Wright Represents
St. Mary’s, Episcopalians
at U.N.
It’s not just about your faith journey.
While most Episcopalians prepared for Easter in their
traditional ways, St. Mary’s, Arlington, parishioner Diane
Wright spent her Holy Week at the United Nations
interacting with women from around the world, and
thinking about the challenges women and girls face daily
and what people of faith can do about it.
“All women of faith are committed to working
together,” she concluded after representing The Episcopal
Church at the 60th session of the Commission on the
Status of Women in mid-March. One of 19 women
(including four national church staff members) on the
delegation,Wright said the experience reminded her that
she “was part of a larger church. … It’s not just about your
faith journey.The journey is happening all around you.”
Wright, who has attended St. Mary’s with her
family since the early 1990s, has participated in women’s
ministries in the church for more than 20 years, ranging
from diocesan leadership in the Episcopal Church Women
to parish mentorship of junior high girls. A former lawyer
and high school teacher,Wright said that serving as a
delegate blended her longtime interests in women’s issues
and international human rights law.
It was a busy two weeks for Wright, who
observed formal commission proceedings, met with
delegates of nation-states such as the United States,
Honduras and Haiti, and attended so-called “side
events” on issues ranging from human trafficking and
violence against women to her particular interest of
empowering women economically.
But perhaps her most memorable experience
was the deep interactions with other women of faith,
including those from the Anglican Communion. In her
conversations with her Anglican counterparts, she sensed
that the women wanted to get past the recent “bickering”
over sexuality in order to tackle other priorities. And the
gathering allowed Episcopal and Anglican women to find
VIRGINIA EPISCOPALIAN / SUMMER 2016
The journey is happening all around you.
common cause in support of the U.N.’s new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG’s), which target gender
inequality both directly and indirectly through such issues
as clean water and quality education for all.
“Being there for two weeks engaged my interactivist,” said Wright, who added that she was still
processing her experience in NewYork, including her
next steps. One might be exploring the Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), a treaty considered an international
bill of rights for women passed by the U.N. in 1979 and
supported by a number of American cities – although
never ratified by the U.S. government.
Other avenues might include advocating for pay
equity for women clergy, as well as a potential series
of workshops about women in the larger economy.
But whatever form such education and outreach will
take, there will be some sort of takeaway, some way for
others to get involved, as Wright continues to do, and
“make a difference.”
GORDON MANTLER
3