Good News and Challenging News For Women

The Marin IJ website reports that the Rev. Dr. Cornelia Cyss Crocker has been called to Two Rock/Tomalis. Cornelia has served as adjunct falculty for the Spirituality track and worked at First, San Anselmo. This is good news for her and for Two Rock/Tomalis. The installation will be Sept 10th at 3 pm at Tomales.

On the other hand - the New York Times has run a piece on the challenges women face getting into the pulpits of congregations with 350 or more. We face a future of small, struggling congregations or associate pastor only at the larger ones. This cuts across denominations. The quote that most frustrated me: “When we met with the search committee in Louisville, people on it said to me, ‘We really didn’t want a woman, because we know that we’re dying when we get a woman,’” the Rev. Lucia Oerter said of her experience at John Knox Presbyterian in Louisville three and half years ago.

And then there is this:

A Presbyterian minister in Northern California, who asked not to be identified because she did not want her congregation to know she was looking for a new post, said she received 65 rejections when applying for a job in the mid-1990’s. Over the last two years, as she has sought to move to a larger church, she said she has been passed over by 15 churches, even though her own church is thriving and she teaches preaching at a prestigious seminary.

Setting aside the desire to play the parlor game of who-is-this-unidentified-minister, this actually gives me a little bit of comfort as I receive yet another thanks-but-no-thanks letter. Its not necessarily about me, Anitra, but me, a woman. Thats a level of rejection that is a little easier to deal with but at the same time frustrating of course. It also re-enforces my awareness that I'm going to have to get very creative if I want to be ordained.

Cornelia is a very bright and talented woman. She deserves to be teaching in a seminary or working in one of those 350 member + congregations. Two Rock/Tomales is very lucky to have her. I hope she finds joy in her call, and I believe she will - but is this the best option women with her skills and talents get?

At any rate - Read the article for yourself (free, just requires registration).

And yippee for Cornelia and Two Rocks/Tomales!