liturgical calendar; parity of compensation and benefits for clergy and lay employees serving in equivalent

positions, inclusion of domestic partners in church health insurance policies and, of course, passage of the Rowley

resolution.

The presence of eleven women bishops among more than 800 at the 1998 Lambeth Conference was

Anglican history in the making; they were not yet exactly a critical mass, but definitely an historic presence, made

evident by the level of resistance among some of the male bishops that their club was about to be invaded.

Another reason this Lambeth was historic, unfortunately, was the negative stance it took towards womens

ordination and the full inclusion of gay men and lesbians in the life and ministry of the church.

Assuming that these eleven might need a place of comfort in the midst of a potentially difficult time and

space, the Caucus decided to be a presence at Lambeth once again. Cynthia Black, Lyn Headley-Moore and Ginger

Paul provided hospitality and valet services and oversaw the production of an historic photo-portrait of the

Lambeth Eleven in full ecclesiastical garb. Ruach editor Katie Sherrod was present also, serving as a member of

the official Lambeth news team and was captured by a photographer hatted and gloved for attendance at the

traditional Queens Tea!

The 1998 Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, NM, posed the question How can womens organizations, especially

the EWC, model a new day a day free of racism, sexism, clericalism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism for the

rest of the church? Keynoter Katie Cannon explored the issue of power and prejudice, helping members to see the

connections among all the isms especially in light of the negativity toward women and lesbigay sisters and

brothers evident during the Lambeth Conference a few months earlier. The 1999 gathering in Silver Spring, MD,

continued the exploration of the linkages between sexism, racism and homophobia with Kelly Brown Douglas,

author of The Black Christ as keynoter.

Resolutions passed during the annual meeting highlighted the justice agenda of the gathered members:

elimination of the international debt which so deeply affects global women and children; understanding the

connections between global environmental destruction, health issues, health care and the AIDS pandemic;

confrontation of the root causes of oppression and prejudice; support for reproductive choice and freedom for all

women and girls.

The year 1999 saw the anniversary celebrations of two historic events: the 10th for the consecration of Barbara

C. Harris as the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion and the 25th for the ordinations of eleven women

in Philadelphia and four women in Washington. They were jubilant events for the gathered faithful supporters of

women in ministry and joyful reunions for those who had been present twenty-five and ten years earlier.

Canon John Peterson, secretary general of the Anglican Communion proclaimed the significance of the

Philadelphia ordinations when during the anniversary luncheon he said, the 1974 ordinations helped all of us as

Anglican Christians to become more aware of the gift of priesthood. He provided a chart showing the acceptance

of the priesting of women in a majority of the 30+ Provinces and noted that Japan had recently ordained its first

women priests and that the Old Catholic Church (in communion with Anglicans) had voted in favor of womens

ordination to priesthood and episcopate.

The offering from the anniversary celebration was given to the Caucus, which in turn gave half to the Church

of the Advocate in Philadelphia (the location for the service in 1974 as well as the 25th anniversary celebration)

and the other half to create a Caucus endowment for its future mission and ministry later named the Rt. Rev.

Barbara C. Harris Leadership Fund to honor her position as the first female bishop in the worldwide Anglican

Communion.

President Cynthia Black in her farewell Ruach article described a recent bumper sticker which said well-

behaved women rarely make history and then went on to hope we are never accused of being well-behaved,

because if we (EWC) dont do everything we can to advocate on behalf of women and girls in the Episcopal

Church, no one will. And then she turned over the leadership of the Caucus to the newly elected President, Lyn

Headley- Moore.