Man-Woman Team Shares Pulpit in Rio Grande
Episcopal News Service. February 2, 1976 [76030]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Diocese of the Rio Grande may well be the scene of a "first" in the Episcopal Church: the first man and woman team of ministers to share a pulpit.
On an experimental basis, the Rt. Rev. Richard M. Trelease, Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, approved the arrangement, and to date the problems and accomplishments are what might be expected when the opposite sexes serve on an equal basis.
The two are the Rev. William Howden and the Rev. Virginia Brown, who serve as the co-ministers for St. Chad's Mission and the Holy Apostles Mission, located 13 miles apart in the Albuquerque, N.M. area.
Sunday services are at 9 a.m. at the Holy Apostles Mission and at 11 a.m. at St. Chad's. They alternate preaching, share in the services and do home visitations together. Mrs. Brown supervises the altar guilds, Sunday schools and lay readers. Howden handles the communications, the newsletters, and outreach.
The idea originated with the two ministers themselves during a discussion about the demanding role of the traditional clergyman in which one person is responsible for all areas of a mission.
They approached Bishop Trelease, who agreed to quiz the congregations. Reaction was mixed among some members, but it was agreed to try it out, and last October the two conducted their first service.
The first beneficial reaction was that larger crowds turned out to see what might happen.
There are normally about 50 families at Holy Apostles and 60 at St. Chad's. As the curiosity seekers dwindled and the regulars kept coming, the personalities of the two ministers emerged. They are different in temperament, personality, outlook, and obviously in physical dimensions.
Whereas the situation is usually a vicar with a curate working subordinate to him, authority between Mrs. Brown and Howden is shared.
Thus far, the two of them feel that together they make a fuller ministry since she is more Catholic in nature, and he leans toward the evangelical emphasis.
The church canons do not make provision for co-vicars, so it's up to the pair to solve their problems -- which they do occasionally experience.
While "chauvinism" has yet to enter into conversations, there have been discussions, for instance, on who presides at the Bishop's committee meeting, who signs the annual report, and who makes out the annual report.
When such matters arise, the Rev. John Penn, rector at St. Matthew's in Albuquerque, serves as mediator.
Some plans have been made to get the two congregations together, with perhaps a joint service in the future, but so far nothing of this nature has been accomplished. Mrs. Brown feels the arrangement may be a good way for women to break into the priesthood, if the church's laws are changed in the future.
Mrs. Brown is a native of Savannah, Ga., and received her degree in psychology from Michigan State University. Prior to being ordained a deacon, she was active in social work and served in the Peace Corps.
Howden is a native of Albuquerque who grandfather, the Rt. Rev. Frederick B. Howden, was Bishop of what was then a missionary diocese called the Diocese of New Mexico and Southwest Texas.
He received his education at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Tex.
When their current dual ministry began, Howden assured the congregations that he could be addressed as" Father."
When questioned by congregation members as to how she should be addressed, Mrs. Brown replied, "... Mother?"
On that snag, dual ministries may require a longer period of experimentation than was expected.
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