Rage and Resistance: A Theological Reflection on the Montreal Massacre.

Margaret Kechnie is head of the Women’s Studies Program at Laurentian
University and the co-editor of Changing Lives: Women in Northern
Ontario.

O’Donovan uses the motif of a journey to explore questions regarding the Montreal Massacre. Her travels began December 6, 1989, when Marc Lapine entered the École Polytechnique and killed 14 female engineering students before ending his own life. Her travels take her into an unknown country, “a large darkness.” The country she thought she knew so well had changed. O’Donovan first wonders how the massacre could occur. She goes on to explore why violence against women continues to this day.

As her guide, the author uses the works of Canadian theologian and social critic Gregory Baum. Although she admits that Baum’s analysis of society is not informed by violence as her present view is, she argues that his theology is important because his position is that freedom from violence against women is only possible if we acknowledge that it exists and that it is an integral part of the oppression under which women live. O’Donovan also uses the work of feminist sociologist Dorothy Smith. She identifies with Smith because her theories begin with the position of real women and not with a sociology that divorces itself from the lives of people.

While these theorists help O’Donovan, she acknowledges that problems continue to thwart her search for a world where women are safe from violence. Change will only occur when we acknowledge that violence is structured and built on fundamental inequalities. While we are more aware of violence against women today, it continues to plague us. We need more than awareness; we have to acknowledge and combat the societal, institutional, and attitudinal supports for violence. We have created the social order and we can change it. In theological terms, she argues, we share in the ongoing creation of the world. O’Donovan’s contribution to our understanding of the Montreal Massacre and violence against women in general challenges us to continue the struggle against all forms of violence, particularly violence against women.