Who is going to heaven? Is celibacy ever a good idea? Is Scripture a world for women? Theologian and musician Verbum Dei Sister, Dr Maeve Heaney, posed these questions in her latest book ‘Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt’, reports The Catholic Leader.
“The best definition of theology is faith seeking understanding,” Sr Maeve said.
“I wanted to make a case for music as a form of meaning-making and as a tool for uncovering deep questions.”
Dr Maeve Heaney VDMF, with her book, Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt’. PHOTO: Catholic Leader.
Sr Maeve launched her book at the Australian Catholic University’s Banyo campus in October.
She was particularly proud of the book’s title.
“A suspended note is a chord that is unresolved,” she said.
“It stretches and creates a sense of unfinished or waiting, but usually it resolves and comes back into the note.”
Sr Maeve compared the musical sense of suspension to contemporary theological questions rooted in uncertainty and doubt.
“Suspended God is about questions that challenge our faith,” she said.
“God does not have problems with questions; we are the ones who do.”
From Karl Rahner to Rosemary Haughton, Dr Heaney’s latest book explored the link between famous Christian thinkers, theological questions and the universal language of music.
Every chapter was accompanied by an original song, written and performed by Sr Maeve.
During the launch of Sr Maeve’s book, guest speaker and theologian Professor David Tacey described her work as “highly academic and intellectual, yet deeply personal”.
“Don’t pick this book up and assume you will be left unchanged,” he warned the audience.
“It encourages deep and thoughtful questions.”
Sr Maeve’s missionary and academic work has taken her to Spain, Italy, England and now Australia.
The Irish-born theologian said travel had influenced her appreciation of theology and music.
“I think the Irish adore home, but deep down we are also travellers,” she said.
“Leaving home was probably one of the hardest things I did when I was 17 but travelling taught me about the beautiful nuance of culture.
“Individual expressions of faith can be culturally contextual, so by nuancing things we can access what different cultures have of the Spirit of God.”
Sr Maeve is president of the Australian Catholic Theological Association and the director of the Xavier Centre for Theological Formation at ACU.
She recently performed an original song, co-written with singer-songwriter Toni Janke, at the recent Australian Plenary Council assembly in Sydney where, amongst other themes, members discussed women’s leadership in the Church.
Sr Maeve would like to see a more inclusive structural system that included women’s voices in decision-making processes in areas relating to Church structures and governance.
The inclusion of the baptised in synodal ways was something Pope Francis had called for and Brisbane archdiocese was committed to.
“I think there could be more synodal ways of addressing collaborative leadership,” she said.
“I also think that if we broaden our understanding of the Church, we would see, or recognise, women’s capabilities and the leadership they already show differently.
“I can’t tell you exactly what it all might look like.
“But I think in shaping it, if we are trusting and courageous, we will recognise it.”
Sr Maeve described the book as her “attempt to grapple with what theology could and should be”.
But what does the future of theology look like in a contemporary and increasingly secular society?
Sr Maeve hoped it involved music.
“I would love for it to be normal for people to come and make music as part of their theological expression,” she said.
“I want to see spaces where young people talk about culture, the arts and theology, and form new questions, without fear.
“That’s what I want to see”.
This article by Hannah Kennelly was published in The Catholic Leader.