|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
[Back to index of April articles] Anglican women lead the way to unity By Bishop John Bryson Chane A high water mark in the life of the Anglican Communion was reached recently in New York City. From Feb. 27 to March 10, several thousand women from around the world gathered for the 50th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Of that number, 148 represented the Anglican Consultative Council. The ACC was the largest non-governmental organization participating at this year's United Nations event. My wife, Karen, serves on the planning team known as the Anglican Women's Empowerment Group that is responsible for developing the role that the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion's delegates will play in this global conference. The Rev. Canon Nan Peete, from the Diocese of Washington, was chosen as one of the United States provincial representatives to attend this year's conference. The Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals were the focus of this year's meeting, which stressed the creation of an "enabling environment" that will allow the global community to achieve gender equality in the fields of education and health, and secure "equal participation of women in decision making processes at all levels." While the Anglican Communion continues to struggle with division over the issue of sexuality, the gathering of Anglican women represented a unity of all 38 provinces of the Communion. There were two representatives from each province of the Episcopal Church, 20 from the Anglican Women's Empowerment Group, seven under the age of 35 and another 35 participants who attended a weekend immersion into the work of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women. A major achievement of the women participating in this annual U.N. conference was the production of a DVD from last year's conference, entitled "Shall We Gather: Anglican Women Together." Every Episcopal congregation in the U.S. has already received a copy of this important video. If your congregation has not yet had the opportunity to view it or you are not aware that your church received a copy, speak to your rector. The DVD gives a short but very clear overview of the work of the conference. Another achievement in 2006 was the formation of a women's delegation that traveled to Palestine to witness firsthand the deplorable living conditions of Palestinian Christians brought about by the economic hardships resulting from the construction of the wall separating Israel from Palestine. The U.N. plenary sessions also provided additional opportunities for event presentations, discussion groups, social events and meetings that focused on the interdependence of the global village. As Karen recounted, the focus at this year's conference and the collegial work of women from all 38 provinces of the Communion on human rights, education, health care, gender equality and children's issues, I had to wonder why the male primates of our communion can't seem to "get it together." Why is there so much dissonance over issues about sexuality when this is clearly not the primary concern for the women leaders of the global Anglican Communion? The women who weave the threads of these global relationships at this annual U.N. conference are the hope of the future for Anglicanism. Their conversations and work focus around the real efforts to seek global peace and reconciliation. Women are not afraid to do the hard work and action that it takes to live into Christ's commandments and to work through mutual respect and love to repair a broken and impoverished world. May all of us in the Communion take a lesson from their hard work and dedication. A special effort by the Episcopal delegation produced a statement calling on the U.S. to ratify the Convention on the Eliminating of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. One hundred and seventy eight nations have ratified CEDAW since 2004. The U.S. and Iran are two of the nations that have failed to ratify the convention. With all the talk about Iran as an axis of evil, I wonder why U.S. policymakers are willing to keep company with what the Bush administration has called a "rogue nation." The delegates at this year's conference raised a number of issues that should alarm us into action both as citizens of our nation and members of our Communion.
Our Episcopal women's delegation attending this year's U.N. Commission on the Status of Women penned the following: "Our attendance at the 50th UNCSW meeting had taught us that, although there are significant gender issues in our own country and women who need our ministry, our opportunities, freedoms and security are great. We have felt the call at this gathering to use the resources that have been given to us to help our sisters around the world. New mission and ministry projects have been conceived here. We leave with more to pray for, more work to do and more people to love. We thank God for the ways we have been changed and challenged at this meeting." For more information about the UNSCW, you can e-mail Karen Chane at kchane@comcast.net. [Back to index of April articles]
|
|
||||||||||
