The purpose of this forum is to facilitate communication and mutual support and edification among those who strive toward gender justice in Churches of Christ. If you would like to join the forum, send an e-mail (including your first and last name) from your primary address to forum@gal328.org.
A Drive to Serve
How hard will a woman work to heed her call to ministry? Michele Racusin is an ordained Episcopal priest. She holds a master's degree in business from Pepperdine University and is a graduate of Mennonite Brethren Seminary. The mother of four attended seminary in the evenings while working at Deloitte & Touche in the daytime. She used to get up at 3:00am to write papers. You would think that a minister with that much drive would be sought after. But Racusin lives in Clovis, California, where the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin does not recognize the ordination of women. So three Sundays per month, Racusin drives 3 hours and 45 minutes each way from her home to San Francisco, where she serves as a volunteer priest at Grace Cathedral. Read the whole story in the Fresno Bee.
:::posted by Christopher on 7/29/2006 02:15:00 PM
Chad, we would love to hear about this amazing event. Who is the lovely bride? I know that you could eloquently describe her to us. October is a beautiful everywhere in the U.S. Tell us all about it.
:::posted by julie on 7/27/2006 10:08:00 PM
I think we at Gal328 Forum should pressue Chad Smith into inviting us all to his October wedding. Congratulations Chad!!
:::posted by TKP on 7/20/2006 06:19:00 AM
From the Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, July 19, 2006:
It's the anniversary of the first women's rights conference in history, organized in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. It was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her friend Lucretia Mott. They had been getting together frequently to talk about the abuses they suffered as women, and they finally decided to have a public meeting to discuss the status of women in society. At the meeting, on this day in 1848, they drew up a declaration, which said in part, "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman." Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the declaration and then made a radical suggestion, that the document should also demand a woman's right to vote. At that time no women were allowed to vote anywhere on the planet. And many of the other women there objected to the idea. They thought it was impossible.
Click on the link to read the entire Seneca Falls Declaration. It is also worth noting that among the early, avid supporters of the women's rights movement was Frederick Douglass, who saw clearly that racism and sexism were merely two sides of the same coin.
:::posted by Christopher on 7/19/2006 02:00:00 PM
Jen, your post makes me think of last Sunday which was our interim priest's first day. I noticed white open toed shoes peaking out from under her robes and my first thought was "What the heck. Priest are supposed to wear black and they can't show their toes!" I reminded myself that I was wearing plastic and foam flip flops. Then during coffee hour she appears robe-free and she has white pants and a pink tweed jacket with the standard black priest shirt underneath. Now I'm not really privy to the gossip that goes on in my church, but I have a feeling some will be talking about her outfit. All of the other female priests who have subbed from time to time wear black. Anyway, once I got over my initial surprise I talked to her. She seems nice and I look foward to getting to know her.
:::posted by Indie on 7/01/2006 01:36:00 AM
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