Extraordinary Catholics
Hon. Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias
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Welcome, Extraordinary Catholics! In this podcast, Father Jayme Mathias, pastor of the only inclusive Catholic community in Austin, Texas, explores the theological foundations of Inclusive Catholicism. Also known as Independent or Autocephalous Catholics, Inclusive Catholics are the Vatican-free Catholics who are bringing sacramental justice to our world, toppling barriers to the sacraments of the Church and welcoming those excluded by other Catholic churches, including women, the divorced, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about inclusive Catholicism, please visit www.extraordinarycatholics.faith. And now, fasten your seatbelt and get ready to meet the loving and inclusive God who has been active in scripture and church history—and who continues to bring to birth Jesus’ “discipleship of equals” today!
Available episodes
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Jul 11, 2022
Women During the Monarchy
In this episode, Father Jayme explores some of the lesser-known stories of important figures during the reigns of Kings Saul, David and Solomon!
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Jun 3, 2022
From the Conquest of Canaan to the Last of the Judges
The Law of Moses that was “discovered” in the Jerusalem Temple helped to solidify the monotheism that bolstered the “warrior God” and patriarchy of ancient Israel. Regardless, several stories survive of great women—like the bold daughters of Zelophehad, the clever & wise Rahab, the tremendously respected leader Deborah, the resourceful though nameless woman of Thebez, the honorable daughter of Jephthah, the faithful Ruth, and the generous Hannah. Darker stories—like those of the deceitful Delilah, the violated & dismembered concubine of the Levite, and Ichabod’s nameless mother—also illuminate aspects of human nature and provide hope for all who encounter similar persons and challenges in life. Be inspired by these stories of the important women during the conquest of Canaan and the time of the Judges—and join the army of advocates who champion all who have been marginalized by the Church, including the many amazing and very talented women around us who deserve their rightful place in the leadership of Church and society!
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Apr 20, 2022
From the Sojourn at Sinai to the Conquest of Canaan
The Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy detail the journey of the Israelites toward the Promised Land, where—if the story is to be believed—Mosheh called them to exterminate entire peoples (Dt. 20:17). In this episode, Father Jayme explores the feminine imagery that filled the Tent of Meeting where the Israelites encountered their God, the many ways in which this structure and the later Jerusalem Temple resembled the pagan religions of surrounding cultures, the priesthood that served the Tabernacle and Temple, various taboos concerning menstruation, child birth and death, and the absolutely unbelievable story of subsequent conquest in the name of God. It would be tempting to relegate such stories to the past—except that one to eight million people died in the Americas as a result of the Spanish conquest by “sword and cross” and even today one major U.S. holiday is, when all the myths are stripped away, a day of “thanksgiving” for the genocide of 700 Pequot inhabitants of the land claimed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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Mar 30, 2022
The “Discovered” Laws Attributed to Israel’s God of Surprises
During the punishment of their “40-year” desert sojourn, the Israelites received from their surprising God some 613 laws that bound them into a nation. Or, at least that was the story told by Priestly editors more than 600 years later, when the Law was “discovered” in the walls of the Jerusalem Temple. In this episode, Father Jayme examines the ancient Israelite berit (covenant), the categorization of laws, the supposed sexual separation at Sinai, and the sad, ensuing exclusion of “impure” women from priestly duties. He also highlights the abomination of one of the Bible's most famous “clobber passages” in Leviticus 18:22, and he lifts up the “Jewish sense of justice” that underlies contemporary social justice efforts. Father Jayme concludes by comparing Inclusive Catholics today to our ancient ancestors who sojourned in the desert, sometimes looking back to the fleshpots of Egypt, but always trusting that God was leading them to the Promised Land!
