wfn.org | Young Women's Ecumenical Conference

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Young Women Look to Ecumenical Future
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: c/o carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227

NCC8/30/97  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS NOTE: Denominations represented at the conference 
included: African Methodist Episcopal Church, Anglican 
Church of Canada, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 
Church of the Brethren, Episcopal Church, Metropolitan 
Community Churches, Orthodox Church in America, Presbyterian 
Church (USA), Roman Catholic Church, United Church of 
Canada, United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church.

Denominational Press: Attached, please find a list of the 
participants, their denominations and contact numbers.
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YOUNG WOMEN DISCUSS FAITH AND FUTURE AT ECUMENICAL 
CONFERENCE

 NEW YORK, Sept. 25 ---- More than 40 young women from 
nine denominations in the United States and Canada spent a 
week in late August looking to an ecumenical future that is 
inclusive and engaged in issues of economic globalization.

 The women, most of them in their 20's and including 
students, working women and mothers, focused on three 
themes: 1) racism in North America; 2) women's spirituality; 
and 3) feminist styles of leadership.  They addressed these 
topics through worship, Bible study, discussions and other 
creative activities.

 The conference was sponsored by Ecumenical Young Women 
United - North America which is a recently formed coalition 
of two groups, the National Council of Churches (NCC) Young 
Adult Ministry Team and the Canadian Student Christian 
Movement (CCSM).  The coalition has been funded through the 
World Council of Churches' World Youth Project.  Co-
moderators for the event, the first this coalition has 
sponsored, were Rebecca Todd Peters from the NCC and Gwen 
McAlister from CCSM.

 "One of the most exciting things about the conference 
was that it provided experiential learning," said Ms. 
Peters.  "For example, there was a `theatre of the 
oppressed' which sets up situations of conflict then stops 
them at crucial points so that the participants can assess 
what to do to make the situation end differently.  It helped 
the young women learn how to work through conflict instead 
of ignoring it or avoiding it."

 The Chicago Interfaith Coalition Against Racism 
(CHICAR) led the program on racism.  One exercise involved 
the group of young women starting out in a line but then 
taking steps forward or backward in answer to questions.  
The questions included things like, "Have you ever been 
followed in a store?," an experience much more common among 
people of color while innocently browsing in a store.

"This illustrated in a graphic way the societal 
ruptures between us," Ms. Peters said.  "Even as we were all 
becoming friends, we were consciously aware that there are 
still things that separate us."

 The CHICAR leaders also assembled panels of four white 
women who talked about what was good about being a white 
woman and four women of color who discussed what they want 
from a white woman ally.

 "One of the things the U.S. women found most enriching 
was the dialogue with women from Canada," Ms. Peters 
reported.  "Some women questioned why young women from 
Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean were not present and 
there was a strong sense of reaching out farther than North 
America."

 Throughout the conference, the young women challenged 
arbitrary distinctions and traditions that have been 
traditional in the ecumenical movement, such as who is 
considered part of North America and the global distinctions 
between "the North" and "the South."

 The women participants were especially interested in 
issues of economics and globalization.  "It became obvious 
just how disempowered a lot of these women felt to even talk 
about economics because it is such a mystified science," Ms. 
Peters explained.  "They would like to be more engaged in 
those dialogues but feel the need to gain a vocabulary so 
they can have a voice."  To address this problem, they 
suggested a future training seminar with a focus on 
economics.

 "This conference was fruitful and was definitely 
needed, both within the ecumenical movement as well as in 
the individual lives of the women who participated," Ms. 
Peters said.  "Many ideas and suggestions were made.  I told 
the women that it is now their turn to own what happens 
next."

 After all, "these are the next generation of ecumenical 
leaders," Ms. Peters said.

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