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Helen Blackburn was in Ottawa attending the 2005 Women's Ordination Worldwide Conference. We appreciate that many members couldn't travel to Canada but are very interested in what happened.
Helen sent in regular reports - and pictures - to appear on this page. |
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This is the sign as you enter the main campus of Carleton University. It's just a mile or so from 'downtown' Ottawa, and as soon as I remember to look in the other direction when crossing the road, I'll be ok!!
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The conference starts tomorrow and people are now starting to arrive. The organisers are expecting around 400 people from all over the world.
Apparently the Diocesan Bishop in Ottawa has written to all the priests in the area and told them not to make any comments or offer any prayers either for or against the event.
I took some time yesterday to go on a tour of the Canadian Parliament. It's free!! (Are you listening Holyrood?) What I found remarkable was that once we'd passed through the inevitable security checks, we actually got right into the Parliament buildings and stood on the floor of the House of Commons.
The buildings and procedures bear more than a slight resemblance to those at Westminster, but instead of a House of Lords they have a Senate....though the Senators are appointed rather than elected. Everything is conducted bi-lingually and people seem to be able to slip in and out of French and English very comfortably.
Visited the magnificent Cathedral Basilica Notre Dame and prayed for a successful conference, but also kept events in London very much in my thoughts. I've been following the news on the BBC website.
I kept seeing 'Poutine' advertised in cafes and restaurants. I discovered it's french fries (chips) with mozzarella cheese on top, and the whole lot smothered in gravy!! There are lots of 'chippy vans' on the streets selling things with interesting and unusual names like 'Polish Sausage' and 'Italian Sausage'.
Being a fairly strict vegetarian, I decided not to find out the difference!! Lots of delicious food is available, but I'm afraid I haven't taken to the Canadian delicacy of Maple Syrup. People pour it on their pancakes at breakfast, but I'm afraid I'm sticking to bagels and cream cheese!!
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Here's a picture of Chris Maunder, Jennifer Stark, Katharine Salmon, Anne Brown and Dorothea McEwan in the lecture theatre just before Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza's talk.
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There are around 500 people here. So far I've met people from all over Canada, the USA, Mexico, Austria and even Japan. We started proceedings in the best possible way....with food and a very pleasant reception which gave people an opportunity to socialise. I even tried a bottle of Canadian beer!!
After the reception we made our way to the auditorium where we were welcomed by Marie Bouclin, the co-ordinator of the steering group who have been planning this event for the last 3 years or so.
She introduced us to Marion Dewar, a remarkable woman now in her 70s, who started life as a public health nurse before taking an interest in politics. She has been elected Mayor of Ottawa 3 times, has been an MP in the Canadian House of Commons, and is a member of the Order of Canada which is awarded to 'those who by sustained personal achievement have made a difference for the country or humanity'. She told us that our job this weekend is to convince not only the Vatican but all churches that women are persons. That women's ordination will come and we have to have patience. It will come not with anger but with love, debate and openness.
Marion's address was followed by a liturgy at which we were reminded that today (22 July) is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. She was a woman unjustly condemned throughout history as a prostitute - we reclaim her and give her back her title "Apostle to the Apostles". |
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Saturday morning saw us fill the auditorium once again to hear Rosemary Radford Ruether, a well known feminist theologian from the USA.
She asked us to think about how we understand the church as a community of liberation from patriarchy, and reinforced the fact that there has seldom been explicit condemnation of patriarchy. She made the important point that clericalism and ministry are not the same, and even went so far as to say they are incompatible. Separation of the forms of ministry and distortion of the clergy - laity relationship turns the laity into passive dependents, and ministry becomes the special preserve of the ordained.
The Sacramental and educational life of the church is turned into a power tool. Clericalism is built on and reduplicates patriarchy.
She mentioned the way in which so many of the laity are now theologically educated, and often in a different and more modern way than their clerical contemporaries, yet the Vatican tries to ban laity - especially women - from teaching in Roman Catholic Seminaries.
