Last modified: Saturday, April 15, 2006 11:48 PM EDT A woman of faith BY GLORIA LaBOUNTY/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF It's the statement that is central to the Easter story and to Christian belief through the ages: `` I have seen the Lord.'' That quote in the Gospel of John is attributed not to any of the 12 apostles, but to Mary Magdalene, the only person who witnessed all of the key events that are at the core of Christianity. She was not only at the crucifixion and the burial, and then at the discovery of the empty tomb, but she also was the first to see the risen Christ. Then she became the first to spread the good news of the resurrection to others, giving her the title of `` apostle to the apostles'' in early church history. `` The one who is consistently there is Mary Magdalene,'' said Mary Joan Leith, professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton. `` She has a real experience of the risen Christ.'' Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of the Cleveland-based FutureChurch, a national organization of Catholics that honors Mary Magdalene and that is pushing for expanded roles for women in the Church, said the four gospels show that Mary Magdalene was there through it all. `` We do not tell the story of the resurrection without the story of Mary Magdalene,'' Schenk said. Yet the image of Mary Magdalene has traveled a rocky road through the centuries, one that characterized her first as preacher and early church leader, then as sinner and prostitute, and finally as a saint, and even a symbol for women's leadership in the church. Now comes Dan Brown's novel, `` The DaVinci Code,'' and the movie based on it that will come to theaters in May, a work of fiction that gives Mary Magdalene an entirely different identity as the wife of Jesus and the mother of his children. Scholars widely dismiss this theory, saying there is no historical evidence that Jesus was married to her, or that he was even married at all. That point is made in `` The Da Vinci Deception,'' a book that will be used in an upcoming four-week study group on `` The Da Vince Code'' at LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro that opens on Monday, April 24 at 7 p.m. Some scholars say Brown's depiction actually demeans Mary Magdalene by focusing on her role as it relates to a man rather than on her role as a leader in the early church in her own right. The Rev. John Vidmar, professor of theology at Providence College and the co-writer of the newly released book, `` The Da Vinci Code and the Catholic Tradition,'' said Brown actually does Mary Magdelene a disservice through his portrayal. Brown wants her to be seen as a goddess because of her supposed marriage to Jesus, Vidmar said, yet he does not want Jesus to be seen as divine. `` My contention is, where does that leave Mary Magdalene if He is just a man?'' he said. The depiction of her as a sinner and prostitute came out of the sixth century when church leaders merged various biblical stories of women into one image that was attached to Mary Magdalene. That view was clarified in recent times, and the Church now honors her as a saint with her own feast day. Vidmar said Mary Magdalene is so highly regarded by his religious order, the Dominicans of the Order of Preachers, that she is one of its patron saints. `` She was the first witness to the resurrection,'' Vidmar said. `` She was the first preacher of the good news.'' But that raises the question of why God would choose a woman for that role, especially in a society that marginalized women. That will be part of Vidmar's Easter sermon. Having Mary Magdalene as the first witness validates the resurrection story, he said, because the gospel writers would never have chosen a woman for that important role if it were not true. `` Women's testimony was seen as unreliable,'' he said, yet the gospel writers kept women in this crucial story. `` I think they left them there because that actually happened.'' Yet he does not believe Mary Magdalene's role should be seen as a precedent for the role of women today. The Church sees the contributions of men and women as important but different, Vidmar said, but he knows that argument will not convince Catholic feminists. It certainly doesn't convince the members of FutureChurch, who see Mary Magdalene as a prime example of women as leaders in early Christianity, and as a spark for women to discover their own history in the church. `` It is a history most of us did not hear growing up,'' said Schenk of FutureChurch. Her belief is that early Christian women were equally called and chosen for discipleship, which should be a model for gender equality in Catholic ministry today. `` If God thought that Mary Magdalene was good enough to proclaim the good news, the Church should accept women to preach and proclaim the gospel,'' Schenk said. `` We see her story as central to our mission.'' The goal of FutureChurch, she said, is to make people aware of the history of women in the Church, and to urge the Church to allow women to preach and to become deacons, and to open discussion on the possibility of women's ordination. These issues are especially important today, she said, because of the shortage of priests that limits access to the Eucharist, which is central to Catholic identity. `` We are depriving ourselves of the Eucharist and a gender-balanced ministry,'' Schenk said. Yet while FutureChurch promotes the story of Mary Magdalene and honors her in celebrations, especially around her feast day of July 22, it deplores the depiction in Brown's novel. Schenk said the book trivializes her true role. `` She is known by who she is married to, rather than by who she is,'' Schenk said. Leith of Stonehill College also has a problem with Brown's portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a vessel or chalice that held Jesus' blood line rather than as an equal among Jesus' many followers, which she likely was. Yet another view of Mary Magdalene is presented in the Gospel of Mary, one of the many other gospels from early Christianity that were later rejected by church leaders, including the Gospel of Judas that was recently made public. Leith noted that in the gospel bearing her name, Mary Magdalene tells of seeing the risen Christ, but is then put down by Peter, who does not think she should be talking because she is just a woman. But others tell Peter he should listen to her as she describes her visions. Some scholars, Leith said, have seen that gospel as suggesting that leadership in the church should go to those who demonstrate the qualities of a leader, regardless of their gender. `` It's more about who has the proper credentials to be a leader,'' Leith said. Arguments, she said, can also be based on Jesus himself, who included women in his entourage. `` His ministry was distinctive for its inclusiveness,'' Leith said. People on both sides of the debate on women's ordination have drawn on history and tradition to support their stand, she said. While the Church often notes that only men were chosen to be the 12 apostles and therefore only men can be priests, Leith points out that women were acknowledged as apostles elsewhere in the New Testament, and in fact served in all kinds of roles. The Catholic Church, she said, has a built-in mechanism for change because it relies both on scripture and on tradition for its teachings. `` Tradition can be an excuse for staying the same, or for changing,'' Leith said. What has not changed is the Christian belief in the resurrection that the gospels say Mary Magdalene first witnessed. `` My Christian belief is that the resurrection is God's seal of approval,'' Schenk of FutureChurch said. `` All that Jesus stood for was justified.''