President's Report

by Ginger Paul



Dear Friends,

Much has gone on in our world and the Episcopal Church since the Annual gathering a year ago in Pittsburgh when the dust and smoke, the tears and pain of 9/11 were just beginning to allow us a first glimpse of lives forever changed by this disaster. Our churches, mosques and synagogues were full. Flag waving and patriotic rheto- ric were at fever pitch. Sadly, it didn't take long for those seeking easy answers to impossible questions to slip back into the Christmas and Easter routine. Unlike Jacob in the 32nd Chapter of Genesis, many of us seem to be unwilling to wrestle and wait for the blessing.

Just as we began to feel surer of ourselves, snipers struck fear in our lives. At least one person decided not to attend the Annual Gathering just hours before her scheduled train departure because of the government's announcement that trains might be the next targets of terrorists. I find myself increasingly annoyed, even an- gry with the leaders of our country who seem to believe there was never violence and terrorism in this country before September 11, 2001. How many women have been killed in body and spirit because of domestic vio- lence swept under the rug of denial, disbelief and disin- terest? How many children awake to gunfire in their neighborhoods day after day? The laundry list is long.

In our Church there are continuing efforts, subtle and not so veiled, to keep women, people of color, gay and lesbian, anyone who doesn't fit a particular mold, in their places. The recent update by the Committee on the Status of Women of the study done in 1987 by the Committee on the Full Participation of Women in the Church documents that some progress has been made toward full participation. Yet, there are significant per- centages of women and men, primarily in the south, who believe that there are few if any inequities! A more subtle form of violence to be sure, but how much emo- tional trauma is inflicted when any of God's children are prevented by sins of commission or omission from becoming all the Creator intended?

As the Caucus board struggled to decide whether to hold the Annual Gathering because the num- bers seemed too small, I thought of two bright stars of the Episcopal Church now in the nearer presence of God: Suzanne Radley Hiatt and Paul Matthew Washington. Sue, the guiding spirit of the 1974 Philadelphia ordina- tions, herself one of the eleven, was priest and teacher of pastoral theology. Her fiery spirit of courage, wis- dom and inspiration will always be with us to keep us from complacency. Paul, civil rights activist, priest, rector of the Church of the Advocate where Sue and others were ordained, once said in a sermon: "When I saw my people hungry, cold, homeless, oppressed, bru- talized and exploited, I knew it was God telling me to do something about it."

And so we gathered to worship and pray; to honor and celebrate with Bishop Barbara Harris as she retired as Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts; to wel- come and embrace her successor, Gayle Harris; to do something about economic justice in the church and the world.

You will find reports elsewhere in this issue of the challenges we were given by Meizhu Lui, executive director of United for a Fair Economy in Boston and Carmen Guerrero, Jubilee Officer at the Episcopal Church Center who called us to wrestle and wait for the blessing.

As I write this, the Angel Project in the Diocese of Ft. Worth is at the midway point. The Rev. Barbara Schlachter continues to do ministry in a very pastoral, non-confrontational way. She has met, at his invita- tion, with Bishop Jack Iker. It is not and has never been the intent of the Episcopal Women's Caucus that this experience for the people of that diocese who seek her care be used in any way to cause political trouble for Bishop Iker or the Diocese of Ft. Worth. Let us con- tinue to pray for those involved in the Angel Project that understanding and respect may be theirs. Let us also continue to pray for those who long to have the pastoral care of women priests but are denied, wherever they live, work and worship for the spread of the kindom.

Yes, Sue Hiatt and Paul Washington, we are pushing forward, not nearly as rapidly as we would like, but with your spirit blowing us onward, the women and men of the Episcopal Women's Caucus will never give in to mediocrity and second class citizenship in this Church.

Let us pray.

May the God who dances in creation, who embraces us with human love, who shakes our lives like thunder, bless us and drive us out with power to fill the world with God's justice. Amen.