The laity has little or no role in Church administration, and she told us the joke she makes with her Protestant friends that one of the good things about being a Catholic is that there's virtually no committee work!!
However, the down side of this is that lay people don't call their priests and have no say in their selection. There is some progress now on involvement of the laity on Church committees, however a change of priest can mean changes or even the abolition of a parish council....and he has the authority to do this!
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On Sunday morning, after about 3 hours sleep, we had a business meeting.
I'll spare you most of the details, but I did get up and speak when we had a discussion about where the next conference will be held.
So far we've been to Dublin in 2001 and now Ottawa in 2005. The next conference should take place in 2009, and I stood up and suggested we should go to a developing country.
My feeling is that we really need to take a leap of faith and go to a country where it won't be as easy to have such an event. Of course it would be truly wonderful if we no longer needed WOW conferences in 2009, but even an eternal optimist like me has their doubts!!
However, there's a steering group with representatives from all the member organisations, which will need to discuss all the suggestions that were made, and it will soon meet.
I have to admit that having lived and worked in Zambia for 3.5 years, it would be lovely to go to Africa.
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In the evening it was really nice to get together with other CWO members, and Diarmuid from BASIC in Ireland.
We went into Ottawa for good food and good conversation, and found a wonderful restaurant where you could eat as much as you wanted for $15.99 (about 8 pounds).
Actually I think we did more talking than eating, as we don't see each other as often as we'd like.
We are spread out all over England, Scotland and Wales (Ireland has it's own group - Brothers and Sisters in Christ) and only really get together on occasions like these.
Dorothea McEwan, Myra Poole and Helen Blackburn sharing a joke at the Saturday evening dinner. |
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Here's another picture, this time of the accommodation block we'll all be staying in for the conference.
I'm taking a tour of the Canadian Parliament tomorrow, then hoping to play 9 holes on Thursday....too hot for 18. Went for a run at 6.45am this morning and only lasted about 15 minutes, the humidity is unbelieveable.
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Here's another photo, this time of the Bytown Museum which tells the history of the City of Ottawa. It used to be called Bytown, but it changed its name because it thought it would have a better chance of becoming the capital city. There were 5 on the shortlist but good old Queen Victoria picked Ottawa!!
There's a huge statue of Queen Elizabeth outside the Parliament Building and she gets her face on all the money!!!
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This is the official conference banner.
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After visiting HMV (no Alexander Brothers or Andy Stewart!) , I also went into MacDonalds but they didn't have anything for vegetarians....unless I wanted a muffin or an ice cream. Obviously Quorn burgers haven't reached Canada yet!.
There are hot dog stalls on every corner. I've discovered another local delicacy called 'pogo' which is a hot dog dipped in corn batter and deep fried!!! Apparently some stalls do veggie hot dogs....I'll give them a try next time I'm downtown.
I looked for a paper shop when I arrived, but soon discovered that most people buy their papers from these machines. You put the money in the slot and open up the front to take your paper. There aren't quite as many as we have to choose from, and there isn't really any concept of tabloids and broadsheet. |
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The highlight of the evening was a talk by renowned feminist theologian Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza who opened with the words "We are gathered here this weekend because we have heard the call of divine wisdom". Of course she made reference to the F word - don't worry she was talking about feminism!! She talked about how the Church is run more like the Roman Empire than the Ecclesia of Christ, and went on to say how the Hierarchy is not the Church, rather the people of God are the Church who the Hierarchy are called to serve.
Her talk was not without controversy as she expressed concern about the way the women's ordination movement is going. "By taking ordination at any price, we are in danger of creating an anti-hierarchy which is still a hierarchy". She talked about an issue very close to my heart, that of exclusive language in the liturgy.
Every time I go to Mass and say the Creed, I feel angry when we say the words 'For us men and for our salvation'. What's wrong with just saying 'For us...'? Rome continues to refuse to change exclusive language in the liturgy and has turned down requests to use non-sexist language.
