ECW Triennial Still Going Strong, Despite Expanding Role of Women in the Church
Episcopal News Service. June 12, 1991 [91144]
Julie A. Wortman, News Writer for Episcopal Life
When women deputies were first officially seated at the 1970 General Convention in Houston, the organizers of the 33rd Triennial Meeting of Episcopal Church Women (ECW), meeting at the same time, thought women's separate-but-unequal status in the life of the church was at an end. They even considered discontinuing the legislatively powerless "third house" of the convention.
Eight General Conventions later, Triennial is still going strong, despite the expanding role of women into the previously male-only spheres of church life that began that fall in Houston. Nearly 400 Episcopal women are expected at the 40th Triennial in Phoenix this month to consider the theme, "Restoring God's Creation to Wholeness," through speeches and discussion groups that will address topics ranging from sexuality and the global debt crisis to intercessory prayer and liturgical dance.
If no longer the official mouthpiece for Episcopal women, some say Triennial is still a necessity. "We are still in this anomalous situation of needing separate organizations while working for full integration," said Pamela Darling of the unequal partnership with men that Episcopal women continue to face. Darling is consultant to the Executive Council's committee on the status of women. The committee has prepared a report for this year's General Convention indicating that women still hold less than a quarter of church leadership positions nationwide.
In Houston 21 years ago, according to ECW President Marjorie Burke, the situation looked more hopeful. Anticipating that women deputies would be seated and separate programming would no longer be needed, the national ECW suspended its bylaws, and the staff of the General Division of Women's Work at the church's national headquarters dismantled its operations. Triennial was one of the few activities that was retained, although the ECW withdrew official sponsorship.
"We thought we would be absorbed into the total ministry of the church," Burke explained. "Instead, we lost ground." At first, the ECW leadership fanned out into the previously all-male precincts of the church. For example, research by church historian Mary Donovan shows that, of the 29 women who were seated as deputies in Houston in 1970, at least 23 had been ECW officers. The same was true of all but four of the 17 women who served on the church's Executive Council between 1970 and 1980.
Although women made significant inroads into the power structures of the church, including the priesthood, Burke, Darling, and others realized that the church's women were far from being full and equal partners. A study conducted by the Committee for the Full Participation of Women in the Church in 1985-87 confirmed that nationally, at least, the church was actually paying less attention to issues or programs related to women than before.
Fifteen years after the Houston convention, the national ECW reconstituted itself and began refocusing on Triennial as a means of nurturing women's ministries. By then the participants represented the rejuvenating remnants of the strong, pre-1970 network of diocesan and parochial ECWs, while others represented groups such as the United Thank Offering, Church Periodical Club, and Daughters of the King, whose ministries had continued unabated.
According to Donovan, the women's meeting had become more of a social event after 1970, but still provided a vital opportunity for participants to learn and exercise lay leadership. "Triennial is a whole different forum from General Convention," Burke said. "Women are looking for ways to translate Christian beliefs into practice during the week."
Herself a registered pharmacist, Burke has noticed a recent trend in ECW membership toward greater involvement among working women who have reached or are approaching retirement age.
While there is growing consensus that bringing women together for worship and education is valuable, Darling and others believe holding a concurrent meeting during General Convention may be "a two-edged sword."
"It's good to have a separate meeting, yes, but it does pit Triennial and General Convention against each other, forcing women to choose which they want to do," Darling said.
ECW's Burke would someday like to see a giant convocation of all Episcopal women away from convention. "It would be nice to get maybe 10,000 women together," she said. "When it's a group of all women it's a special spiritual experience."