Workshop on Roles of Women in the Church Held
Diocesan Press Service. May 2, 1975 [75165]
Sharon Moore, Communications Assistant, Diocese of Chicago
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The role of women in the Episcopal Church has gotten a lot of attention lately because of the controversy over the ordination of women to the priesthood. However, women working in the Church are really nothing new. Women as volunteers, deacons, and paid layworkers have been active in the Church for a long time, but the recent events have caused us to look more closely at what women do and can do for the Church.
To help women examine their roles in the Church, an intensive workshop was held at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, from April 24 to 26. The "Three/Day Workshop of Life/Work Planning and Job/Finding Skills" was jointly sponsored by the National Center for the Diaconate, the Clergy Deployment Office, and the Office of Pastoral Development of the House of Bishops.
The backgrounds of the more than 40 women from all over the country who attended the workshop showed the wide diversity of the roles women assume within the Church. Some were ordained; some, professional layworkers; some, women seminarians; and some were just considering a career in the Church.
The National Career Development Project conducted the workshop under the direction of Richard N. Bolles, Who is a nationally known authority on the subject of life stewardship, vocation and job-finding. His book, WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? , A Manual for Job-hunters and Career-changers, has generated a great deal of enthusiasm.
The main theme of the workshop was life stewardship. The participants were encouraged to find out a great deal about themselves -- what skills they had and what they really enjoyed doing. Then they looked at how to translate their talents into terms of job needs within the Church and discussed how to go about getting such a job. It was hoped that the women attending this workshop would be able to handle successfully the "last hired, first fired" syndrome which seems so common to women in these days of budget crunches in parishes and dioceses.
The workshop operated under these basic assumptions -- that everyone present was both teacher and learner and that each person has her own positive qualities, but that others see these qualities best. Besides helping the participants themselves, the workshop was also designed to give them practical tools to help other members of their parishes or dioceses, especially women, to deal with the whole question of life vocation, how to find it and how to find a job in line with it.