UNCSW 2011: Post UNCSW

by Rachel M. Robinson, Diocese of Tennessee

I meant to do several blog posts while I was in New York, but somehow I didn’t have the words to express all that I was taking in.  Now that I’ve had 48 hours to reflect and “come back to reality,” I have so many things to say.  My mind is buzzing with information and possibilities.  First, I have to say how wonderful it was to be around our delegation and other young adults who attended the CSW.  The apathy that usually identifies our generation was nowhere to be found amongst these young adults.  The delegates, young and old, are genuinely concerned about social justice issues and work every day to make this world a more sustainable and peaceful community.  Not only was it inspiring, it fed my soul.  Second, we were continually asked how we would translate all that we’ve learned into our everyday life.  For me, I want to take the ideas of gender equality, advancement of women, and other advocacy issues, and find a way to incorporate them into my own community.  Being a southerner, I have my work cut out for me.  The south is still plagued by gender and ethnic inequality, poor education, extreme poverty, racism, and a myriad of other issues all of which should be addressed by the faith community.  Unfortunately, many faith communities in the south (and really, everywhere) have used religion to justify acts of hatred and intolerance against humanity.  In my hometown alone, we have several Christian churches where the only use women have is to teach Sunday school.  They aren’t even allowed to pray out loud, leaving them with, quite literally, no voice simply because they are women.  I am not quite sure this is what Christ had in mind. Isn’t the gospel about radical inclusion?  The poor, the sick, men, women, children, sinners… we all have a place in God’s Kingdom because we all are created in His image.  God does not discriminate.  If we really want to live into our faith, we should continually strive to recognize each other as God’s Creation, and therefore, we are all valuable.  We must speak out against injustice because when we deny one, we deny all, and we deny God.  The faith community has to lead this movement for radical inclusion.

I had a Jewish studies professor who used to often say, as though to remind us, “What we do or do not do, good or bad, will echo in this world and the next.”

To my own community: How will we lead and how will that echo?

UNCSW 2011: Next Steps

Today the Episcopal Young Adult Delegation packed their bags and headed home, flying to Tennessee, busing to Boston, and riding the subway to Queens. After 8 intense days of listening, advocating, fellowshipping and praying they are on their way to do the work of the church in the world, to be Christ’s hands and feet. We pray for them as they step out into a new phase of their ministry, emboldened, strengthened and connected in their time here.

We invite you to continue to follow this blog as the delegates share their stories with their dioceses and home communities. Watch for resources, reflections and invitations to join us in this work over coming weeks and months.

UNCSW 2011: A Rich History

by Grace King, Diocese of Connecticut

My original thought upon my arrival was “what am I doing here?” I knew a whole lot less about what was going on at the UN than everyone else. Everyone’s’ passion was so inspiring and I was left wondering what there was left for me or my community to do.  At the NGO Consultation Day, Eleanor Nwadinobi shared an African proverb, “When you see a dog barking at a lion, do not be fooled – there will be a hunter with a gun hiding nearby”. This thought keeps returning to me and I know see that we can all be the dog who barks at the lions of injustice in the hope of attracting the attention of the hunters.

This week has really opened my eyes to the connection between Faith and Advocacy. I have really come to understand that our faith calls on us to advocate for others, especially those whose voices are often lost. And really that faith without advocacy is like peanut butter without the jelly, you don’t have a complete sandwich. All of this has of course reminded me that women’s groups and especially women’s faith groups have been behind many of the major human rights movements in the US. There were many women involved in the abolition movement and in the underground railroad, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union achieved prohibition, women earned their own right to vote, and fought to end child labor. American women have a rich history of fighting for human rights. I was also deeply moved by Margaret Rose’s comment that outreach is really pastoral care to a broken world. This describes yet another way that we can see the intersection of faith and advocacy.

