Episcopal News Service Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Imagine conference envisions inclusion, healing and hope for the world
First church-wide gathering of ordained women held at Kanuga
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[ENS, KANUGA] -- Expansive visions of what the Episcopal Church might become echoed through an October 3 discussion at the "Imagine: Claiming & Empowering Ordained Women's Leadership" conference.
Inclusion, healing and hope for the world, ministering outside of a hierarchical system while transforming that system, and overcoming obstacles and fears were themes heard in those visions.
The session was part of the first church-wide gathering of ordained women in the 32 years since women were admitted to the orders of priest and bishop. The conference, which also includes some lay presenters, runs until October 6 at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Presenters at the session included House of Deputies president Bonnie Anderson; retired Episcopal Divinity School professor Carter Heyward; Episcopal Church Black Ministries Missioner Angela Ifill; and Dean Tracey Lind of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland. Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori responded to the presentations.
Heyward told the gathering that the priesthood of all believers is a call to help one another.
"It's the work of healing. It's the work of liberation. It's what we're put here by our maker to do; to be a priesthood of believers, to be not primarily focused on ourselves but sharing a passion -- and by passion, I mean energy as well as a willingness to suffer -- with and for the world," she said. "The church doesn't exist for itself, we all know that. We're here in the world, for the world."
"The church is here to be a voice of justice-making ... of compassion, of peace, of reconciliation."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78358_ENG_HTM.htm
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