EDNY Welcomes Anglican Women To New York
The people and parishes of EDNY were participants, hosts and a constant, enthusiastic presence for the Anglican women delegates attending the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) meeting from Feb. 24 through March 8.
Bishop Catherine Roskam (third from left) and Anglican delegates dance at "Uptown Saturday Night" at St. Michael's, Manhattan.
Bishop Catherine Roskam said the Anglican gathering for this meeting was “crucial not only to the life of the church, but also to what’s happening in the world. The suffering and needs of women have to be placed before us, and those needs addressed and championed. These are not simply women’s issues, they are human issues and they affect the well-being of the world.”
After a day to settle in and recover from what was for many an arduous journey to New York, the delegates attended “Uptown Saturday Night” on February 25, an evening of excellent food, music, dancing and celebration hosted by St. Michael’s, Manhattan. Yvonne O’Neal, chair of the diocesan Congregational Life and Mission Commission, and a member of Anglican Women’s Empowerment (AWE), planned the event.
Kyoko Kageyama (center), Missioner for the Metropolitan
Japanese Ministry, with delegates from Nippon Sei Ko Kai or the Anglican
Church in Japan.
Photo by NICOLE SEIFERTH
“This was a way of giving the women a very special welcome to New York. The original concept was to give them a ‘taste of Harlem,’ enmeshed in American culture,” she said. “The people of St. Michael’s were very welcoming. The rector, Canon Brandt, was part of the welcoming committee, and that really set the stage for a lovely evening…the energy in the room was mesmerizing.”
Sunday, February 26 was World Mission Sunday, which Incarnation, Manhattan, commemorated with a Contemplative Candlelight Communion to “celebrate the work of Anglican women worldwide,” according to the rector, the Rev. Douglas Ousley. The Rev. Amy Cortright, assistant at Incarnation, was the celebrant.
The Rev. Amy Cortright prepares for the Candle Communion
to commemorate the work of Anglican women at Incarnation, Manhattan.
Photo courtesy of Incarnation, Manhattan
Good Shepherd, Manhattan, hosted the Anglican delegates for an Ash Wednesday service and soup dinner on March 1. The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council, preached at the service.
Christina Hing, a member of Good Shepherd and AWE, said that the evening “was meant to have the delegates pause for a moment from their hectic schedules of meetings to reflect on their mission here with their life in Christ Jesus.”
The delegates were welcomed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on March 4 for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UNCSW.
Mrs. Karen Sisk, a founding member of Anglican Women's
Empowerment, with Anglican delegates at Trinity, Manhattan, on March 6.
Photo by KARA FLANNERY
On Sunday, March 6, the delegates attended a Eucharist at Trinity, Manhattan, where Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold presided. Following the service, a luncheon was held in their honor, where delegates from Asia, Latin America and Africa spoke about empowering programs they have begun in their own communities. The delegates also visited St. Paul’s Chapel.
St. Bartholomew’s, Manhattan, hosted an International Women’s Day event on Wednesday, March 8. The gathering, which welcomed the remaining Anglican delegates, was moderated by Bishop Roskam and featured Gloria Feldt, past president of the Planned Parenthood Federation and author; Noleen Heyzer, executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women; and Margaret Mensah-Williams, Deputy Chairperson of the National Council, Namibia.
Feldt told the gathering a story about a group of African women who stopped spousal abuse in their village. The women “took their cooking pots and took up positions outside of the homes of men who had committed violent acts against their wives. They banged on those pots so loudly that the whole neighborhood came out and took note of them and the men agreed to change their behavior.”
“Each country today has different reasons to bang their pots on this International Women’s Day 2006,” she added. “But the refrain for all of us who aspire to global justice for women is the same.”
In addition to parish and diocesan events, many individuals in the diocese assisted with the delegates and AWE. Kyoko Kageyama, missioner for the Metropolitan Japanese Ministry (MJM), worked closely with the two delegates from Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), or the Anglican Church in Japan. Kageyama remembers well her first encounter with the UNCSW several years ago.
“It is such a special opportunity to be able to meet Anglican women from all over the world. Being a part of this movement gives me a kind of voice to take back to NSKK,” said Kageyama. “I live here and I work as a missioner with MJM, but I always have a soul of prayer for NSKK. Half of me is there.”
O’Neal clearly sees an important connection for diocesan involvement with the Anglican delegation and the UNCSW. “By being involved we are in mission together. We are sharing the Good News. We are truly living and following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can no longer be isolated or doing our own thing – we need to do it together. By being involved we become one big global family, Anglicanism at its best.”