UNCSW 2011: Light and Friendship – Shannon & Greg

Shannon Preston, Minnesota, and Gregory Stark, Idaho and Ohio, preach at the noon Eucharist in the Episcopal Church Center (click to watch)

UNCSW 2011: Seeing the City

Madeline, Shannon and Sarah at Times Square

UNCSW 2011: A Room Full of People

by Shannon Preston, Diocese of Minnesota

Much of the advocacy work here ultimately seems to challenge the patriarchal paradigm. Today Maddy and I attended a Beijing Circle workshop. In it we spoke in small groups about how to make our communities safe for women and girls. After several minutes we rotated groups and focused on how we can include men and boys in making safe communities for men and women. In our opinion it seems that challenging the patriarchal paradigm not only liberates women from oppression but could also liberate men. The vision of many NGO’s is for full equality of men and women, unity in diversity. It seems that so often men are not able to express what they feel, to have a true “heart to heart.” What if men and women could share and listen what is on their heart with one another. That was the vision we left with on these circles. We thought of possible solutions. Our group found writing and personal invitation to be a possible way to reach out to men and women to create safe spaces. The idea of these circles is that those involved will bring what they have learned with them and it will ripple out. (A purpose of these circles is to bring a 5^th World Conference of Women to the UN schedule.)

In the morning I had a wonderful conversation about some work being done in the Anglican Communion. There are people dedicated to changing the perception of religion as something that is corrupt and ignorant. She is doing research to provide statistics people can use to see that faith does make a difference (this case specifically is how faith is helping people in Africa). A talking point of Ecumenical Women is to add faith groups into an NGO. In the increasingly secular world faith communities are looked down upon and there are so many here who show what amazing things people of faith (and thus faith communities) have to offer.

We had a dinner with Ecumenical Women. It began with a short service and then dinner. It is wonderful to be grounded with prayer to ground us in this heavy work. At services we gather together and find hope, strength, and support. The dinner was beautiful. Here was a room full of people advocating for justice with and because of God. A room full of people who were smiling and enjoying one another despite having a weight of seeing all kinds of injustice, a room where light shines through darkness.

UNCSW 2011: Amazing Women

by Brian Romero, Diocese of Long Island

It has been said that behind every great man is a great woman. But I would like to argue that beside every great man is an amazing woman. All of my life I have owed my great experiences and opportunities to the strong support of my mother and other maternal figures and positive role models (who are women). During my week here at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women I have witnessed many testimonies, learned a lot about the United Nations, global policy in relation to women’s rights and the Episcopal Church. Through the participation in parallel events, state mission briefings, caucus meetings, UN sessions and side events various subjects have been related to the important social issue that is gender equality. Some of these subjects have been mobile technology and maternal mortality, access to science and technology (and the education of them) for the increase of women’s opportunities, the relation to education and training for women to obtain “decent work” etc. It was clear that our time in New York City was a time of learning about things that we had not learned about in many other settings. The several events have also been facilitated, paneled and presented by women who are Non-governmental organization administrators, clergy, scholars in all types of fields, scientists, community leaders, public health officials etc. 

 

Women also showed up to the UNCSW from all kinds of walks of life and with different histories and experiences to share with others. One way this occurred was in a dinner and conversation with Episcopal young women superstars: Sarah Eagleheart, Officer of Native American & Indigenous Ministries at the Episcopal Church, Mary Getz, Grassroots and Communications Coordinator of the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) and Nicole Sieferth, in the Communications office of Trinity Church on Wall Street, NYC. In the delegation’s conversation with the young women we heard stories of perseverance, discernment, deep Christian faith, formation and success. It was perhaps during these conversations that the most inspiring of voices touched us, showing us that like our arrival to the UNCSW we would have many other places to visit and callings to follow in our futures. Throughout our time this week there has also been a consensus that we didn’t know our multinational, multiethnic and multiracial Church did so much for social and economic justice in the world. Offices we had never heard of took us by surprise and initiatives the Church took part or created pulled us in to learn more and want to be involved in many more ways. 

Great words have been spoken here at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, partnerships have been made, friends have been introduced and the word of the Gospel has been shared. Things that can’t be taught in books and emotions that can’t be fully expressed in words have touched us all. Two great lessons have especially popped up for me: follow your heart (mission) and don’t take yourself too seriously or be hard on yourself. Those morals could not have been arrived at without new friends. I am speaking of course specifically about the 9 other delegates in the Episcopal Young Adult Delegation. Thank you Grace, Michelle, Sarah, Shannon, Maddie, Gregory, Carrie, Rachel and Pauline.  I am also thankful to the Conveners of the delegation, Jason Sierra and Patricia Egebert. How this week has shaped us all will be for the future to tell in the many missions we will follow to love and serve the Lord.

