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Day Five (Saturday, June 17, 2006)
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by Diane Lovelace of Episcopal Church Women
and delegate to the Triennial Meeting of the Women
of the Episcopal Church
Editor’s note: for everyone who has ever put a
coin in that “little blue box” for the United
Thank Offering, and/or brought their offering to
their parish for the UTO ingathering, to be
present at General Convention’s UTO Ingathering
and Eucharist is a moving experience. Yesterday
morning, ECW delegates from every province and
every diocese within the Episcopal Church walk
across the stage to leave your offerings at the
altar. Beverly Anderson brought the offering on
behalf of El Camino Real.
Diane Lovelace writes,
The 45th Triennial Meeting of the Women of the
Episcopal Church takes place concurrently with
General Convention. Four delegates representing
the ECW Board of the Diocese of El Camino Real are
attending the 2006 Triennial: Beverly Anderson (UTO
Coordinator), Nancy Bowker (Treasurer), Diane
Lovelace (Vice President), and Joyce Nehlsen (Area
Representative).
308 Representatives to Triennial – National ECW
Board President Harriet Neer opened the Triennial
Meeting, certifying representation from 91
dioceses, 277 delegates, 5 national officers, 8
Provincial representatives, 2 members at large, 4
Episcopal organizations, and 12 United Thank
Offering representatives, for a total of 308
members of Triennial.
Riches to Rags – The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf in her
keynote address shared about her sabbatical
experience living as a homeless woman for 30 days.
She remarked on the issues of shelter, sustenance,
compassion for the least among us – and the lack
of all of these – in her experience. One Sunday,
she told the group, she arrived at a church in her
own diocese for mass. No one recognized her. The
parish was serving breakfast for $3 or $5. When
she inquired about getting breakfast, she was
refused because she didn’t have the money. And
even at the end of the breakfast when she inquired
if she could have some leftovers, she was refused.
Bishop Wolf learned many lessons about reaching
out to the homeless. She also remarked on the real
sense of community and caring for each other among
the homeless.
30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women – To
mark the 30th anniversary, the dioceses of the
Episcopal Church contributed pictures of ordained
women for a presentation. As pictures flashed up
on the screen, representatives from each
delegation recorded the names of all diocesan
women ordained on links for a chain. The links for
El Camino Real honored 64 women ordained since
1982. Our delegation linked our chain with those
of all the other dioceses in Province VIII and
then this chain was linked with the chains of all
nine provinces. What a moving and impressive
sight! The chain encircled the huge meeting room
of the plenary session. One clergywoman reflected
on the General Convention that passed the
resolution to include women clergy and how it
changed her life significantly as well as the face
of the church opening the way for greater
contributions of women to the church. Quite
poignantly, she shared a recent story about a
little boy who when asked what he wanted to be
when he grew up, responded, “Just like Rev. Peggy,
if boys can do that.” Another clergy woman
recounted the history of the ordination of the
first woman of the Anglican Communion taking place
in China.
Phoebe Griswold: Reflection – Phoebe reflected on
her nine years of ministry as wife of the
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. She commenced
with scripture, quoting from Genesis 1:27 about
God creating both men and women in God’s image,
making God’s world whole. As she prepared for the
first trip with the Presiding Bishop to Israel,
she noted that the agenda included no meetings
with women. She asked to meet with women. She
asked women: How is life for you? How does your
experience affect the agenda of the church? They
spoke of their own personal lives, of their
struggles and the difficulties in getting their
voices heard. Phoebe’s key observation from the
very first is that women are absent from
leadership and decision making roles of the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
Women’s voices are not adequately represented at
the leadership level. She noted that while women
won the vote in 1919; the vote at the 1919 General
Convention for women’s representation in church
leadership failed and was not gained until 1970
with the first women deputies to General
Convention. Today, in the instruments of unity in
the Anglican Communion, Phoebe counted the
Archbishop of Canterbury, 38 Primates, 700+
Bishops, and 70 on the Anglican Consultative
Council. Of more than 800 leadership positions,
only 30 are women. Phoebe asked: What differences
would we experience if women set the agenda of the
church? She challenged: we need to get a
significant number of women at the decision making
table. We need to set a moral agenda for the whole
church. Phoebe remarked that the crises in the
world today need the voices of women to set things
right, both morally and socially. She called upon
the members of Triennial to put on “gender
glasses” to look at situations and issues in the
world. Look for the women. Where are their voices
and their experiences? For example, she commented,
on the front page of our newspapers, women are
portrayed only as victims and mourners. Women are
much more than that. Phoebe further observed that
in reaction to conflict, men pursue fight or
flight responses; while women pursue tend and
befriend. To address conflict in this world, tend
and befriend are the approaches that need to be
exercised. What have we learned since 1919 when
women failed to take a place in leadership in our
church? What are the ways forward in the 21st
century? 1) In advocating change, be sure you
understand the system. 2) Speak with one voice.
