the churching of women: new directions
As we’ve noted, the churching of women is rarely practiced today. In some traditions it’s been superseded by a more general thanksgiving for the addition of a child to a family, but very little liturgical space tends to be made these days for the particular experience of childbearing. However, in many of the sources I’ve been reading, there are exciting and thought-provoking hints of a reimagined or reinstated churching rite.
Carrie Frederick Frost reflects with hope on a gentle reshaping of the traditional Orthodox churching rite:
A new mother and father make their way to church with their new infant daughter. They are happily greeted by the priest and the rest of the parish just before Liturgy. The priest prays for the mother’s well being, her healing from childbirth, her reception back into church after an absence after childbirth, and her salvation. He also prays that the baby will be baptized in good health and will forever remain in Christ’s sheepfold… At some point—perhaps this day or another—the baby is baptized… All present are aware of the awe that is a new person, a new child of God, born into the world, now formally dedicated to Him, and all are warmly welcoming of the mother in her return to church after childbirth. This scenario is not just imagined; this scene plays out regularly in some jurisdictions in our country today. May the experience of all mothers re-entering the church someday be so welcoming.1
I love Frost’s emphasis on the potential for welcoming and awe in the churching ritual, even as she creates space for the less joyful emotions that might be present (for example, the need for healing). To me, the most beautiful, life-giving thing about churching is its potential for acknowledging God’s presence in all the aspects of early motherhood: for giving thanks for God’s protection and provision, and for pleading God’s help and presence in danger and sorrow.
Several authors have listed various aspects of churching to be included in present-day rites. Natalie Knodel writes, “...the prayers and symbols used in the rite must employ two perspectives: on the one hand they have to focus on the act of birth and include prayers of thanksgiving for safe delivery. On the other hand they have to focus on the woman’s new role as a mother.”2 Liesbet Duerinck Van Gysegem, in her proposal for a Lutheran ritual for women after childbirth, states that it “needs to address two distinct needs: the need for a rite of passage and the need for a rite of healing.”3 Paula Rieder proposes, with a slightly different emphasis, that “healing and blessing after, and thanksgiving for safety through, childbirth should be the focus of churching. Not thanksgiving for the child, not the passage into parenthood—those both should be covered by the baptism liturgy, since they apply to non-birthing parents.”4 I’m inclined to agree with Rieder, especially because this may help us navigate complex situations. In paedobaptist traditions, the baptism liturgy can be inclusive of fathers, adoptive parents, and other non-birthing parents marking the passage into parenthood; and perhaps churching can become more inclusive of parents of loss. What elements of churching resonate most with you? What would you want a modern-day rite to include or emphasize?
Rieder quotes Odo of Châteauroux (c. 1190-1273): “You know that the Purification is a feast of women; in fact, it should be for a woman and by women.” Knodel writes, 800-odd years later, “A feminist reconsideration of the churching rite has to take into account that this remains the only place within the liturgical tradition where women are at least taken note of as women though it also shows how women were not given space on their own account except within the limitations of their reproductive role.” A ritual where women are seen as women, I would propose, must be substantially created by women or with women’s perspectives, whatever our tradition’s views on women’s ordination. This would perhaps help correct some of the misogynistic elements or interpretations of historic churching practices. As an example along these lines, I’ve been mulling over how to hold space for many women’s experiences of staying home from church until churching as alienating and harmful, while receiving on the other hand the blessing of postpartum rest. (Perhaps a key shift could be emphasizing women’s agency in the timing of the ritual?) Additionally, a churching ritual primarily formed by women’s perspectives would help open the door for pastoral care specific to early motherhood. I love Van Gysegem’s insight that the “ministerial leader [is given] an opportunity to accompany the person who gave birth by listening to and talking about the birth story: the joy and pain that might follow birth, questions of meaning, or conversation about personal faith and relationship with God. As such, this might help in identifying possible post-partum depression, depressive symptoms, or other situations that require pastoral or other care.” What would it mean, to you, for churching to be specifically by and for women?
In discussing the present and future of churching, Margaret Houlbrooke contrasts the “ancient, complex message” with “modern ceremonies”, the “forbidding older service” with “something more joyful, inclusive, and accessible”.5 I wholeheartedly affirm that celebration and inclusivity should be important considerations going forward, but I also don’t think it’s bad to retain a complex theological message, as well as something of a “forbidding” mood, in the sense of acknowledging what I’ve elsewhere called the dark places of new motherhood. It seems to me that the very essence of new motherhood in the fallen creation, not yet restored, is this tension between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. How can we make space, in general and in possible churching rituals, for both joy and sorrow in the passage into motherhood?
The Churching of Mothers in the Orthodox Church (Carrie Frederick Frost, PhD)
Rite for the Introduction and Healing of Women after Childbirth (Liesbet Duerinck Van Gysegem)
On the Purification of Women: Churching in Northern France, 1100-1500 (Paula M. Rieder)