wfn.org | Plans For 1997 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women Announced

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

22-August-1996 
 
 
96272          Plans For 1997 Churchwide Gathering  
                 of Presbyterian Women Announced 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
                        and Kathy L. Copas 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Changes are in store for participants in next summer's 
1997 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women, July 9-13.  The theme for 
the gathering is "Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses," taken from Hebrews 
12:1-2a. 
 
     Previous Churchwide Gathering participants will be most surprised at 
the location.  After many gatherings on the campus of Purdue University in 
Indiana, next year's gathering will be at the Commonwealth Convention 
Center in Louisville, with lodging at nearby hotels rather than college 
dormitories. 
 
     Other changes in the gathering have been made by the Churchwide 
Gathering Planning Team in response to participant evaluations of the last 
gathering.  They include a streamlined schedule with more music and Bible 
study. 
      
     Pat Shields, chair of the planning group, said, "We got a lot of good 
advice and ideas from our participants about the ways we could make the 
gathering more convenient, comfortable, exciting and inspiring than ever." 
She said that with the program changes, more convenient transportation, 
housing and meals, air conditioning (not available at Purdue) and a looser 
schedule with more free time and options, "this Churchwide Gathering has 
the potential to be the biggest and best ever." 
 
     Organizers are planning for attendance by 6,000 persons. 
      
     Sue McClew, chair of the Gathering Plenary Committee, said plenary 
keynote speakers will include 
 
          the Rev. Renita J. Weems, associate professor of Old Testament at 
Vanderbilt 
          University, who has written extensively about women's health 
issues, addictions and 
          family violence 
          Marta Benavides, a Salvadorean educator, biologist, ecologist and 
theologian 
          Noeleen Heyzer, director of the United Nations Development Fund 
for Women 
          Thelma Davidson Adair, an educator and moderator of the 1976 
General Assembly. 
 
     Bible study will be led by Catherine Gonsulus Gonzalez, professor of 
church history at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., and Miriam 
Therese Winter, professor of liturgy, worship, spirituality and feminist 
studies at Hartford (Conn.) Seminary.  Bible study focus will be on groups 
of biblical women: "disciples" (women in ministry with Jesus), "witnesses" 
(women who were eyewitnesses to the Resurrection) and "pioneers" (women at 
Pentecost and in the leadership of the apostolic church). 
 
     For the first time, the gathering will have a theologian-in-residence: 
Jane Dempsey Douglass, professor of historical theology at Princeton 
Theological Seminary and president of the World Alliance of Reformed 
Churches. 
 
     Catherine Kapikian, director of the Center for Arts and Religion at 
Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., will act as 
artist-in-residence.  Overall music leadership will be provided by Jim, 
Jean and Mike Strathdee, who have rendered similar service for countless 
Presbyterian events. Several special musical performances will also be 
featured, as well as daily book reviews by the Rev.  Lillian Taylor, who 
edits the book review section of "The Presbyterian Outlook." 
 
     Members of the Churchwide Gathering Planning Team are Shields, Cut 
Bank, Mont.; McClew, Hanover, Ind.; Karen Fritsch, Bartlesville, Okla.; 
Carol Hylkema, Dearborn, Mich.; Florence Vargas, San Sebastian, Puerto 
Rico; and Ruth Williams, Santa Barbara, Calif. 
 
     Others involved in the planning are PW moderator Hazel Fuhrmeister, 
Mystic, Conn.; Gladys Strachan, coordinator for Presbyterian Women in 
Louisville's National Ministries Division; and staff support persons Jean 
Cutler of Louisville, Betsy Lunz of Decatur, Ga., and Judy Wrought of 
Denver. 
 
     Registration for the 1997 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women 
opens Feb. 1, 1997. 

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For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

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