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Mar 8, 2022
Miryam: Suppressed Priestess & Prophetess
In this episode, we explore a woman so important to the Jewish people that several generations of daughters were named for her—including the mother of Yēšūa (Jesus) and at least six other Miryams in the Christian scriptures! Largely drawing on the feminine voices in Rebecca Schwartz’s work, All the Women Followed Her: A Collection of Writings on Miriam the Prophet & the Women of Exodus, Father Jayme helps us to imagine Miryam leading the Hebrew women in singing, “Ashira l’Adonai—I will sing to Adonai, for Adonai has triumphed gloriously!” A confident, assertive, unmarried woman, Miryam posed a threat to the social order, and her memory as priestess and prophetess was quickly suppressed by the emerging religious hierarchy of the Davidic monarchy. Father Jayme examines the story of Miryam being struck with leprosy (Numbers 12)—a story often disinterpreted with misogynistic overtones—noting that Moshe (Moses) received the same gift when he was commissioned as a prophet (Ex. 4:6). As a result, God was kindled within Miryam, and, like her brother Aharon (Aaron), who prepared himself to become a priest by spending seven days in the desert, Miryam withdrew to the desert for seven days, cementing her place as a priestess and prophetess in the ancient Jewish tradition. Father Jayme concludes with Schwartz’s words, noting that Miryam “symbolizes a messianic era of full equality… as a patron saint for any woman rabbi or scholar who has had to fight for a place at the table.”
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Feb 25, 2022
Refusing to Cooperate with Oppression: Shifra, Pua, Jochebed & Pharaoh’s Daughter
After the invasion of the Hyksos and an early attempt at “monotheism” in Egypt, the Book of Exodus picks up with the saga of Mosheh (or Moses), the future liberator of the Hebrews, whose story often mirrors legends of King Sargon and of the Egyptian court official Sinuhe. Uniquely, though, in a larger literary collection that often steals the light from daughters and other women, Exodus spotlights the actions of heroines: the defiant midwives Shifra & Pua, the resourceful Jochebed, the compassionate daughter of Pharaoh who overcame racial prejudice and injustice, the “priestess” Tzippora, and later the great leader, Miryam. In this episode, Father Jayme casts light on ancient Egypt, the nocturnal nomadic festival that gave rise to Passover, and apotropaic attempts to pacify destroyer gods and angels. Noting Jack Miles’ “equation” for the fusion that resulted in the monos theos, the single character who is the God of monotheism, he shares Miles’ conclusion regarding patriarchal scriptural texts: “God is a warrior, and the Bible is about victory.” In this context, even the compassionate, proactive women of Exodus who refuse to cooperate with oppression are subsumed into the colonizing patterns of men. This episode concludes with the wisdom of J. Cheryl Exum: “Exodus begins with a focus on women. Their actions determine the outcome. From its highly positive portrayals of women to its testimony that the courage of women is the beginning of liberation, Exodus 1:8—2:10 presents the interpreter with powerful themes to draw on: women as defiers of oppression, women as givers of life, women as wise and resourceful in situations where a discerning mind and keen practical judgment are essential for a propitious outcome.” Thank God for inclusive expressions of Catholicism that appreciate and welcome the gifts of all people—including those who throughout history have been marginalized and denied their rightful place in the church and its scriptures!
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Feb 11, 2022
Tamar & Judah, and Yōsef, Zelikhah & Asnat
In this episode, Father Jayme concludes our exploration of the Book of Genesis, contrasting the infidelity of Judah with the virtue of his brother, Yōsef. This episode illuminates the stories of the important women in the last quarter of Genesis: Yeshua’s ancestor, Tamar; Zelikhah, the wife of Pharaoh’s eunuch who attempted to seduce Yōsef; and Yōsef’s wife, Asnat, who complemented Yōsef and allowed the duo to replace the Egyptian gods Osiris and Isis. Learn about the southern tribe that included King David’s capital city, the northern tribes who told the Yōsef story, the marrying of women to entire families in fratriarchal societies, the ancient practice of hospitality prostitution, ancient taboos of “spilling seed,” Jewish & Muslim tellings of the Yōsef story, the type of people God “prefers,” and the absence of God in the Yōsef saga. Above all, be inspired to be a “Yōsef” in this world, loving and forgiving others as Yōsef did—which is at the heart of what it means to be an…extraordinary Catholic!
