Changes in Deployment Will Make Clergy Searches More Inclusive
Episcopal News Service. July 30, 1992 [92162]
Nan Cobbey, Features Editor of Episcopal Life
Parishes and dioceses seeking help from the Church Deployment Office (CDO) to fill vacancies will now receive packets of profiles that include profiles of women, blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans.
"For a long time the CDO had a policy on equal opportunity and affirmative action," said the Rev. James G. Wilson, executive director of the CDO. "What has changed is the implementation of that policy."
In the past, the CDO would only conduct an affirmative action search -- pull profiles of women candidates or minority candidates from its computer files -- when a parish or diocese requested it, Wilson said. That didn't help those who felt overlooked.
"Clearly there is a problem. Many women and many members of minority groups report great difficulty in being called to ministries in parishes and feel they have been the victims of discrimination," said Wilson, whose office is located at the Episcopal Church Center. "Now, on our own initiative, we do affirmative action searches as standard operating procedure."
If a search does not turn up candidates in each group, the staff will find additional candidates "that most closely meet the criteria the parish and diocese are looking for," said Wilson.
While admitting that the new procedure cannot end the discrimination so many feel and report to his office, Wilson is optimistic about the move. "I think it helps to communicate a policy at both diocese and parish level...and it models some standards of behavior that, hopefully, will cause some changes."
Wilson has received no complaints about the new searches. "Diocesan representatives... and clergy groups have told me they welcome it."
Wilson said that he believes when vestries focus on the skills they need to do the kind of ministry they are called to do, the issues of race and sex become less important. "I've seen parishes surprise themselves once they discover that the person who best meets their criteria is, for example, a woman. They've surprised themselves by going ahead and hiring that woman."