UNCSW 2011: Action

by Sarah Markus, Diocese of Northern California

Today was a day learning about action.  So much of what we are hearing about are heartbreaking stories of inequality and all forms of violence (including but not limited to physical, sexual, emotional, financial, and apathetical).  Hearing these stories are moving and thought provoking, but I have been hard pressed to find where the action is taking place.  I was wondering if perhaps talks of action would be more prevalent next week, and if this first week of session was going to be mostly identifying the issues.  I am happy to say that today I was able to hear about some of the actions that are taking place.  Today I was able to hear analysis of various groups that were supposedly doing work to decrease violence against women with HIV, both good and bad.  I was also able to hear from high-ranking women judges from Zambia, Bosnia, and the Philipines about what laws and programs were being instituted in their countries to deal with offenders of sextortion.  It was incredible to hear the people who have done the research in these areas and who have helped to put into action these laws and see concrete effects. 

During the first parallel event I attended today, a young woman in the audience raised the concern that none of the women presenting on violence against women (specifically young women) with HIV were under the age of 25 or openly HIV positive.  As a young woman who was HIV positive, this concerned her, as she felt that these other women were attempting to speak for her.  I think this was a really valid concern.  I have heard on multiple occasions over this week the phrase “we are the voice for the voiceless”.  I think we need to restructure our ways of thinking- no one is voiceless.  Yes, there are people who may not realize they have a voice, or who’s voice we may not have yet heard, but I don’t think any of us should ever presume to be able to speak for someone else.  No two stories are the same, and even something as simple as inflection or choice of words used by each person effects the ways in which stories are told as well as the ways we receive them.  I am grateful that this young woman stood up and reminded us of this.

For the rest of the week, I look forward to hearing more stories, learning more about changes, and enjoying many more conversations with my fellow delegates as we all continue on this wonderful journey. 

UNCSW 2011: Beautifully full, Beautifully Rich

by Shannon Preston, Diocese of Minnesota

Today was beautifully full and beautifully rich of things to learn and people acting against injustice.

I attended the last half of the viewing of Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. I had seen the film a few weeks ago in St. Cloud and got there in time to see the last part again as well as the panel. The panel included the filmmaker, two Roman Catholic woman priests, a Lutheran pastor who is ordained in a synod that does not ordain women, a Roman Catholic lay woman who supports women’s ordination, and a woman who has left the RC church to pursue her call.

The panel was, I am not sure I have a word to describe it. The panel started with several young women (high school) who brought up arguments of why women should not be priests: women are not in persona Christae, Aquinas wasn’t actually against women priests, and inviting the priests to leave the Church. The panel answered with such respect, groundedness, “no resentment,” and care. They answered that God is genderless and Christ had to be a man by historic necessity.  The women explained that once God calls God does not stop and this call is something they cannot ignore. In response to leaving the Church they explain that the Church does not belong to the hierarchy it belongs to the body of Christ, the body of believers. They explain that the Church call for primacy of conscience.  A young Anglican priest from New Zealand gave her support and a beautiful explanation that Jesus was anti-institution. I asked a question about how what hope I can take to my friends who are disenchanted with the church. The response I heard was that we need to be where God wants us to be, we need to listen to ourselves and must search for a place where we feel at peace. The RC Women Priests do not only ordain women but also men, gays, and transgender people. As a note: they welcome all people to their services.

It was amazing to see such support in the room countered with such contention. It is an injustice that God is engrained as a man, a major advocacy point of Ecumenical women is to challenge patriarchal paradigms and to change the patriarchal nature of the God children are introduced to is a challenge indeed. Yet the response to that by the women priests was it takes time and that must act in love and realize we all have our own way to a God that is mystery, love, and greater than all we know.

P.S. The morning sessions were great and dinner with some of the young women leaders in the Episcopal Church was inspirational. Also, New York has good pizza and chocolate milk, there is water behind the UN building, our group is wonderful, and the leaders are magnificent.

