Meetings celebrate
clergywomen’s rights

United Methodist News Service
At regional gatherings during May and June, United Methodists celebrated the 50th anniversary of women receiving full clergy rights and affirmed their commitment to helping the U.S. Gulf Coast recover from last fall’s hurricanes.
Annual conference sessions also tackled a wide range of other concerns. They included immigration, gay marriage and the possible mergers of some regional conferences.
Following action by the 1956 General Conference, 27 women took initial steps toward full clergy rights. Today, nearly 12,000 clergywomen serve the denomination worldwide.
Minnesota Bishop Sally Dyck told the Yellowstone Conference that “even full clergy rights, however, is not full acceptance.”
“We are becoming the church our grandmothers envisioned us to be, thanks be to God,” Dyck said. “And thanks to the men of the church who opened the way. Now it is up to all of us to ‘pay it forward’ and keep the light alive for women everywhere.”
Along the Gulf Coast, conference members expressed thanks for the outpouring of support they have received since Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall Aug. 29, and Hurricane Rita, which followed a month later.
The Mississippi Conference gave thanks for the $4.9 million received as of May 31 through the United Methodist Committee on Relief and other appeals for Katrina relief and rebuilding.
The Rev. Paul Dirdak, relief committee director, praised storm recovery efforts throughout the Louisiana Conference. Nearly a million volunteer hours have been recorded in the state through the efforts of mission teams that have come from all over the United States and as far away as Mexico and South Africa to provide assistance.
United Methodists in East Texas contributed more than $2.2 million to hurricane relief efforts. Area churches spent an additional $2.6 million ministering to evacuees in their communities—providing shelter, food, transportation and other support.
The Texas Conference’s Southeast Houston District, where all 52 churches and more than 94,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Rita, has been assisted by 203 teams of 2,150 volunteers since October. Those work teams have volunteered more than 53,000 hours.
If billed at the national average construction salary of $18 per hour, that service would have cost more than $1 million, a conference official said.
In an effort to provide long-term recovery and relief assistance, the Northwest Texas Conference adopted a giving goal of $10 a month for all conference clergy and lay members for the church recovery efforts related to the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
The New Mexico Conference also encouraged giving $10 a month until the next conference session to Louisiana pastors and churches as a way to build connectedness.
Eight of the 63 conferences in the United States voted to create new conferences or to begin merger discussions.