A plenary session of assembly yesterday marked the close of the Ecumenical Decade of
Churches in Solidarity with Women, demonstrating an apparent consensus that violence
against women is a plague that must be stopped.
The delegates to the Festival for the end of the Decade, which met 27-30 November in
Harare, prepared a letter to the assembly. The message, "From Solidarity to
Accountability", called for new initiatives to continue the aims of the Decade and
the letter asked the assembly "to announce to all the world that violence against
women is a sin."
Most delegates appeared to favour that idea. "Does the church wish to remain
custodian of a culture of violence or as a catalyst to a culture of life?" asked the
Rev. Deenabandhu Manchala, of India. "We must stop seeing violence against women as a
women’s problem."
But no delegate was willing to declare the decade an unqualified success, and comments
from Orthodox delegates revealed sharp divisions over what it accomplished and what should
happen next.
"We have started down the path toward empowering women to share the fullness of their
gifts and toward enabling the church to be enriched by those gifts," said the Rev.
Bertrice Y. Wood (United Church of Christ, USA). But the realisation of full empowerment
"is still largely before us".
Several panelists offered their views of the decade’s success and failures.
Metropolitan Ambrosius of Oulu, Finland, said the decade has been "very
important" for the churches. "In many places women have remained invisible and
ignored, in spite of the fact that ... the church should always be the community of women
and men," he said.
The decade should not have been perceived as a threat by any church, Ambrosius said.
"The decade did not attempt to challenge in a negative way those church traditions
which do not ordain women."
But Fr Vsevolod Chaplin (Russian Orthodox Church) said he considered at least one theme
discussed by Decade supporters -- the call for inclusive language in church documents and
liturgy -- to be "blasphemous".
"I affirm my church’s deep call for human and social rights for women. I
strongly call for solidarity in this regard," Chaplin said. "Less and less
acceptable for my church is (the call) to refrain from strong criticism of women’s
attempts to obscure the agenda (with) radical feminist theology."
So long as other WCC churches push an agenda calling for all churches to ordain women and
to accept inclusive language, he said, "the eucharistic unity that is a dream will
never come true."
Wood said in a press conference following the plenary session that Decade supporters have
not pursued that agenda. Inclusive language "was not a big issue" at the 27-30
November Decade Festival at Belvedere Technical Teacher’s College in Harare, although
she added, "I come from the school that exclusive language is equally
blasphemous."
Wood also told reporters that Decade leaders have not advocated ordination of Orthodox
women or others who are not advocating it for themselves. "Our solidarity with them
is around the increase of their role as laywomen." Some Orthodox women, she said,
have sought ordination to the diaconate, which is in line with Orthodox traditions.
Anne Glynn-Mackoul, a laywoman from the United States and a delegate of the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, told the plenary session that many Orthodox
women were not satisfied with a letter to the assembly issued by the last week’s
Festival delegates because it did not represent a true consensus.
"We identify with many of the struggles articulated in the letter, especially
violence against women," Glynn-Mackoul said. But she said that Orthodox women who
attended the Festival contended that the document that emerged from a final drafting
process after the meeting adjourned did not reflect their views. She was apparently
referring to references to human sexuality and inclusive language.
"It is with great respect and deep concern that our presence at the Festival will be
misconstrued as an affirmation," Glynn-Mackoul said.
Panelists in the plenary did not respond to Glynn-Mackoul, but Wood maintained in the
press conference that she regarded the letter as a consensus document. "We allowed
literally everyone who wanted to speak to be heard, long into the night," she said,
describing the process of developing the letter.
Several assembly delegates expressed their support of the Decade’s goals during
Monday’s plenary.
The Very Rev. Stanley J. McKay (United Church of Canada) offered a confession. "As a
man, I have not yet learned to be in solidarity with women," he said. "After 40
years of misinformation, the Decade hasn’t been enough." He asked the indulgence
of Christian sisters to continue working for the equal partnership of women and men in the
church and society.
The Rev. Fr Larry Jia Herra (Philippine Independent Church) spoke in favour of the
ordination of women. "If salvation is dependent on (Christ’s) maleness, then
women would be excluded."
The Rev. Deenabandhu Manchala, one of the panelists, said that one of the sad findings of
the Decade is that "violence against women is a reality everywhere." The
churches need to discern this reality "and actively participate in ... grass roots
ecumenical movements for justice, freedom and life."
The Decade plenary had opened with a dramatic demonstration of women’s solidarity.
The Rev. Luzmarina Campos Garcia of Brazil, dressed in a biblical robe, proceeded down the
main aisle of the hall carrying an urn of water that had been gathered from Festival
delegates.
The water represented the tears of women around the world, and assembly delegates
applauded as Campos Garcia poured the water into a larger urn at the front of the hall.
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