Girls' Friendly Society Member Sent to Australia
Diocesan Press Service. July 20, 1972 [72094]
WINTER PARK, Fla. -- Belinda Moore, a high school senior and communicant of St. Luke's Church, Courtenay, Florida, gave a piece of her mind to her elders in the Church, and they told her to go to Australia. She will not go as an exile, however. Belinda's essay on the Girls' Friendly Society won a nation-wide contest, and Belinda has been awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Melbourne, Australia to attend the Eighth World Council of the Girls' Friendly Society August 20 through 27.
"The community-at-large is unaware of the uniqueness of the Girls' Friendly Society, " says Belinda, " and yet it could be the greatest instrument of all for bringing Christ into girls' lives.
"Many girls need and want the experience of fellowship, worship, and service which GFS can provide. In spite of this need and desire, there has been a shocking amount of reluctance on the part of the women in the Church to be leaders in this vital facet of the Church's work. In addition to this, too many clergymen have displayed an unfriendliness ,bordering, at times, on animosity toward any work of the women and girls of the Church.
"People both inside and outside the Episcopal Church must be made aware of the GFS. The adults and clergy must care enough about their girls to support the GFS so that once again it may become what it was meant to be. "