Council of Women's Ministries Focuses on Racism
Episcopal News Service. October 17, 1996 [96-1584]
Lucy Germany, Free-lance Writer, Marcy Darin, Free-lance Writer
(ENS) Challenged to "confront prejudice with compassion," the Council for Women's Ministries (CWM) worked to move its membership toward a faith-based response to racism, as it met in Burlington, Vermont, October 3-6.
The national gathering of the CWM, an umbrella group formed in 1983 to embrace the diversity of women in the Episcopal Church, drew 45 women representing more than 25 organizations. In a marked departure from previous formats, the group devoted the three-day session to a single issue -- racism. Members vowed to take steps to confront "the sin of racism" in their daily lives, as well as in their organizations.
"We have here some of the most powerful women in the Episcopal Church, except for the women bishops," observed Ann Smith, director of Women in Mission and Ministry. "If we make this our passion, make a commitment to work together on racism, it can happen."
In large group gatherings, and in small workshops designed to allow participants to organize according to their interests, the sessions were characterized by intense and sometimes tearful discussion.
"I've taught classes on racism, I've written about it, yet I've never really engaged racism in my spirit before," said the Rev. June Maffin of Vancouver, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada.
"The Color of Fear," a 1993 documentary directed by Lee Mun Wah, served as a catalyst for probing race relations and the experience of living in a North American culture dominated by whites.
In the film, funded by the Oakland Men's Project and the Todd Institute, eight men of varying backgrounds -- Africa-American, Latino, European North American, Chinese, Japanese -- discuss the effects of racism in their lives and the larger society.
Several women acknowledged surprise at the privileges they are accorded as whites and the resulting pain inflicted on women of color. Said one: "It's painful when you have love in your heart and you don't even know what you're doing."
Others reminded the group of the slow, painstaking efforts undertaken to counter the pervasive racism of U.S. society.
"Sometimes I feel as if I'm on a treadmill that goes backward," observed Joyce Davis of Danbury, Connecticut, who has been engaged in anti-racism efforts for 40 years. "The process is slow, but if we don't do it, our great-great-grandchildren will be going to meetings on racism."
Another member questioned the group's resolve on the issue. "This sounds like deja vu," said Gladys Rodman of Natick, Massachusetts. "I'm hearing the same thing I've heard in earlier meetings. Can you really hear each other?"
Recalling the work of Martin Luther King Jr., another participant, Shirley Brown, identified unconditional love as the foundation for all anti-racism efforts. "We have to teach it, live it and walk it," she said.
Participants made personal commitments to address racism that included checking the dolls in a parish nursery to make sure that they represent different ethnic groups, surveying children's books in local libraries, and examining church school curricula and diocesan newspapers.
A closing Eucharist offered an opportunity for closure and absolution, as confession was followed by the words, "Woman, your sins are forgiven." Candles were lighted by Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and European Americans.
As participants passed a "talking stick," a symbolic native American stick decorated with beads and feathers that grants the holder the privilege of speaking, many admitted that they had been shaken by the confrontation with their own racism.
"I felt the beginnings of awareness that will change my life," said one woman.