Responses to the Statement
About Gender and Clergy
Dear Bishops Keith and Buss:
As one of the few young people still involved with the General Church, I
find it an obligation to let you know how upsetting I found the announcement
of maintaining a male-only clergy. I do not write this as a woman who has ever
felt a calling to the ministry, but as a young adult gravely concerned for the
Church she cares so much about among her generation.
I’m not going to argue the theology behind the decision; others much
more eloquent than I am have already spoken what I would say. But I do want
to express the impact this decision has made among me and my peers. And of
course while I do not speak for everyone, I do believe I’m speaking for the vast
majority who are increasingly disassociating and distancing themselves from
the Church because of this and subsequent issues.
A question that has been highlighted in many congregations recently is:
How can we get more young people reinvested and involved with the Church?
And while we all can speculate about strategies and tactics for sharing the
Church with them, I, and many around me, firmly believe numbers will
continue to decline unless the Church’s structure and policies become more
inclusive.
Gender equality and many other social justice issues are constantly in
the forefront of our minds and conversations. Everything we interact with
is seen through the lens of discerning whether it’s inclusive or oppressive.
Everything – the General Church included. And the reaction when we find
something oppressive is one of two things: either to speak up and fight against
the injustice we see, or simply to walk away and find something else that does
align with our beliefs. The latter of the two is what’s currently happening.
One of the beauties of the New Church, especially in this day and age,
is its teachings on how necessary variety is in the world. It is one of the only
branches of Christianity that says it is not religious upbringing that determines
your salvation, but how you live your life; and that other religions have not
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