Vocation and Transformation

By Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook

My first recollection of the Philadelphia ordinations is of an article in Time magazine that covered the event. I was a Roman Catholic high school senior in 1974, and decided to do my thesis on women's ordination from my own denominational perspective.

Little did I know thirty years ago where the imprint of that magazine article would lead. Within ten years of that eventful July, I was an Episcopalian, a seminary graduate, and looking forward to my own ordination. Although, as a white, middle-class woman, the last thirty years caused me some pain and discrimination, other women have endured much more. When I graduated from seminary in 1983, very few ordained women had become rectors; most envisioned ministries as associate clergy. Given these limitations, my own vocation took a different road into ministries with young people, teaching, and writing.

Without a doubt the events of July 1974 transformed my life. Yet at the time, many believed that the church, too, would be transformed. I often wonder if we have lived into the promise of those days, and if not, where have we fallen short of the dream? And as one engaged in theological education, I often face the question of how do we best equip the whole people of God for the challenges that are ahead?

Long before women's ordination – a late twentieth century phenomenon – was even possible, laywomen looked for ways to bring together their intellectual gifts, their leadership potential, and their religious vocations.

Fredrica Harris Thompsett and I are in the process of completing a book about the history of Episcopal laywomen throughout the twentieth century. The book will appear as a collection of essays by a variety of authors, all focused on some aspect of vocation. Long before women's ordination – a late twentieth century phenomenon – was even possible, laywomen looked for ways to bring together their intellectual gifts, their leadership potential, and their religious vocations. At the most basic level, many of the laywomen studied for the project believed that their vocation was to be Christians in the world, and they sought ways to earn a living, sometimes in the church, which brought a sense of integration, meaning, and wholeness.

Because of the breadth and diversity of the vocations carried out by Episcopal laywomen during the twentieth century, it is difficult to draw sharp conclusions, though particular patterns do emerge from their stories. All the laywomen studied encountered injustice due to sexism and clericalism, and yet the impact of this oppression was not borne by all women equally .

As we know, no form of oppression stands alone, but is linked to the many forms of identity we each incarnate as our social location. Race, ethnicity, social class, sexual identity, age, ability – all impact women's capacity to live their vocations in the church and the world. The experience of women of color throughout the Episcopal Church suggests how racism, present throughout a predominately white denomination, intensifies their struggle to live out their vocational calling.

Many women of color in the Episcopal Church are now and have been in the past justifiably critical of the failure of white feminism to address their issues and to recognize the impact of racism on their lives. Certainly, the history of the contribution of women of color to the Episcopal Church continues to be under-recognized and under-researched. It is critical at this point in time that those who are seriously concerned with women's leadership in the Episcopal Church address the impact of racism on our history, as well as on our future.

Far too often I have experienced resistance in progressive, predominantly white, organizations to do the power analysis required to dismantle racism within the church. But unless the white leadership of the Episcopal Church, women and men, come to terms with the implicit and explicit racism faced by people of color, we will continue to fall short of our call to live in communion with each other, to be transformed for the sake of one another and the world.

Our study of laywomen in the twentieth century also revealed the frequent clericalism they experienced, first from their ordained male colleagues, and years later from ordained women. Though the women we studied experienced their call to ministry as a layperson as integral to their sense of vocation, and did not desire ordination, they received little support for their vocational journeys. Instead, the question, “Why don't you want to be ordained?” became a familiar refrain.

The fact that women's ordination has served to limit, rather than enhance, vocational choices for laywomen is an indication not only of clericalism, but of a theology of ministry based on religious hierarchy rather than the priesthood of all believers. What would the church look like if we cast aside rigid institutional roles and boundaries. . .?

The fact that women's ordination has served to limit, rather than enhance, vocational choices for laywomen is an indication not only of clericalism, but of a theology of ministry based on religious hierarchy rather than the priesthood of all believers. What would the church look like if we cast aside rigid institutional roles and boundaries, and really lived like we believed in the priesthood of all believers? What would the church look like if we did business based in the values of cooperation, collaboration, compassion and mutual flourishing? What if the deeply inscribed clericalism and hierarchical power of the Episcopal Church instead empowered ministry through relationships built on mutual respect, empathy, and participation in the wider community? How we would be better equipped to witness to the world if we as a church believed that all God's people shared in giftedness for ministry, not just the ordained?

The empowerment of women (and men) in the Episcopal Church today is dependent on our capacity to redefine vocation in a way that is inclusive of the priesthood of all believers. Church models based in the subordination of women, people of color, and other marginalized people are deeply inscribed, and will not be changed through the election or appointment of a few individuals into traditional structures. Marginalized persons inhabiting roles and offices than remain unchanged will not transform the Episcopal Church. Rather, deep change will come only through the enactment of new models of the church as the whole people of God; models grounded in shared ministry and mutual respect between laity and clergy. The role of ordained leadership needs to be transformed away from inherited forms of clerical privilege into a new style of ministry committed to evoking the priesthood of all believers.

History has taught us that all major efforts to enlarge women's vocational options in the Episcopal Church, from sisterhoods, to deaconesses, to lay professionals, to ordination, were at first sources of great conflict and resistance. Women on the margins of church life continue to work to enlarge women's vocational options; formal institutional support for ordained women is limited, and support for laywomen has not changed significantly over the past century. Though women now participate on all levels of church governance, the need to empower women's participation and leadership throughout formal church structures remains.

As people of faith, we know that the reign of God will not ultimately be built on political arguments, but on the transformation of hearts – new life, not just reordered life. As the people of God we are called during these troubling times to respond to a world groaning under the weight of injustice and broken relationships. We are called at this time to use all the gifts we have available to transform our church and be about the healing and wholeness the whole world craves.

The Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook is associate professor of Pastoral Theology and director of Congregational Studies at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.   She is the author of Freedom is a Dream: A Documentary History of Women in the Episcopal Church (Church Publishing Inc., 2002), among other books. Sheryl may be reached by email at skujawa@episdivschool.edu .