There is no longer
Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and
female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus –Galatians 3:28
What does a feminist church look like?
This past week I was at a conference with young (ish) clergy
in the church and was surprised to find myself asking that question. I write about gender in this space all the
time, it’s one of my own primary categories of thought. I spend my life in “the
church” and have been at my parish for almost 11 years. Still, I don’t think I
had ever phrased the question in quite that way. A church is just a church. It can be inclusive
or exclusive at any given time, receiving the ministries of all of God’s people
with beauty and grace or not. But what
makes a feminist church?
My peers and I grew up in a church where women’s ordination was
taken for granted. I’m 37. It’s been forty two years since the first women in
Philadelphia and Washington DC were ordained “irregularly.” 40 years since the
wider church voted officially to ordain women as priests. We’ve had a female
presiding bishop—the head of the whole Episcopal Church. We are reckoning with human sexuality,
recognizing the gifts of the ministries of transgender people who help the
church to understand how gender is neither binary nor biologically determined.
We are making some progress! Still, from California to Cuba, women are still
paid less, still occupy fewer senior roles, and still have difficulty advancing
in their careers. (See my post about Leaning
In/Falling Over in this space for all of my questions about what it
means to “advance.”) For women of color and LGBTQ folks the journey is even
more difficult.
At the conference I attended many of the women present met
on our own. We went around the room to share
our stories. Woman after woman shared their own experiences: ministries
dismissed, sexual harassment experiences swept under the rug, belittling by colleagues. Everyone had a story. It felt like a fault line of pain and trauma had
cracked open. It settled over all of us and it had to go somewhere. The wider group took up the conversation and
the Holy Spirit whirled among us. Voices were heard.
One of our members has observed about how our official
polity channels are where “change goes to die.” We have commissioned reports
about parity in compensation, and there’s some data: at the level of solo clergy, women make 90%
of men. The problem? Only 34% of solo clergy are women. The number goes way down for senior female
clergy on multi staff parishes. There is something to think through, though, in
how we actually create churches
where change can happen. Sexual
harassment and discrimination are common to women in every institution. The
church isn’t different there. I’m also curious about how parish clergy create cultures
in our own places where that happens for our congregations. I also think it’s important to recognize that
feminism is not a female project. My heart belongs to Hillary, but I make no
assumptions that having women in power will make things better for all
women. Having more women priests or more
women bishops won’t immediately help.
The Rev. Gay Jennings , President of the House of Deputies,
just shared her remarks in 40
Years On: Thoughts on Gender Equality in the Episcopal Church at Executive
Council. She says it better than I:
Too often I hear us measuring gender equality in the church by counting how many educated, privileged women sit in positions of hierarchical authority. I fear that we may believe that the best the church can do for women is to be sure that more of us are bishops, deans, and cardinal rectors.
Patriarchal authority deforms everyone—even those who can make
it at the top, men or women. We can do
better than just being successful in the institution! From the ground, in our
parishes and schools and chaplaincies, men and women are equally able to make church
feminist. And make feminist church. This
Sunday we’ll hear a story of Jesus upholding the ministry of the “wrong” kind
of woman. She’s out of bounds and has a
terrible reputation, and he loves her. That’s the Gospel we’re called to.
Otherwise, I don’t have any clear answers, but here are the
questions I’m thinking about asking… My own parish is also on its own journey.
I make no claims about being the success story!
1. Are there unspoken expectations about the “kind of
person” who is drawn into different ministries? Are men asked to join altar
guild? Do they teach Sunday School?
2. If and when single gender communities develop by chance, is
that phenomenon named?
2. How are intentionally
single gendered communities nurtured? Are there places where people can
find refuge for themselves to heal? To talk honestly? Can people affiliate with those spaces
according to their own gender identification and wishes for community?
3. How is gender-expansive language used for God? Are inclusive language resources like the ELLC Nicene
Creed and prayer books of other communions or Enriching
Our Worship and the St Helena
Psalter used?
4. How are “safe church” policies implemented and discussed?
Is preventing abuse of children and other vulnerable populations discussed and
respected?
5. How are staff hired and leadership selected? Is there an
effort to seriously consider the gifts of those who are women, people of color,
and LGBTQ persons? How do ministry teams reflect on and explore their own
implicit bias?
6. How are families of leaders and staff respected? Is there
an equal policy in place for men as well as women to take parental leave? Are
employees judged for taking advantage of these benefits or are their personal commitments
honored?
That’s my list so far, friends…add your own!
1 comment:
Are 'The Times a- changin'? I like to think so! When I was growing up, I never saw women clergy. Now, I do! And, my husband teaches Sunday school! In the first play I wrote, "Time Traveler," a young women character named Sarah complains that you can find out a lot about the men who gathered to start Medford's Grace Church, but you hear nothing about the woman who invited those guys into her house so they could hatch this idea out! Sarah says, "It looks like we have another case of women doing all the work and then being kept out of the history books." By the way, the woman in question was Mrs Barr!
What to do? Write about it as you do! As for myself, I write plays. My newest play, "The Ghost of Lydia Maria Chlld." is my fourth one-woman play celebrating a 'remarkable women.' Also, you may recall Penelope and Femininity 'get play' in "The Virtue of Penelope: A Chinese Odyssey."
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