Defending the Episcopal Women’s Caucus Angel Project
A press release dated June 7, 2001

In April the Episcopal Women's Caucus sent a fundraiser letter seeking financial and spiritual support for the Angel Project. Although the Caucus mailed the letter only to our regular mailing list, it has been broadly circulated on the Internet, largely by those who are excited and enthusiastic about the Angel Project and wanted to share it with others.

The Board of the Episcopal Women’s Caucus is dismayed to discover that our motives and intent for the Angel Project have been misconstrued as confrontational by a few, some of whom oppose the ordination of women. The EWC’s goal is and has always been to provide legislative and pastoral support for the ministries of women, lay and ordained, and to undergird the work of the Executive Council Task Force acting in response to the mandate of the 2000 General Convention.

We would never willingly do anything to undermine the goals the EWC has worked toward for 30 years — "… a church that honors and rejoices in the ministries of all women … will honor and rejoice in the ministries of all people" — or any process of our Church toward greater welcome and inclusion. Quite the contrary, the intent of the Caucus Angel Project is to provide companion support for the work of the Task Force.

The Angel Project grew out of many discussions over many years with the lay women and men and some clerics in the non-compliant dioceses. It is intended to support the feelings and needs of the people, women and men, girls and boys, who want to experience the ministry of female priests on a regular basis — a response to the pleas of the people who feel they are "unheard". By responding to these pleas, we will help prepare the people for the eventuality of female priests who will, in time, be introduced into their midst.

This experience of an incarnate presence is an important foundation for the process of reception. It is very difficult to receive what one has never seen or experienced. Indeed, in most of the Episcopal Church, after 25 years of ordaining women, the ministry of female priests is woven so tightly into the life of the church that most people cannot imagine our Church without it. Without such experience, the people are hampered in their capacity to discern the value and validity of women in ordained ministry. Our hope is that when the plans for the inclusion of women in ordained ministry are ready to be implemented by the leadership, the people will also be ready to receive them and benefit from what they can offer.

A measure of the depth of the underlying problem that the Caucus is attempting to address is that the Angel Project has been misinterpreted as a plan to defy the authority of our bishops and to undermine the processes of the 2000 General Convention. That misunderstanding rests, in part, on the premise that only the bishops in the dioceses where the ordination of women is resisted and rejected are affected by the discussion of the validity of women's ordination. As we have observed over the years, most of the discussion of this issue has focused on how the Church can be sensitive to the bishops who are unwilling to uphold Canon III.8.1.

In order to do it well and for it to accomplish its goal of providing a grassroots support for the people, the Angel Project will take many months to fund, plan and coordinate. The realistic time frame involved in implementing the project should not affect the efforts of the Task Force as it works with diocesan leadership in the timeframe mandated by General Convention and will allow the people to journey simultaneously. Be assured that the Caucus has and will continue to move thoughtfully and lovingly as we develop the Angel Project.

The Episcopal Women's Caucus is the feminist voice in the Episcopal Church. It was formed 30 years ago around the issue of the ordination of women. Since then it has continued to work for a church that honors the ministry of all women, because such a church would honor the ministries of all people. For more information about EWC, visit their web site at: www.ecusa.anglican.org/ecw/Women's%20Caucus.htm

Editor's Note
Pamela Darling, an expert on the history of women's ordination in the Episcopal Church, is writing an analysis of the ongoing efforts by opponents of women in the priesthood. This piece, scheduled to appear in the October 2001 issue of "The Witness," will include reviews of: the situation in Maryland where traditionalists have tried to discredit the Right Rev. Jane Dixon, Bishop of Washington; concerns around the remaining three dioceses that have not complied with the canons; and the global picture of the acceptance of women in the priesthood. Pam is the author of "New Wine: The Story of Women Transforming Leadership and Power in the Episcopal Church" (Cowley Publications).