wfn.org | Episcopal conference says church must transform

[ENS@ecunet.org]

For more information contact:
James Solheim
jsolheim@dfms.org
212/922-5385
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens

2000-111

Conference says church must transform itself to transform 
the world 

by Karen D. Bota

     (ENS) The church must change its models of leadership 
and ordination if it is to change the world, the Rev. Dr.  
Sheryl Kujawa, associate professor of pastoral theology and 
director of congregational studies at Episcopal Divinity 
School, told participants at the "Women and the Church: 
Leadership and Spirituality" conference held in early May 
at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

     Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Michigan's chapter of 
the Episcopal Women's Caucus and EDS, May 5-7 at St. 
Andrew's and St. Clare's Episcopal churches in Ann Arbor.   

     Some 60 women and a handful of men gathered Saturday 
morning to hear Kujawa speak on transforming lay leadership 
of women in a patriarchal church, and the future of 
ministry and leadership after women's ordination. They then  
heard Dr. Kwok Pui Lan, professor of Christian theology and 
spirituality at EDS, speak on ways to enrich corporate 
spirituality in  communities of faith, and the Rev. Karen 
Montagno, dean of student and community life at EDS, 
reflect on the gifts of wisdom and spirit learned from our 
mothers and mother figures.

     Workshop sessions later offered attendees the 
opportunity to explore a variety of topics, from the 
church's role in nurturing and mentoring girls and young 
women, to enriching their own spiritual life with chanting 
and singing prayer with the Episcopal rosary, to healing 
touch energy work.

Make alliances to make change

     Alliance formation and collaborative leadership 
between lay and clergy women and men is the way of the 
future, Kujawa emphasized. "We don't have the people to be 
able to split them off into groups. ... Strategically, in 
terms of leadership, we need to make alliances to make 
change," she said. "We are all called to go forth ... 
working together on our salvation." 

     Clericalism has suppressed the laity and affected the 
church has a whole, despite the fact that there are not 
absolute or qualitative differences between ordained and 
lay ministry, or ordained and lay leadership, Kujawa said. 
"We have different functions associated with the roles. 
Through ordination, I have a particular role, a function, a 
calling within the context of a community gathered toward a 
particular goal," she explained. 

     For the majority of the Episcopal Church's history, 
Kujawa said, women have not enjoyed the same access to the 
church structures as men, including ordination. She noted 
that, although historical milestones include victories, 
historical change in the church has been painfully slow. 
"For the vast portion of our life as a denomination, our 
history has been one of lay women struggling to get access 
within the institution, along with our male allies," she 
said.

Trailblazers need support

     When women do make inroads, it is especially important 
that they are supported in their ministries--especially 
those on the cutting edge, Kujawa said. "To be the first in 
a vocation, it is very important that they know what 
they're doing, because a degree of isolation goes along 
with it," she said. "Isolation is a means of oppression." 
Accountability belongs not only to the trailblazer but 
those who must support her, she added.

     Kujawa cited the need for identifying the types of 
formative training that will develop lay and ordained women 
and men for leadership roles in the church, especially 
mentoring of girls and young women. "How do we mentor young 
women and girls?" she asked. "Do we put it on hold until 
they're in their 40s? This is still a pattern [in the 
church]." 

     Although ordination or an ecclesiastical role can have 
considerable influence in a denomination, Kujawa said, she 
believes the church is called to be less about ordination 
and certification processes than about equipping the people 
of God for ministry in the world. 

     Kujawa recommended the view of the church as a Christ-
centered people of God at work in a troubled world, where 
Christians--clergy and laity--assemble for worship and 
mission, rather than an institution-centered group where a 
"set apart" clergy is at the center, ministering to a 
troubled laity. She said she is particularly concerned that 
some of the students who come to seminary express a need to 
be rectors to be affirmed in their ministry. 

      "Liturgy is not a retreat from the world. It involves 
risk and courage to live the Christian vocation," Kujawa 
said. "Safety and Christian vocation are not on the same 
page." The value of the work of the church is to lead 
people--and sometimes to drag them--toward their freedom, 
she said. 

     "There is an important lesson for women: because of 
our internalized oppression, sometimes we can find being a 
victim, or being oppressed, is much more comfortable than 
being free," Kujawa said. "The reality is that we are 
called by Christ in the Gospel into our freedom, and it is 
the work of the church to open that up for all of us. The 
skills that we talk about in terms of leadership are those 
that lead people towards freedom." 

Spiritual grounding

     Dr. Kwok Pui Lan emphasized the need for the church to 
spiritually grounded. One of the reasons many churches have 
difficulty attracting new members, she said, is that the 
"seekers" don't feel that the church helps them in their 
spiritual journey. 

     The church must "listen to the cry of spirituality," 
especially among younger people, and be willing to make 
itself relevant and interesting by rejuvenating its liturgy 
and incorporating aspects of other faith traditions and 
from other parts of the world. "There are many paths to 
wisdom," Kwok said, adding that the colonial mindset that 
says the church has enough and doesn't need to learn from 
its neighbors is still prevalent in the Episcopal Church. 
"We must encourage the church to learn something of the 
spiritual paths of humankind." 

     The church also must become more justice-focused, Kwok 
told the gathering. "They give alms but do too little for 
social transformation," she said. "Jesus didn't build a 
church, he created a movement of social witness. ... If the 
church is not a living place of people who carry out the 
mission of God, people won't come in."

     To make itself relevant, the church must overcome its 
hierarchical and patriarchal model, which often relegates 
women to non-leadership roles.

     But it is through grassroots organizing, not the 
institutional structures of the church, that people will 
implement change, even though the Episcopal Church 
historically has not been good at grassroots efforts. 
"Don't go to Lambeth--that's not the vehicle for systemic 
change," Kujawa said. "We tend to look at top-down models. 
[However] we need to organize across parochial boundaries." 
Organizations like the Episcopal Women's Caucus are 
particularly well-suited for mobilizing for change, she 
added, because they represent a wide spectrum across age, 
ethnic and geographic boundaries.

Spiritual mothers

     The Rev. Karen Montagno recounted her own experience 
at her grandmother's knee, getting her hair braided, 
surrounded by her grandmother's friends. She concluded that 
it was through their work together around the table that 
wisdom and a spirit of community was being created by this 
circle of ordinary women. 

     "Their commitment to each other--as a way to build 
income, to create community, to plan, to dream and to teach 
one another--was the heart of leadership," Montagno said. 
"It is important to reflect on who our spiritual mothers 
have been, and to be spiritual mothers ourselves. Spiritual 
leaders help to bring about the spiritual birth of others." 

     Following dinner Saturday evening, the caucus 
presented its Mary Durham Award for Women's Spirituality 
and Scholarship to Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann, co-editor of 
The Witness magazine, in recognition of her contributions 
to the church and to the world in recognizing social 
injustice and working to abolish it. The Rt. Rev. H. 
Coleman McGehee, retired bishop of Michigan and keynote 
speaker for the evening, praised Wylie-Kellermann and 
encouraged all people of God to dedicate their talents and 
energy to eradicating the causes of human suffering.

--Karen D. Bota is a freelance writer in the diocese of 
Michigan.