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Feb 4, 2022
The Matriarchs: From Rivkah to the Children of Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah & Rachel
After the death of Sarah, her widower, Avraham, secured a wife for their son, Yitzhak—an early indication of patrilocal marriage. The bride, Rivkah, was the granddaughter of Sarah’s sister, Milkah, setting in motion yet another biblical “family wreath.” Milkah’s husband, Nahor (who was Avraham’s brother) provides us the first biblical instance of concubinage, foreshadowing Yaakov’s wives, Leah and Rachel, and their slave girls and half-sisters, Bilhah and Zilpah, who became Yaakov’s concubines. Like mother, like son: Rivkah and Yaakov were tremendous cooks and connivers, depriving Yaakov’s older brother—the namesake of the Edomites—of his birthright and providing an example for Jewish men. In this episode, Father Jayme explores the misogyny against the women and goddesses of the neighboring Hittites, the shrunken-head idols of ancient peoples, and the ancient practices of castration and human sacrifice. He concludes with the story of the rape of Dinah, an act blamed on her by the misogynistic, patriarchal society that we pray might soon be buried in the past.
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Jan 25, 2022
Sarah: Suffering a Twisted Man and His Twisted God
The Israelites’ capricious destroyer god turned from the universal flood and the tower of Babel, to focus on one couple, appearing to Avram seven times and making of him a few incredible asks. Catholics are programmed to see Avram/Abraham as a model and example of faith and trust—despite his cowardice, acting out, doubts, lies, and his intent to murder his own son. In this episode, Father Jayme shifts attention to the saintliness of Sarai/Sarah, who suffered her husband’s antics, visions, and seeming psychotic breaks. He concludes: “She put up with a lot more from her husband than many of us would ever tolerate!” Father Jayme shares the saga of Avram’s/Abraham’s seven theophanies, through the apocryphal stories of Sarah’s death and burial. He draws parallels to older Ugaritic tales of the child born to the elderly Danil and his barren wife, Kirta, and he addresses Søren Kierkegaard’s work, Fear & Trembling, which explored the ethical implications of Abraham’s actions. Father Jayme cites the many etiological explanations found in the saga of Sarah and Abraham, noting how these patriarchal legends bolstered the Davidic kingdom’s desire to expand its territory outside the tribes of Israel, to the tribes that purportedly descended from Isaac’s seven stepbrothers. This episode concludes with apocryphal stories concerning the idolatry of Avram’s father, Terach, and Father Daniel Helminiak’s unpacking of the “sin of Sodom.”
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Jan 18, 2022
From Domination to Deluge: Yahweh’s Regret of Sexism & Patriarchy
One midrash tradition attributed the universal flood to the polygyny and patriarchy of the ancient world, which was first documented in the Hebrew scriptures with Lemekh’s wives, Adah and Zillah (Gen. 4:19). In this episode, Father Jayme transports listeners back in time, to our worship of the Great Mother Goddess of fertility and sustenance for some 35,000 years. The nascent patriarchy of the Agricultural Revolution then marginalized the “hidden” and “absent” women in scriptures. Drawing on the works of Diarmuid Ó Murchú and Marija Gimbutas, Father Jayme notes how new notions of warfare and conquest led to the creation of a new god in human image: the conquering LORD God of hosts! Father Jayme shares: “Like Cain, the Kurgan warrior spirituality conquered, putting other spiritualities to the sword and casting the long shadow of patriarchy over the land.” Thus, the quick transition in Genesis 6 from the “sons of God” dominating the “daughters of humanity,” to God’s regret that God had created humankind. Ideas of polygyny persisted, and men in the ancient world felt the right to possess sex-object wives in addition to their childbearing wives. The situation was compounded by societal structures that valued sons over daughters, viewing sons as gain and daughters as loss. Father Jayme concludes that continued sexism and patriarchy, expressed in our domination of others and of Mother Earth, have set in motion forces that may be no less destructive than the universal flood in the days of Naamah & Noach.