UNCSW 2011: L’Apanage et le privilège

by Gregory Stark, Dioceses of Idaho and Ohio

Considérez, frères, qui vous êtes, vous que Dieu a appelés : il y a parmi vous, du point de vue humain, peu de sages, peu de puissants, peu de gens de noble origine. Au contraire, Dieu a choisi ce qui est folie aux yeux du monde pour couvrir de honte les sages ; il a choisi ce qui est faiblesse aux yeux du monde pour couvrir de honte les forts ; il a choisi ce qui est bas, méprisable ou ne vaut rien aux yeux du monde, pour détruire ce que celui-ci estime important. Ainsi, aucun être humain ne peut se vanter devant Dieu. Mais Dieu vous a unis à Jésus-Christ et il a fait du Christ notre sagesse : c’est le Christ qui nous rend justes devant Dieu, qui nous permet de vivre pour Dieu et qui nous délivre du péché. Par conséquent, comme le déclare l’Écriture : « Si quelqu’un veut se vanter, qu’il se vante de ce que le Seigneur a fait  . »

“They think they are the ones who have power, but we know that we are the ones who really have the power,” said Marta Benavides to the gathered group of Ecumenical Women. I started off this reflection with a passage of scripture in French to articulate the issues of access, privilege and power. My reflection focuses on the first two days of this delegation to the UN-CSW, two days of orientation. The above verse is I Corinthians 1:26-31 (le Français Courant), and if you look up the English version, you will find Paul arguing against the wisdom of the world. This verse came up recently in my New Testament class at Kenyon College, and this Pauline theme has been particularly relevant in sermons at Harcourt Parish Episcopal Church. How does it relate to advocacy? It’s not only about the knowledge of Jesus, but about the power that comes with our relationship with Christ. Our living into the gospel means that we will find ourselves, even in our advocacy, being the fools according to the powers that be. The verse says that God will choose those who are not, those who are contemptible in the eyes of the world, to destroy that which the world views as most important, oppressive social paradigms. The foolishness of the Gospel is that God can be a child, the foolishness of the Gospel is that Christ suffered and suffers for and with us, the foolishness of the gospel in the eyes of the world.

But we know, and beyond that knowledge, we are called to act, to do justice. On Monday, I had the opportunity to use my position of privilege as an educated, (almost) bilingual college student to help a woman from the Central African Republic tell her story in a break out session on violence against the girl child. I emphasize that I was not being a voice for the voiceless. She had a voice (a strong and very helpful one, at that), but her voice could not be heard. Often when we speak of advocacy we use that phrase, “voice for the voiceless”, but that begs the question: why are they voiceless? It ignores the fact that everyone has a voice, and that if someone is “voiceless” it is that they have had their voice taken from them. In my case, the woman had her voice taken mostly out of convenience (how do you communicate a broad message in english, while providing for a few in other languages?), but it was still taken from her. I relate this to privilege because the first step in dismantling the patriarchal paradigm is recognizing, or naming, our own positions of privilege. I didn’t speak “for” her. She very much spoke for herself. I poured out my “privilege”, using it to empower her. 

Finally, I want to talk about privilege as a concept in its own right. Unfortunately, this is one of those areas where language has forced us to discuss global issues with a single word. Privilege carries many meanings in english, from a position of honor to the systems of oppression and abuse. My title was “l’apanage et le privilège”, “privilege and privilege”. However, the two have different meanings in the french. The first refers to those systems of oppression, abuse, and power struggles. It captures exactly what we speak of when discussing privilege and power in patriarchal paradigms. The latter is the positive, the positions of honor and advantage, positions that should be open to all regardless of who they are or where they come from. It can be discouraging to constantly have to check ourselves as we speak. It is a challenge to be aware of how our language creates barriers between us and the ways in which it strengthens dominant paradigms. However, I am given hope in my faith, that God will use whomever God wills to speak truth to power, to be the holy fools for justice. I know that my hope is not fruitless, but that the Kingdom of God will come, and that every tongue will confess. Access is not limited to any group of people, but is available to all humanity, through Christ our Liberator (see Romans 5:1-5). I end with a prayer for social justice from the Book of Common Prayer:

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 823)