Leaders to celebrate women’s clergy rights

Southwest Texas UMs
to mark 50 years of
fully ordained women

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Southwest Texas Conference leaders are to mark the 50th anniversary of full Methodist clergy rights for women in several ways next month in Corpus Christi.
Participants in the June 7-10 annual conference session are to receive a booklet, written by the Rev. Ann Fields, and see a video about Southwest Texas clergywomen over the past half century.
The Rev. Teresa G. Welborn, Commission on the Status and Role of Women chair, said the booklet and video are to “capture a little bit of history of the ordination of women in the United Methodist tradition.”
“It’s important to remember the time not that long ago when the door to full clergy rights for women was closed,” she said.
Clergywomen are to have a significant role in the June 10 ordination service, Welborn said. Bishop Ann B. Sherer of the Nebraska Episcopal Area is to preach, and a clergy-women’s choir is to sing.
“Having a female bishop calls attention to how far women have come in our church,” Welborn said. “She represents looking to where we’re going in the future, the dreams and visions of where God wants us to go (in church leadership).”
Sherer, senior bishop in the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction, is president of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
The clergywomen’s choir, which has sung during annual conference sessions twice before, should make a visual impact on worshipers, Wel-born said. After seeing the singers at a previous appearance, Welborn said a male colleague told her he “didn’t know we (the Southwest Texas Conference) have this many women clergy.”
In Southwest Texas 180 of the 677 clergy members—or 26.6 percent—are women, the 2005 conference journal shows.
Overall, The United Methodist Church has more than 9,500 clergywomen. That’s about 17 percent of the 55,000 United Methodist clergy members worldwide. Sixteen women are active bishops.
“Speaking for myself and for a lot of younger women,” she said, “I think this (ordination) has always seemed like an option. Older women didn’t know they had this option. They didn’t have role models.”
Welborn, 32, said second-career pastors have often told her they wished they had known earlier in life that they could respond to their call to pastoral ministry
“By the time I was in high school,” Welborn said, “I saw female clergy, and nobody told me this isn’t something I can do.”
The 1956 General Conference of The Methodist Church voted to grant women full rights after lengthy debate. Among the issues discussed were the suitability of a women for itinerate ministry and the difficulty a district superintendent might have in appointing a woman since some congregations might not accept a female pastor.
Women have been part of Methodist leadership since John Wesley, founder of the worldwide Methodist movement, licensed Sarah Crosby to preach in 1761.
Women had been ordained in U.S. Methodism since 1924—but only as “accepted supply” pastors. With that status, their appointments could be pre-empted by the appointment of a male pastor at any time.
“It was a justice issue, women not being admitted into the ministry,” said JoAnne Wilshusen, a member of St. John’s UMC, Corpus Christi. “Christ said he came to bring abundant life to everyone.”
Wilshusen was one of many Methodist women who sent 1 million petitions to the General Conference in 1956 to support full clergy rights for women. Her recollections are featured in the video.
“I just think it’s a natural for the church to have the gifts of women who bring a different and special dimension to ordained ministry,” she said. “I think the church needs all the gifts and graces it can get.”
Conferences across the denomination are marking the 50th anniversary throughout 2006. The 2004 General Conference passed a resolution urging every annual conference and local congregation to celebrate full clergy rights for women this year. Theme for the yearlong celebration is “Courageous Past—Bold Future.”
Worship resources for local celebrations are available at www.gcsrw.org and www.gbod.org.