Pull together now.

The future of feminism in the church will depend on older and younger women working on the same team. But GenX women may not fit into "the way we've always done it."

It was a veritable who's who of Catholic feminist theology. Fifteen of the most trailblazing, forward-thinking women in the Catholic Church at the turn of the millennium. Many of them, my own personal heroines.

Alone, each of them already had helped to advance the debate about women in the church. Together, they were given the task of composing a document with words of wisdom and hope for the next generation.

The recognizable names included Elizabeth Johnson, Kathleen Norris, Joan Chittister, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Monika Hellwig, Sandra Schneiders, Diana Hayes, and Jeanette Rodriguez. All share the distinction of having delivered the annual Madeleva lecture at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana--named for the college's former president. Over the past 16 years, the lectures have been published by Paulist Press and have sold more than 150,000 copies.

As part of the Jubilee Year celebration of the series, the previous Madeleva lecturers were invited back to collaborate on the "Charter for Women of Faith in the New Millennium." Sensing a good story, I traveled to South Bend, Indiana with anticipation and high hopes for this unprecedented gathering of feminine wisdom and power.

After two days of closed-door meetings, the lecturers presented a short but powerful statement christened "The Madeleva Manifesto." Proclaimed in both English and Spanish at a public gathering April 29, it received a standing ovation.

"The way things are now is not the design of God," the manifesto declared, urging women to "re-imagine what it means to be the whole body of Christ." Its tone and content was unabashedly feminist, in the tradition of the "gospel feminism" that Sandra Schneiders had so eloquently described in the previous evening's Madeleva lecture for 2000, "With Oil in Their Lamps: Faith, Feminism, and the Future."

"We deplore, and hold ourselves morally bound, to protest and resist, in church and society, all actions, customs, laws, and structures that treat women or men as less than fully human," the manifesto said. "We pledge ourselves to carry forth the heritage of biblical justice which mandates that all persons share in right relationship with each other, with the cosmos, and with the Creator."

Although there weren't too many of us in the audience, several sections of the document were addressed directly to younger women: "To the young women of the church, we say: carry forward the cause of gospel feminism. We will be with you along the way, sharing what we have learned about the freedom, joy, and power of contemplative intimacy with God. We ask you to join us in a commitment to far-reaching transformation of church and society in nonviolent ways."

The topic of younger women--more specifically, their absence at this event and in the movement--had been raised that afternoon, during an informal conversation session for attendees of the weekend's events. After discussion at our tables, the 60 or so women were joined by Sandra Schneiders for a Q&A. One of the first questions posed was "How can we engage younger women in the cause of feminism in the church?"

Schneiders admitted it wasn't easy, because younger women--and men--tended not to join the causes for which their elders had fought so dearly. She blamed the pressure to work hard to buy nice houses in gated communities, big-screen TVs, and SUVs. The accusation made me squirm. While our generation might be guilty of individualism and materialism, we certainly aren't the first to succumb to those sins.

Later, when Schneiders noted that young people hadn't suffered because we hadn't lived through a world war, I got angry enough to speak up. I noted that unflattering generalizations about young people probably weren't helpful and instead suggested that older activists try listening to younger Catholics. "We have had different experiences than you have," I said, "and we need to be heard."

Too often, whether it's the institutional church, church-reform movements, or even groups of feminist women, the desire for younger bodies is there--but only if they come willing to fit into the existing way of doing things. I believe younger women care about women's issues in the church, but they may not go about working for change in the same way previous generations did. Because many GenXers (or whatever you call us) don't really believe they can impact institutions, they often prefer to try to change the world one person or relationship at a time.

Before we can work together, younger people need to be heard and our experiences--which often are quite different from those of our elders--need to be validated. For generations, older people have complained that "kids today" have failed to live up to their example. But before we can hear any constructive criticism, younger people (especially those in the unfairly and massively maligned Generation X) need to be affirmed for who we are. That's the first step to working on the same team.

To her credit, Schneiders responded to my comments with respect. "I think among the younger generation, there is a tremendous amount of idealism and generosity and capacity for commitment," she said. "We have to find out how to tap it. We need to model a life worth living."

At the end of the conversation session, the woman sitting next to me remarked, "I understand what you're asking for, but you don't know what it's like." It seems she was among one of the first classes of women admitted at the University of Notre Dame and had suffered name-calling and worse.

"That must have been horrible," I said. "No, I can't completely understand your experiences, but I can try. But I don't see how asking for you to value mine automatically devalues yours." She repeated, "You just don't understand," and stormed off.

It's true that younger Catholic women are often oblivious to the sacrifices and successes of our feminist foremothers. We need to educate ourselves, and then honor and celebrate the commitment and accomplishments of earlier generations.

But there's probably a thing or two they could learn from us, too, if they'd only ask us what we think and then listen--without the "how can we get them to do things our way" attitude. Isn't that what feminism was about anyway--demanding that the experiences of a group of people, which had previously not been valued, be heard and respected?

With respect for each other's differences, maybe we can begin to work together. What a manifesto we might create then!

For the entire Madeleva Manifesto, visit www.saintmarys.edu/~cfsdfm/ Madeleva.manifesto.htm.

By HEIDI SCHLUMPF, assistant editor of U.S. CATHOLIC.