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Women’s Ministries
When the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard was named the director of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries at the Presbyterian Mission Agency last October, they were well aware that big changes were on the horizon for the ministry area.
As the 67th Commission on the Status of Women came to a close earlier this month, a list of Draft Agreed Conclusions was adopted following a lengthy session that stretched into the early morning hours of March 18, said Sue Rheem, Representative to the United Nations and Director of the Presbyterian Ministry at the UN.
Young delegates to this month’s 67th Commission on the Status of Women called the opportunity “an awesome privilege” and “memorable” in reflections completed on behalf of the ministry area that supported their time in New York City, Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries.
Whenever they step into their pulpits to preach, the Rev. Erika Rembert Smith, pastor of Washington Shores Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida; the Rev. Dr. Alice Ridgill, previously the pastor of New Faith Presbyterian Church, the first and only African American Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, South Carolina, and now the associate general presbyter for the Presbytery of Charlotte in North Carolina; and the Rev. Amantha Barbee, formerly pastor of Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia, and now the pastor of Quail Hollow Presbyterian Church in Charlotte are challenging calcified notions about women in ministry.
Providing smartphones and other support to survivors of domestic and gender-based violence was the focus of an online event held this week during the 67th Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW67).
On Wednesday, March 8 — International Women’s Day — members of the PC(USA) delegation to the 67th Commission on the Status of Women were hosted by Yuri A. Gala López, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, at the offices of Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.
The Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, Co-Moderator of the 225th General Assembly (2022), gathered with a group of young adult delegates and young adult volunteers (YAVs) at the close of the second day of the 67th Commission on the Status Women Tuesday to share stories and experiences as young adults in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It was an open space with frank and vulnerable discussions, so the names of the young adults are not included in this report to respect them and their voices.
In remarks on Monday to the Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that gender equality is centuries away and called for worldwide efforts to empower women.
As if they didn’t have enough important and informative events to take in, Presbyterians attending the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York and online also have side events available to them.
Batting leadoff during Monday’s ecumenical worship at the 67th Commission on the Status of Women, prominent Presbyterians preached a message of hope and inclusion to those gathered in person at the Church Center for the United Nations and to those participating in worship online.
