporting the Beguines. Meister Eckhart for one and his students Tauler and Suso. Reading his work could also give insight into the Beguines?
Blessings on your journey.
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I plan on creating The First Institution of Women for Women in the World. Beast in the sacred common ground, the crux of our femininity: menses. SHE Who Must Be Obeyed. You can’t do your part by reading the declaration of women’s independence in the Readmore section of the blog at http://www.cmsorority.com. I welcome your wise council. Thank you Sisters.
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Beast was a misspelling for the word “based”. Sorry auto correct sucks!
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