 |
 |
 |
|
|
|---|
|
 |
Arlene Anderson was born March 6, 1929, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 1946 she embarked on a long and fruitful academic life by gaining a BA in
English literature at Marquette University in 1950, then going on to do her
Masters in English and Comparative literature at University of Wisconsin
Madison 1950-1957 (ABD); MA 1952. In 1957, while a graduate student at the
University of Wisconsin, Arlene married fellow student Leonard Swidler. It was
to be a happy union, a partnership of like minds. Arlene continued teaching at
UWM as well as Valparaiso University. In 1957 she and Leonard went to Germany
where she taught at University of Maryland in Munich. While there she had
collaborated with Leonard's research on the "Una Sancta Movement," the only
ecumenical effort then to include Catholics. After returning in 1960, while
both were on the faculty of Duquesne University, Arlene conceived of the
revolutionary idea of an American scholarly periodical devoted to ecumenism
with Catholic participation there being no comparable publication at this time.
Arlene enthused Leonard and then recruited Elwyn A. Smith, Professor at
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and together founded the JOURNAL OF ECUMENICAL
STUDIES, first published by Father Henry Koren, CSSP, Director of Duquesne
University Press.
According to Leonard it was at this time that Arlene began
consciously to think, act, research and finally write as a budding feminist,
especially in the area of religion. 'She published Christian feminist articles
long before Mary Daly or Rosemary Ruether did.' Arlene's first "feminist"
article was "The Male Church" in Commonweal, June 24, 1966.
In May, 1971 the Swidlers founded an ecumenical bi-monthly
newsletter of the Philadelphia Task Force on Women in Religion entitled GENESIS
III, later joined on the editorial staff, among several others, by their
daughter Carmel Swidler. The newsletter expanded considerably, and to its last
issue, May, 1975, Arlene was the its primary editor. During the 1970's, apart
from many books and articles, Arlene was in great demand as a lecturer. She was
popular as she was not confrontational, her style was to facilitate dialogue
and critical thinking and raise consciousness on important issues.
Leonard Swidler, commenting on Arlene's work on Word magazine, the
official journal of the National Council of Catholic Women, which she edited
'Andie knew how far and fast she could lead the Catholic women toward a sense
of mature responsibility. She said tough things, but was able to slide them
into a velvet glove so that they were not rejected. She was interested in
raising the consciousness of women, and men, and moving them in the direction
of greater self-awareness and responsibility - not scoring points. She was as
radical and penetrating in her analysis and thought as any of the feminists in
those days, like our then friend Mary Daly, but wanted her public utterances to
effect positive changes in people's, especially women's, lives.'
Arlene succumbed after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease on
24th May 2008 and is survived by her husband, two daughters, Carmel (born 1958)
and Eva (born 1962) and granddaughter Willow. She will be remembered for her
work fighting discrimination towards women in the Church as well as her
passionate support of many other human rights causes.
Sources:
http://www.sepawoc.org/WOC%20NEWSLETTER%203-08.pdf
http://astro.temple.edu/~dialogue/Swidler/andievit.html
http://www.ecumene.org/Swidler75/
Work by Arlene Swidler on this website
Arlene and Leonard Swidler
A friend and work colleague, Ingrid Shafer
" - I wrote this poem -- or more accurately, the poem wrote
itself -- about a decade ago when I first met Leonard and Andie and was deeply
moved by their bond".
NIGHT WALK
ubi caritas et amor Deus ibi est
Together
hand in hand
they walked under the
stars,
along the Neckar banks,
fingers & minds intertwined
laughing at silly things
like local towns & villages
all ending
in "ingen,"
partners in marriage & faith
& Wissenschaft,
talking & talking & talking,
sharing ideas & dreams,
inspiration one to the other,
shuttling scripture & thought into
the fabric of everyday,
discussing Frauenpriestertum
& Una Sancta
& Milton & Metzger
& the wonder of quickening life in her
swelling belly, & Paradigmawechsel
& oekumenische Theologie,
& Fledermaus & Figaro & Firebird . . .
re-membering,
weaving new future,
from the strands of the past
on the loom of the
present
her-story, his-story,
their-story: Safe in the palm of God's
hand
Hand in hand
apart
they walk under the stars
at the edge
of the abyss.
She who could once out-think & out-argue
a whole nest
of magisterial misogynists
in several tongues,
now chatters aimlessly
on and on,
a torrent of words, still clever but unanchored,
round &
round, a record stuck
in an encapsulated past,
tradita torn from
traditio,
a starving tree, no longer green at the tips,
calcified roots
incapable of absorbing
the fresh waters of life, neither sprouting
future,
nor yet blessed with oblivion
but tortured by the agonizing
knowledge
of the unraveling of her mind,
the shutting down of
synapses,
conduits, & links,
raging, flopping, wildly at times,
piscis drowning on land,
while her companion holds on to her hand
feeling her slip from his grasp,
hanging on to Nietzsche's cliff
or the
Jain jungle traveler's well edge
with torn, bleeding, weakening fingers
in despairing faith that somehow
his love can save them both . . .
The
shepherd boy bites off the serpent's head
and rips the monster out of his
throat,
hurling peals of cosmic laughter
into the void
while the
voracious python, jaws agape,
lies in wait
below . . .
Where is God
now?
She, with the brilliance of
a dying ember's flash, suddenly
invents
a sparkling pun, & they laugh
into the night,
for this
eternal moment:
hand in hand
Together.
ihs, 1994-95