PloverWing
Episcopalian
- May 5, 2012
- 4,481
- 5,216
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Anglican
- Marital Status
- Married
I have no idea what good mentoring of young women would look like in the church -- though I'd be interested to see what you're able to develop in your church. My experience wasn't as bad as u2spicy's, and I was able to go into marriage expecting an egalitarian arrangement, but the church was no help. The instruction I did get from church (and from the Christian K-12 school I attended) was strongly toward women submitting to husbands who are their spiritual leaders; no ordination of women; and encouragement of men and women to follow traditional gender roles. (In my Christian middle school, boys weren't allowed to take home ec, and girls weren't allowed to take shop.)
As I moved away from views like this, my feeling was always that I was fighting the church to some degree. My current church, thankfully, affirms women in ministry and permits egalitarian marriages. Still, as progressive as the Episcopal church is, I think of it as neutral on this issue -- the church no longer restricts women. It's neutral, rather than negative, and that's great. But it's hard for me to picture what the church would look like if it took steps to actively affirm and mentor women in positive ways -- to learn how to care for our emotional well-being, to learn how to be strong and healthy in the presence of those who try to dominate us, and so on, the various traits that were in Paidiske's original linked post.
As I moved away from views like this, my feeling was always that I was fighting the church to some degree. My current church, thankfully, affirms women in ministry and permits egalitarian marriages. Still, as progressive as the Episcopal church is, I think of it as neutral on this issue -- the church no longer restricts women. It's neutral, rather than negative, and that's great. But it's hard for me to picture what the church would look like if it took steps to actively affirm and mentor women in positive ways -- to learn how to care for our emotional well-being, to learn how to be strong and healthy in the presence of those who try to dominate us, and so on, the various traits that were in Paidiske's original linked post.
Upvote
0