Boundary Crossings

Women's Caucus Plans Uninvited Visits to 11 Dioceses

The Episcopal Women’s Caucus recently announced plans to target at least 11 dioceses of The Episcopal Church for visits not at the invitation of the local bishop under its expanded Angel Project.

"not at the invitation of the local bishop" -- isn't that the greatest sin against the canons?

“New times create new opportunities,” wrote the Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, EWC president and rector of St. Paul’s Church in Chatham, N.J., in an article on “listening” in the latest issue of the Ruach, the EWC newsletter. “The caucus board has conceived of a new incarnation of this project. Based on communication we have received, we have identified 11 dioceses that are decidedly hostile to the ministry of women, lay and ordained. There are, no doubt, many more.”

The dioceses to be targeted are: Albany, Central Florida, Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy (Illinois), the Rio Grande (New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle), San Joaquin (California), South Carolina, Southwest Florida and Springfield (Illinois).

"decidedly hostile to the ministry of women, lay and ordained" - that should come as a great big giant surprise to my fellow female postulants & candidates for holy orders. Albany is hardly a hostile diocese. Do some here not believe in or support women in holy orders? Sure. But I'll bet you some people in Keaton's diocese have qualms about the issue as well. And this whole "lay and ordained" is just a smoke screen. We all know darn well exactly what she means - PRIESTED women. That's the only order they care about. Well, maybe now women bishops as well. But there is little to no real belief that doing lay ministry or diaconal ministry is valuable.

Diocesan officials and female clergy from at least three of the dioceses named were amazed to learn that their diocese was included on the list.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Peter Frank, director of communication for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. “We have women clergy at all levels of leadership, including our senior staff officer in charge of clergy placement. If this is what hostility looks like, they really don’t have much to worry about.”

In his formal March 14 response denying charges of abandonment of communion to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh noted that his support and encouragement for the ministry of women in holy orders was the one aspect of his episcopacy to what “faithful Anglicans and mainstream Christians have always preached and taught.”

What Peter Frank doesn't get is that this is not really about women's ministry. This is about the revisionist agenda. This is just the foot in the door, the camel nose in the tent.

Clergy and laywoman from the dioceses of Central Florida and Southwest Florida were equally incredulous to learn of their inclusion.

“I was very surprised when I saw the article,” said Karen Patterson, who is president of the Standing Committee in the Diocese of Southwest Florida. “I had to re-read it to make sure I was understanding correctly,” she said in an interview with The Southern Cross, the Diocese of Southwest Florida’s newspaper.

Ms. Kaeton denied to the reporter from The Southern Cross that the caucus was compiling a hit list.

“It’s not at all,” she said. “It’s a list of places where, for years, we have heard women say the ministry of women, lay and ordained, is not being celebrated, or is flat-out hostile. And we want to go and hear those stories and provide some companionship and some hope.

“If we can raise awareness and educate and begin the process of change in the church, I think that will be a success,” she said. “Maybe by providing a picture of what it’s like for a woman in The Episcopal Church, we might be able to bring about some change.”

She hits all the buttons here, doesn't she? "for years"- this is an ancient evil that is grinding down the poor girls in these dioceses. "not being celebrated" - well, I guess the darn women can do ministry, but let's not give them too much acknowledgment, it'll just encourage more of them to do it. "flat-out hostile" - yeah, you didn't throw me a party for me & my ministry (not the Lord's ministry, mind) so you're hostile!! (pretty little foot stamp inserted here) "hear those stories" - gag, more listening. "raise awareness and educate" - do we get a pretty awareness ribbon to wear?

But this is my favorite: “Maybe by providing a picture of what it’s like for a woman in The Episcopal Church, we might be able to bring about some change.” Yeah, it's tough being a woman in the Episcopal Church. I mean, I gotta wear that burqa thing & never speak in public & nobody ever throws me a party to celebrate me.

The first Angel Project was created by the caucus after the 73rd General Convention in 2000 criticized the dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin over the refusal of the bishops in those dioceses to ordain women. Those visits included celebration of Holy Eucharist in some cases. The canons of The Episcopal Church permit a priest to function in a diocese without a license from the local bishop for up to 59 days.

"This is not about using the sacrament as a act of protest or defiance and there will be no bishops involved," Ms. Kaeton said. "We are very clear about sending a priest and a lay person. Any celebration of the Eucharist would be done in a private, pastoral setting in response to an invitation from the women. It would certainly not be done in a church, either."

Oh, this is so about "using the sacrament". The sacrament is nothing but a prop to these people. This is just agitprop, designed to make people think there is a problem where there is no problem, to sow seeds of discontent.