Increased dialogue between Catholic men and women in the church will enable the faithful to move forward together, the incoming president of a national women religious leadership group said last weekend in Pasadena.

"Dialogue is how we will get to the truth together," said Benedictine Sister Christine Vladimiroff. "In give and take, we can discover where God is calling us at this moment."

Sister Vladimiroff and biblical scholar Dr. Phyllis Trible were speakers at an ecumenical gathering of women that brought together about 450 Christian women, mostly Catholic, to the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena June 19. Sister Vladimiroff will serve as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious beginning in August, and is prioress of the Benedictine sisters in Erie, Pa.

Considered a leading authority on issues of hunger in the U.S. and abroad, Sister Vladimiroff told The Tidings that institutional church structures need to be re-examined in light of what best serves a gathering community. A permanent synod of bishops also would increase the dialogue between the bishops of the world and Rome, she said.

Catholic women live in tension between the institutional faith and the prophetic demands of faith to liberate women from lives of domination and subordination by society and the church, said Sister Vladimiroff.

Women do have influence through frank discussion, she said. "I'd rather hang into the conversation than opt out." She encouraged women to "find venues where we can be heard."

In the church of the 21st century, she added, "we can be water trickling down the stone, and changing it. I'm convinced of that."

Images of God that portray largely male qualities and language that elevates men while portraying women as less affect the self-esteem of young girls and of women, said Sister Vladimiroff. She added that for women to be affirmed as being made in God's image, they must also see their image reflected in religious art about God.

"Self-image and God-image work closely together for a person of faith," she said.

Sister Vladimiroff also called on women to retrieve the stories of God's interaction with female characters in the Bible, stories too often left out of the lectionary, she said.

God in the Bible
Trible, a professor of biblical studies at Wake Forest University Divinity School in Winston-Salem, encouraged women to openly acknowledge their various experiences of God.

God, particularly in the Old Testament, is experienced in a myriad of ways by the characters of the Bible, at times loving, angry, faithful, merciful and vengeful. God is portrayed as a conflicted character and tensions between God and biblical characters are not always resolved, Trible noted.

Worth pondering, she said, are questions like -- Who is God for the people in the Bible? Who is God for women? Who is God for you?

The biblical characters are challenged to live by faith, because God's blessings may not come on their terms. "God does not conform to our expectations," said Trible. "'I am who I am' remains the resounding revelation."

God's ways, beyond full human comprehension, testify to the mystery and freedom of God, said Trible. Yet through all the storytelling the dominant view that emerges is of God's mercy.

In the New Testament the dominant picture of Jesus is one of love, graciousness and forgiveness. Jesus changes in relationship to those he meets, she added.

Trible cited the story of Jesus refusing to cast out demons from the daughter of a Syrian woman. She tells him that even the dogs are allowed to eat crumbs from their master. Jesus changes his mind in response to this woman and heals her daughter.

If God does change by being in relationship with humans, then "that puts a big burden on us," said Trible.

Participants in the ecumenical gathering, organized by several Christian denominations under the leadership of the Immaculate Heart Community, said the speakers and networking with other women of faith would help them to continue their work despite the obstacles.

Connie Smith, parishioner at San Gabriel Church, noted that women often form the core of a parish and thought the church misses out when women's gifts are not fully acknowledged.

Norma Puplampu, a member of Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Menlo Park and a master's student at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, said she hoped to help further change in her congregation by introducing the practice of contemplation.

Althea Lyman, recent graduate of Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, said she hoped to balance her image of God as both male and female, including qualities of being "powerful and strong and embracing and open."

Ana Reza, a pastoral associate at St. Mark University Church in Santa Barbara, where she works on issues of social justice, said she felt empowered as a Christian woman to make a difference.

"To me God is a God of justice, and that means I have to plant seeds, although I may not see the results in my lifetime," said Reza. "I have to start somewhere and not give up hope."