Saturday, March 20, 2010

Women Bishops

Today is the first day of my spring break.  I'm planning to go camping with the bf on the Central Coast of Cali later next week, but today I found myself thinking about the lack of women bishops in the ELCA.  This conversation came up with some classmates a couple weeks ago, I think b/c of the honoring our foremothers event at PTLS last week.

As a church that ordains women and invites women as part of leadership, when will our beliefs about equality reach the level of bishop?  From my own count (which could be wrong), there are only 6 women bishops out of the 65 synodical bishops of the ELCA.  Why might this be?  Are we as a people still ingrained to think that it is men who should hold the 'higher-up' positions?  Are women simply told implicitly that being bishop is a job that a man should do?  Are women simply not interested in holding the office of bishop?  Why might that be?  Are we as women ingrained to think that holding the office of bishop is something we can't do, and so we don't consider it?  Are there not enough men encouraging women to run for the office of bishop?  Are there not enough men even considering women who might be good for the job?  (B/c let's be real...though we women want to fight for our rights of equality, we need help from the men to make it happen.  We cannot do it alone.)  I think there could be many reasons for this disparity.  I realize that holding the office of bishop is a challenge, but I do not think it is one reserved for only men.  I think women bishops could bring a different perspective to the position, and one that could reflect the majority of our active church members.  (If we take a look at the percentage of women vs. men active in our congregations, it's likely that we see a higher percentage of women.  This is obviously not reflected at the level of bishop.  I think it's important for us to be aware of these differences.)

Thank you to these women for braving the way:

Bishop Jessica R. Crist, Montana Synod
Bishop Elizabeth Eaten, Northeastern Ohio Synod
Bishop Margaret Payne, New England Synod
Bishop Marie Jerge, Upstate NY Synod
Bishop Claire Burkat, Southeastern Penn. Synod
Bishop Wilma Kucharek, Slovak Zion Synod

5 comments:

Donna Smith said...

The Lutheran Church in the United States has only ordained women since the 1970's -- ancient history to you, but really not all that long, historically speaking. It takes a long time for this kind of change. (I mean, consider the percentages of male/female clergy, period!) As a woman ordained for 27 years I would counsel patience.

Also, don't forget the women bishops who are no longer in office -- Carol Hendrix comes to mind, as does THE pioneer woman Bishop of the ELCA, April Ulring Larson (she was first). And Andrea-DeGroot Nesdahl. Thank God for them all.

Brant Clements said...

I agree with Donna. As the number of women with the qualifications and experience to serve as bishop increase with time, the number of female bishops will increase. Pastors of our generation are just now becoming bishops, and when we were in seminary, the ratio of women to men was lower than it is today.

God bless!

kirsten sauey said...

Donna and Brant - thanks for your comments! I think you're right - it is about patience, and it's also something I have been mindful of the last couple weeks and think it is something important for us to think about and continue working on. Donna - thanks for giving me other names to add to the list - I don't know how to find the names of past bishops.

Brant Clements said...

Congratulations on getting featured at prettygoodlutherans.com!

Allisun P-R said...

Have you thought about the women who are ordained and how few of them are probably in "senior pastor" positions while a man is "associative" (or whatever)? Women are still a bit behind within their congregations. I'm trying my best to explain what I mean, but I think very few women are "senior pastors" at their congregations. A disparity everywhere. Someday Kirsten, hopefully, maybe.

love you!