wfn.org | Commission on women focuses on diversity

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (359
notes).

Note 359 by UMNS on Sept. 30, 1997 at 12:31 Eastern (3102 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom				547(10-71B){359}
		New York (212) 870-3803		Sept. 30, 1997

Commission on Status and Role of Women
focuses on women who are "overlooked"

	NEW YORK (UMNS) -- From discussions on the needs of Chinese immigrants to
insights into their own internal cultural influences, members of the United
Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women focused on diversity
during a Sept. 25-28 meeting here.
	They also heard more about plans for a Women's Congress in 1999 which would
help draw diverse women together.
	The emphasis on diversity emerged after a "visioning" process during the
1992-96 quadrennium, according to the Rev. Stephanie Anna Hixon, who is part
of COSROW's General Secretariat with Cecelia Long.
	"What we recognized is primarily the commission has worked...on behalf of
white, middle-class women in the United Methodist Church," she explained.
	Determined to pay attention to "those women who are really overlooked," the
commission's coordinating committee decided "to learn about ourselves, about
our own diversity as a church," Hixon added.
	At the Chinese United Methodist Church in Chinatown, COSROW members heard
from Mey Joy Choy, executive director of the Chinese Methodist Center, and
Lilian Moy, program director for the Chinatown YMCA, about the needs of women,
children and youth there. The Methodist center currently offers day care, an
after-school program, a youth program and a summer day camp.
	In addition to the Chinese congregation, the church has a 30-and-under
English-speaking congregation which is trying to address "a severe need for a
place for teen-agers to hang together," according to the Rev. Mark
Granfors-Hunt, associate pastor.
	With the Rev. James Law, the senior pastor who worked with the jailed
refugees from the Golden Venture, and Ted Cox, an immigration attorney,
members discussed the implications of current immigration law.
	COSROW also participated in diversity training at its Stony Point, N.Y.,
meeting site with the Rev. Eric Law, an Episcopal priest from Vancouver, B.C.,
and the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam, Episcopal bishop of Region II in New York.
	The concluding Sunday session was scented with white sage as Darlene Saunders
Ousley, a commission member from Johnson City, Tenn., incorporated a Native
American smudging ceremony and a medicine wheel ceremony into worship.
	Joyce Waldon Bright of Orlando, Fla., COSROW's president, noted that women in
the church come from many different places and are at many different stages in
their lives. "Our gifts and talents are all different," she said.
	COSROW can help the church more effectively recognize, develop and use those
talents, she added.
	One way of doing so will be through the Women's Congress: A Spiritual
Journey, set for April 14-17, 1999, at Simpsonwood Conference Center near
Atlanta.
	According to a report from the event's design team, the congress will
"provide a place for inspiration and support," along with encouraging
networking, empowering and resourcing skills. 
#  #  #   

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------