by Susan Olson. This is the first in a multi-part series outlining the results of The Young Clergy Women Project survey. A few weeks ago, an email went out at Yale Divinity School, inviting students to a meeting about “Ministry in a Sexualized Workplace.” We were to talk about sexual harassment, safety, and other related [...]
Christ & Creativity
May 27, 2008 bySpring in Bloom: Photos
Today Fidelia’s Sisters celebrates spring with some flower photography by Katherine Willis Pershey. Katherine writes: I am a beginning photographer; after inheriting a good camera from my sister a few years ago, I now have, in my infant daughter, a pressing inspiration to learn how to use it. In addition to taking hundreds of photos [...]
Buy, Buy, Baby, Buy, Buy
by Sarah Kinney Gaventa Moms in Ministry invites your articles about being a minister and a parent. Submissions can be sent to moms(dot)ycw(at)gmail(dot)com. I am not yet a mother, but my neighbors are. Through immersion in their worlds, I have come to learn of the vital importance of the binkie, the swing, the vibrating chair, [...]
Confirmation Cliff-Jumping
by [name withheld] Again this year, I am writing a liturgy for confirmation with confusion, questioning, and consternation. I love the kids who are being confirmed. I love the community and camaraderie they have developed in a year of meeting, retreating, questioning, wondering, discovering, and constructing. I love how they articulate their faith…not always complete, [...]
Like Mother…
by Kate Smanik-Moyes Dear Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! Last night, while Simon and I wandered through our local mall, I wondered what I would give you as a token of my thanks this year. On and off I have debated making you a pair of the fingerless gloves you asked for at Christmas, but I [...]
Living and Loving in Limbo
by Phoebe Jones Seminary did a very good job at teaching me that it would be really hard—nay, impossible—to date anybody as a young clergywoman. “Don’t even get your hopes up,” should have been printed on my diploma. I, like many others, saw the flood of seminary classmates rushing down the aisle before heading off [...]
You Are With Me
by Joy Caires She laughs–the wide mouthed, toothless grin of a first smile. Her nostrils flare. A pink, elastic, bow encircles her bald head. Her thumb aims towards her mouth, finding her hands still a new trick. The day she died, they held a birthday party for the first birthday she’d never have. I ran [...]
Where the Wild Things Are
I could fall in love with a politician. I did. It happened. As forbidden and secret as it may be, it is the secret that I keep tucked in by my political hope at night. But they don’t make a t-shirt that celebrates the love of retired clergy. If they did, I wouldn’t wear it [...]
Congregational Interviewing 101 (Or What You Should Know About Parish Interviewing but No One Tells You… Or What I Wish I had Known a Few Years Ago)
by Ann Bonner-Stewart Ah, the call process. What an idyllic, prayerful time, characterized by careful consideration of congregations and clergy alike, with everyone putting aside worldly concerns to discern the will of the Triune God. Sound familiar? No? What’s that? You experienced stress, anxiety, or confusion while looking for a position as an ordained minister? [...]