The
Episcopal Women’s Caucus has long been an advocate for justice and a change
agent in the Episcopal Church, standing firmly at the nexus of sexism,
misogyny, racism, ageism, and heterosexism in the church. It formed in 1971 as
a caucus, not a committee or task force, making explicit its founders’ intention
to be a politically potent agent in the polity of the church.
The Caucus’ advocacy
initially focused on advocating for women’s ordination and the full inclusion of
women in the governance and ministries of Church life. The Caucus’ focus
on gender equality not only raised the Church’s awareness of adverse practices
that enable sexism and other power inequities, it also worked with other social
justice advocacy groups to help the church understand the interlocking nature
of oppressions. The Caucus works under the umbrella of The Consultation, which
also includes Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission, Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry Advocates,
Episcopalians on Baptismal Mission, Episcopal Network for
Economic Justice, Episcopal
Peace Fellowship, Episcopal Urban Caucus, Integrity, TransEpiscopal, and the Union of Black
Episcopalians. These
groups joined forces to advance an agenda of social justice based in the
baptismal imperatives of seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our
neighbors as ourselves, striving for justice and peace among all people, and
respecting the dignity of every human being.
The Caucus
understands that politics is simply the way humans organize to get things done.
From its beginning it has helped members learn how to be effective workers
within the polity of the Church. From helping members be effective deputies to
General Convention by understanding convention protocol and Robert’s Rules of
Order to initiating resolutions and organizing people to testify effectively
before committees and on the floor of the House of Deputies and the House of
Bishops, the Caucus has worked to shape people and policies in the church. The
Caucus effectively organized and helped pass the resolution granting women
ordination to all orders in The Episcopal Church. In the decades that have
followed the Caucus has worked on justice issues from racism to the rights of
the LGBTQI community.
On June
22-23 the Caucus is convening “Women Rising” in Dallas, Texas to honor our
history and to plan our future. The gathering will consider the deep seated
ways sexism and misogyny are being revealed in our world today, how we can
become more aware of how these reside in each of us, and how we can work within
the Church and society to overcome this. We will develop tools that invite us
to deeper awareness of ourselves and increase our capacity to be supportive of
others. We will create plans of action and ways to implement those plans, both
at General Convention 2018 and in our home dioceses and parishes.
For more
information and to register to attend please go to the Episcopal Women’s Caucus
website:
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