This was a fascinating talk, not everyone agreed with everything that was said, and some interesting debate followed both formally, and afterwards over a drink in the bar.
I'm off to bed now....
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Some of the English and Scottish delegates at the conference.
Back: Jennifer Stark, Chris Maunder, Anne Brown, Helen Blackburn
Front: Sue Williamson, Pat Brown, Myra Poole, Katharine Salmon |
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A very powerful quote Rosemary made which really stayed with me was that "Ministry is the active practice of our authentic life and the building of redemptive communities as a base to challenge injustice".
In other words we all have some kind of ministry and we shouldn't see any one ministry as being better than another.
She actually questions ministry as a full-time paid job....or even more as a career?
As I understood what she was saying, leadership roles should be seen as functioning roles which help to nurture and develop others who can then go on to be called to leadership by their community.
This was a very powerful talk, and we hope to obtain a transcript of it for the website very soon. Rosemary is a very entertaining and witty speaker and we all left the auditorium feeling refreshed and renewed. |
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Saturday evening brought everyone together for a more formal dinner (I even combed my hair and put a clean shirt on!!) which gave us a chance to meet other people, thought when there are 430 residential delegates as well as those attending just for the day it isn't that easy.
Rosemary talking to Sue Williamson and Lala Winkley of London CWO and Dina Cormick from South Africa at the Saturday evening dinner.
Some of us got together afterwards with a nice bottle of Shiraz to sing songs, tell jokes and discuss the events of the day before retiring to bed around 2am.....breakfast is at 8am!! |
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The conference concluded with a liturgy which encompassed the vast array of countries and cultures we had all come from.
People carried flags and banners representing the West, the East, the North and the South.
We sang the song written for the conference by June Boyce-Tillman which includes the words "Following the vision we will move forward, our resolve will never slack".
Everyone wore a purple scarf worn like a stole to represent the fact that we are people of God, people with dignity and people who exercise ministry in our churches.
The readings were from 1 Corinthians 12: 1-14, and Luke 4: 14-30.
At the offertory we sang another song written for the conference, this time by Sr. Anne Donockley. It included some very powerful words particularly "Called to speak for truth and justice, every day of our lives". Everyone participated in the prayer of blessing and the subsequent sharing of the bread and wine.
People stood close together so that they could put their hand on the shoulder of the person next to them.
An expression which was used a lot over the weekend and which I found very helpful was 'Stand as you are able'. So often in Church services we are asked to sit, kneel, stand....without any thought for those who are unable to do so. Not everyone can sit or stand or kneel, or they may only manage for short periods of time.
The entire liturgy was thoughtful and totally inclusive. the language made sure everyone felt part of what was happening.
Overall, it was a very moving experience, and the true sense of peace and love I could feel, is very hard to put into words
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We concluded our time of worship together firstly with a Blessing song:
Bless you my sister,
Bless you on your way,
You have roads to roam before you're home,
And winds to speak your name.
So go gently, my sister,
Let courage be your song,
You have words to say, in your own way,
And stars to light your night.
And if you ever grow weary,
And your heart-song has no refrain,
Just remember, we'll be waiting,
To raise you up again.
And we'll bless you, our sister,
Bless you in our way,
And we'll welcome home all the life you've known,
And softly speak your name.
Followed by another song written by June Boyce-Tillman, with a tune everyone will recognise.....
We shall go out with hope of Resurrection,
We shall go out, from strength to strength go on.
We shall go out and tell our stories boldly,
Tales of a love that will not let us go.
We'll sing our song of wrongs that can be righted,
We'll dream our dream of hurts that can be healed,
We'll weave a cloth of all the world united,
Within the vision of a Christ that sets us free.
We'll give a voice to those who have not spoken,
We'll find the words for those whose lips are sealed,
We'll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,
Vibrating love alive in every heart.
We'll share our joy for those who are still weeping,
Chant hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief.
We'll leap and dance the Resurrection story,
Including all within the circles of our love.
Yes, you've guessed it....Danny Boy!!! |
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