Seek common ground. 3) Invite men to join the work
of women’s advocacy. 3) Learn from new movements
and new language of the difference faith makes in
improvements in social issues. 4) Look for
partners in the work you are doing. 5) Learn. Take
it to the next level. From learning you generate
new energy. 6) Challenge. Take the ECW vision and
lead all in the church to grow into all things in
Christ. As with the Anglican women Empowerment
movement, use the United Nations as a catalyst and
center for the work. Connect women in the Anglican
Communion to the network of the UN Commission on
the Status of Women. Build on the wealth of grass
roots experiences around the world. Continue the
groundwork of faith-based institutions. And Phoebe
urged, send recommendations to the Anglican
Consultative Council, noting that only 30% of the
people in Anglican governance are women. That’s
not representative of the people in the pews. Put
a Gender Desk in every Anglican body to discern
what should be included in the church’s agenda.
Collect data on the average Sunday attendance of
women in our church. That data should suggest that
there should be 50% representation by women at
every level of leadership in the Anglican
Communion. And finally, Phoebe commented, God is
not a boy’s name.
Woman Elected President of the House of Deputies –
Ms. Bonnie Anderson is the newly elected
President-elect to the House of Deputies. Bonnie
brought greetings to the Triennial Meeting.
ECR representatives from the House of Bishops, the
House of Deputies, and the Triennial Meeting of
Women of the Episcopal Church met in fellowship
over dinner to share stories and experiences of
the proceedings and issues of 2006 General
Convention. Some friends and former members of ECR
joined the celebration, including The Rt. Rev.
Nedi Rivera, The Rev. Martin Yabroff, The Rev. Tom
Woodward and Ann Woodward, and The Rev. John
Huntington.
Provincial ECW Gathering – The women of Province
VIII gathered for fellowship at breakfast to
install the 2007-2009 officers. Retiring Province
President, the Rev. Jerry Drino, extended
greetings from the province and told of his new
role in ministry of the refugees of the Sudan.
Everyone enjoyed warm fellowship together.
Elections: 2007-2009 National ECW Board –
Delegates to the 45th Triennial elected the
following officers: President: Kay Meyer, Vice
President of Program: Donna Keller, Vice President
of Information: Elizabeth Habecker, Secretary:
Barbara McKee, Treasurer: Elizabeth Campbell,
Member-at-Large Social Justice: Deborah Anderson,
and Member-at-Large Multimedia: Mary Ann Ransom.
The Board will begin work on the next Triennial
Meeting scheduled for 2009 in Anaheim.
Women’s Ministries – Mothers Union, which was
formed in 1876, is the largest Christian women’s
organization in the world, with more than 3 ½
million members in 77 countries. This organization
works on a series of initiatives for families and
children around the world. Anglican Church Women
of Canada shares common goals as women in Christ
with the ECW. Priority goals are mission and
vision. Founded in 1996, the International
Anglican Women’s Network today is the key unified
voice of women’s group recognized by the Anglican
Consultative Council. Beijing Circles project
takes the issues of the Beijing Platform for
Action, signed by 189 UN member nations in 1995
and focuses on how Episcopalians are organizing
for women’s welfare. Organizing for change in our
congregations, communities, and countries is the
springboard for connecting with sisters from
around the world to make a global difference. A
DVD about Beijing Circles entitled “Shall We
Gather” was sent to all Episcopal congregations in
Feb. 2006. Look for your parish copy as a guide
for action on peace and equality of women as well
as for the empowerment of women. Where in your
life do you feel the passion to change the world?
Donation to the Dioceses of Mississippi and
Louisiana – Following the aftermath of hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, Episcopal churches and
individual Episcopalians suffered unbelievable
losses of challenged the delegates of Triennial to
make a donation to the restoration work in these
dioceses. What a wonderful outpouring of
generosity from ECW delegates! Triennial presented
a check for $10,000 to the Bishops of Mississippi
and Louisiana.
Honored Women of the 45th Triennial – A woman from
each diocese was nominated to represent her
diocese as “honored woman”. The Diocese of El
Camino Real selected Barbara Campbell of St.
Marks’, Santa Clara as our 2006 honored woman.
From the beginning of our diocese, Barbara has
served in many roles in her parish and the
diocese. Her rector commented, “She speaks the
truth as she sees it with courage and clarity and
charity. She lives her faith in a way that gives
us all an example of service to the glory of God.”
Each honored woman was recognized before the
entire Triennial Meeting of delegates and guests.
During the second half of the Triennial Meeting,
the ECW delegates will celebrate the Ingathering
of United Thank Offerings from throughout the
Episcopal Church. In the Diocese of El Camino
Real, St Stephen’s-in-the Field will receive a
grant from UTO. Triennial delegates will also join
in honoring the retiring Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold and celebrate the Presiding Bishop elect.
For development and renewal, delegates will enjoy
a variety of workshops to conclude the week in
Columbus.
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