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Jan 11, 2022
Ḥavvā: Yahweh’s Courageous Coworker Completing Creation
Misogynist misinterpretations of the mythic fall of humankind in Genesis 3 led to the vilification of Ḥavvā (Eve), which fit with the disparaging of Adam’s first wife, Lilith, in the rabbinical tradition. The ensuing denigration of women throughout Christian history climaxed with the Inquisition’s torture and murder of thousands of women accused of witchcraft. Dr. Pamela Milne writes, “The story of Eve in the book of Genesis has had a more profoundly negative impact on women throughout history than any other biblical story.”
In this episode, Father Jayme explores contemporary reinterpretations of the heroic Ḥavvā, with the hope that she might experience the same vindication as Lilith. Drawing largely from the defense of Ḥavvā in an article in the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism by Jewish feminist lawyer Sally Frank, he concurs with Dr. Phyllis Trible that Ḥavvā might be better viewed as “an intelligent, informed, perceptive…theologian, ethicist, hermeneut and ra…
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Jan 4, 2022
Equal or Superior? Woman/Women in Genesis 1-2
The Priestly and Yahwist creation stories in Genesis 1-2 contain numerous elements borrowed from Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian & Sumerian creation myths, but they also possess unique elements that shed light on ancient understandings of human nature. Dr. Phyllis Trible argues that the Priestly account in Genesis 1, with its creation of men and women on the sixth day of creation, advances a vision of the equality of all persons—despite sexual differentiation—since all humankind is created in God’s image and likeness. Throughout the centuries, the Yahwist account in Genesis 2 has been used as a prooftext to reinforce male supremacy, gynophobia, misogyny and sexism. Dr. Pamela Milne notes that “patriarchal interpreters claim that woman is inferior because she is created last (Gen. 2:22). But these same interpreters never argue that humans are inferior to animals because they were created later (Gen. 1:27).” Judith Antonelli goes further, speaking of the gynandromorph/androgynos…
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Dec 31, 2021
“Mostly True”: The Bible is Not a Book of History
Inspired by feedback to Episode 1 by Father Libardo Rocha, a former professor of dogmatic theology at a pontifical university in Rome, Father Jayme acknowledges the “Truth-o-meter” determination that the soundbite used as the title of Episode 1 is only “Mostly True.” He explores how much we can know of the historicity of the people and events in the scriptures, with a particular focus on the historical Jesus. Drawing on the scholarship of the likes of John Meier, Rudolph Bultmann, Norman Perrin and Nicola Denzy Lewis, Father Jayme notes that much of what we know about Jesus of Nazareth is “faith knowledge.” While acknowledging that there are elements of history in the scriptures, he cites 15 specific examples that serve to warn us against leading people to believe that the Bible might be “a book of history.” He concludes with Dr. Denzy Lewis’ observation, which is especially poignant for Extraordinary Catholics: “The Bible can be meaningful, even without needing it…
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Dec 28, 2021
"The Bible is a Book of Theology, Not a Book of History": How Inclusive Catholics Interpret Scriptures
Catholics sometimes confuse God’s Word (Christ) with the “Word of the Lord” they hear proclaimed at Mass. Because the latter comes to us through human intermediaries, interpreting the scriptures quickly gets messy! Some Catholics take literally the Roman Catholic Catechism’s suggestion that “sacred scripture is the speech of God, as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 81). Others recognize that the Bible is a book of theology, not a book of history or science. In this episode, Father Jayme notes the complicated history of the Bible, which didn’t come down from heaven complete, hardbound, and to the singing of angels. No scribes were present in the Garden of Eden or at the birth or crucifixion of Jesus. Instead, human beings penned stories decades—and sometimes centuries—after purported events, employing the limited vocabularies of their ancient languages and worldviews, and sometimes recording errors and contradictions. Other human bein…
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Dec 22, 2021
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