Past President Pat Merchant submitted a resolution to the 1991 General Convention calling for an all-

convention worship service in '94 celebrating the ministries of women, including the eleven ordained twenty years

earlier in Philadelphia. The service was held, without the special emphasis, but with "a glimpse of wholeness in a

stunning celebration. "Barbara Harris, first female bishop of the Anglican Communion and Martha Horne, first

female dean of an Episcopal Seminary were concelebrants with the Presiding Bishop; the preacher was Pamela

Chinnis, first female president of the House of Deputies, a special litany was prepared by Ruth Meyers, a clerical

deputy and consultant to the Standing Liturgical Commission and many lay and ordained women shared in the

liturgical leadership.

Cynthia Black becomes the new EWC president, and Katie Sherrod takes on the editorship of Ruach. The

major issue facing the Caucus is to make sure the body known as the C004sa Committee (on the viability of the

ordination canon) gets underway. When it holds a hearing in Washington, dozens of EWC members and friends

show up to testify, and their witness proves invaluable. The Committee recommends to the House of Bishops and

the Executive Council that a resolution be presented to the 97 General Convention making the "equally applicable"

ordination canon mandatory throughout the Church. Both Bishops and Council vote a resounding yes, and the next

step is Philadelphia in July, 1997 -- a prophetic time and place!

Once again the Caucus solicits funds for a special event -- this time the United Nations Fourth World

Conference on Women and its accompanying non-Governmental organization (NGO) forum. The fund to help send

a sister to Beijing enables Cynthia to attend and a contribution to be made to a fund for second and third world

women. Continuing the commitment to solidarity, the 1995 annual meeting is held in Fort Worth with Power Tools

for Women as the theme. Historian Pamela Darling cautioned the gathering against using the power tools of

patriarchy -- force, intimidation, harassment, violence and coercion, but rather the tools of "the word" spoken in

truth and love. A highlight of the gathering was the Holy Eucharist celebrated by president Cynthia Black in

Temple Beth El, a site offered by its Rabbi; Katie Sherrod was the preacher and "outcast priest" Terry Cairo read

the Gospel. Members of the community were present, many of them with tears in their eyes at the experience of

celebrating Eucharist with a woman as presider.

Solidarity is visible once again as the Caucus joins with Trinity Church in Wilmington, Delaware, to

sponsor a celebration of the Eucharist on the night prior to the opening session of the heresy trial of Bishop Righter

for his ordination of a gay man to the priesthood and to sit as silent witnesses for the duration of the trial. Cynthia

was concelebrant with Trinity's rector, Ann Lippencott. Three months later Caucus members are present to rejoice

when all charges are dismissed.

In 1996 Catherine Roskam is consecrated Suffragan Bishop in New York, Geralyn Wolf, Diocesan Bishop in

Rhode Island and Carolyn Irish, Diocesan Bishop in Utah. It feels like a critical mass has been reached.

October 1971 to September 1996 -- twenty-five years of prayer and action -- the Anglican Communion has

women priests in a majority of its Provinces, there are women bishops in three of the Provinces, and lay women

have moved into leadership roles as theologians, teachers, deputies, delegates and THE EPISCOPAL WOMEN'S

CAUCUS PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE!

Thanks Be to God.

Go Stand in the Temple and Tell

This theme of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Episcopal Womens Caucus is an appropriate place to

pick up the threads of EWC history. The threads I weave come from the pages of Ruach, just as they did in the first

volume of EWC history covering the twenty-five years from 1971 to 1996. Go stand in the temple and tell; that is

precisely what 150 women and men did, they told stories.

People like Pam Chinnis, Sally Bucklee, Nancy Wittig, Barbara Schlachter, Pat Merchant, Carol Cole

Flanagan, Anne Scheibner, Byron Rushing, Pam Darling, Marge Christie and so many others reminisced about

the pains and the joys of the long path toward wholeness for the Episcopal Church. It was truly a celebration! With

Pam Chinnis and Carmen Guerrero as keynoters, with Mary Adelia McLeod and Jane Holmes Dixon as celebrant

and preacher, the picture of the church during that EWC annual meeting was a portrait of wholeness. (A video