The Pittsburgh Press (September 21, 1946)
This week in religion…
Women seek equal rights in churches
Housewife’s election prompts new drive
By the Religious News Service
Equal rights for women in church life and administration was a lively issue this week when the Women’s Auxiliary of the Protestant Episcopal Church requested the General Convention meeting in triennial session at Philadelphia to interpret the word “laymen” to permit women to hold office on a parity with men.
The women’s demand followed on the heels of a precedent established at opening sessions of the convention when Mrs. Randolph Dyer, St. Louis housewife, was given a seat in the House of Deputies despite challenges by several delegates who raised the question of church canons. The objectors were told by Justice Augustus N. Hand, of the Third U.S. Court of Appeals, New York, a delegate, that it would be “preposterous” to limit the word laymen to the male sex.
According to a ruling by the president of the House, the vote to seat Mrs. Dyer did not give her the right to retain her seat, and each general convention will have to pass on whether it will admit women to membership in the House of Deputies. Meanwhile, however, a resolution was put forward by the Women’s Auxiliary asking the convention to interpret the word “laymen” in the constitution, canons, and other official documents of the church as including laywomen as well as laymen.
Other developments
Developments in other Protestant denominations in the United States and Canada continue to emphasize the growing demand of women to share equally with men in church administration and even to serve as full-fledged ministers and preachers.
Repeal of a ban against women deacons in the Baptist Church was recommended at the United Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces meeting at Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Previously, the pace was set when the General Synod of the Church of England in Canada at Winnipeg gave Mrs. R. E. Woodhouse, of Ottawa, president of the Dominion Board of the Women’s Auxiliary, full delegate status.
The Canadian Anglican group voted to set up a commission on employment of women workers, following protests by delegates against unfair treatment of women church workers. One delegate asserted that “our church is backward in the treatment of women workers,” and another branded as “a disgrace to our church” the treatment of women “who devote their lives to its cause.”
A precedent was also set at the meeting of the General Council of the United Church of Canada in Montreal this week when a woman preacher was seated as a commissioner.
Woman pastor accepted
She is the Rev. Norah Hughes, holder of a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago, who ministers to a village parish in Ashcroft in the mountains of British Columbia. Asked how the folks there like a woman minster, she replied, “They accept me as a minister of the Gospel, and make no fuss because I am a woman. I baptize their babies, I marry the young people, bury their dead, preach to them, and comfort them in their times of grief.”
The General Council of the United Church was scheduled to consider whether married women can be ordained as ministers. Some months ago, the Montreal Presbytery of the United Church refused to recommend the ordination of Mrs. Arthur M. Butler, who had been graduated from the United Theological College with her husband and wished to be ordained with him. The Presbytery referred the case to the General Council.
Addressing the Lay Advisory Council of the United Church, Dr. Gordon A. Sisco, general secretary of the Church, declared that exclusion of women ministers from marriage would result in a one-sided celibate ministry which is not applicable to the male clergy. He pointed out, however, that marriage often makes it impossible for an ordained woman to perform the junctions of the ministry.