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Title of document:
Sharing the Feast and Hearing Complex Calling: A Study of Racialized Ordained Women
Ministers of the United Church of Canada
Submitted to the McGeachy Senior Scholarship Committee
Submitted by HyeRan Kim-Cragg (2011 recipient)
Date of Report (or “In Process”):
Author: HyeRan Kim-Cragg
Referral Source: McGeachy Senior Scholarship Final Report (2013)
Link to full document:
Summary of document
Purpose:
I, as the author of this report, conducted a project that involved a study of 19 racialized
ordained women ministers of our church during 2012 and 2013. The purpose of this study was
to hear their stories of struggle and joy in ministry in order to honour their gifts and empower
their sense of vocation, aims which ultimately contribute to the ministry of the Church. This
study was needed to fill a void of data and of recorded experiences of this particular group.
Racialized women are a marginalized group historically but in church leadership their numbers
have been increasing. As the church continues to shape and reimagine its present and future it
was hoped that it would be fruitful to elicit responses from a little listened to segment of our
leadership.
The research for this study was done using a qualitative research method, chiefly interviews.
Between my research assistant and I, we met with each participant and did a personal interview
by asking the questions that were prepared by me in advance. Each respondent received the
questions beforehand so that she was able to think about the topic accordingly and
appropriately. The questions contain issues that are critical to the experience of ordained
ministry for these racialized women. They ranged from topics touching on theological education
(at seminary and internship), immigration, race, language, gender equity, gender identity and
sexuality, marriage, ordination, comfort with the pulpit, clergy clothing, what proclaiming the
Gospel means, and intercultural leadership. The following is my summary of the report that may
be of help to the Comprehensive Review Task Group in their work.
Findings:
1. Theological education
This was the most critical issue raised by the group. They all emphasized the importance of
a theological education that equips ministers for leadership in the church. They commented on
how competence in the area of intercultural issues and openness to listen to racialized and
marginalized students was much appreciated when it was found in the theological faculty. A
class room that made room for racialized leaders, activists, and scholars was seen as crucial.
They also made it clear that focus on ministry formation in the sense of modelling a Christian life
and of finding mentors as a part of theological studies was of considerable importance to them.
The group lamented the lack of mentorship in faculty pools and identified the need to have a
role model (someone who shared their experiences) to follow and look up to.
In terms of ministry preparation in general and the internship in particular, the group found
the church process inflexible, bureaucratic, and unaccommodating. Most presbytery and
conference education and student committee members are not qualified to guide and support
these candidates. Most of them lack knowledge of this particular group’s complex identities and
issues and are therefore unable to properly and pastorally guide them through the process. All
clearly speak to the need for intercultural (i. e., race, culture, migration, and language)
competency in the ministry preparation process.
2. Power dynamics and identity conflict between racial, LGBTQ, gender, class and disabled
identities
The group named the importance of navigating these different identities without glossing
over others. They also emphasized the intersectionality of these identities without separating
one from the other. A few mentioned that the race issue was too often subjugated to the LGBTQ
issue. They claimed that identity is a theological issue because the God who seeks to restore
relationships does not do so by covering up the tensions that are deepening along the lines of
class and race over sexual orientation and gender identities. Thus, we need to learn how to talk
over differences and negotiate different boundaries.
While the UCC has worked hard to improve women’s status, the group shared many
experiences of discrimination that stemmed from their identity as women. They are still
expected to serve in the kitchen (cook and bring food), are generally paid less than their male
colleagues, and are serving more isolated and rural areas. One of the unique findings from this
group is a clergy clothing issue. Whether they wear an alb, a gown or rather choose a less
traditional clerical garb, they have extra pressures and concerns of what to wear, because of the
expectation and the perceptions of the people in the church. This is doubly oppressive as a
woman and as a non-white racialized person because they have to deal with not only gender
stereotypes but also cultural and racial stereotypes. They were also asked about marriage in the
case of being single, and having children in the case of being in a married/common-law
relationship. They lamented that almost all the ministers who serve the most affluent
congregations, say top 10 churches, are white male middle-aged ordained ministers. All of
these findings show that the white and male privilege is still pervasively at work in the church.
3. Immigration, language, and Race
Other than the First Nations respondents, the group who participated in the research had an
experience of migration, as some are recent immigrants and others are the children of
immigrants. In the case of the ones who were born in Canada there was a common experience
of having their origin were challenged. Even though they are fluent in English, due to their
physical non-white appearance, they were regarded as less fully Canadian. Here it is important
to understand “whiteness” as “Canadian norm” which functions at all kinds of levels in church
and society. No matter how long it has been that people are settled in Canada, they are deemed
to have come from elsewhere because they are not white. In the case of the ones who were
born outside the country, they face more blunt discrimination and often experience paternalistic
attitudes. They have to hear such comments as “We cannot understand your sermon due to
your accent,” “your home country is patriarchal” or “since your men are oppressive we have to
rescue you.”
There is an assumption that people who are fluent in English have no accent. This is a false
assumption. Everyone has an accent; it is either dominant or less dominant. Any spoken
language is born out of a particular cultural and geographical context, even if you speak the
same language, you may sound different. In this regard, the following response of one
interviewee is helpful: “After a few years of serving an English speaking congregation, one day a
parishioner came to me after the service, ‘I heard everything you said. You improved your
English quite well.’ So I answered, ‘Thank you for the comment. I think you improved your
hearing ability, too.’”
In short, the finding is that racism is real which affects the performance of the ordained
ministers. This issue is not limited to this group but can be experienced in other ministers, who
are being admitted to the UCC including racialized male minsters. The church must engage in
this race issue and cultural differences at personal, theological and systematic levels.
4. Ordination and Leadership
They contended that ordained ministry, equipped with a good education, is important and
even more important than before when Christianity is becoming marginal in society. The
vocation of a racialized ordained woman minister in the United Church is paradoxical, a blessing
and yet a challenge. It is about being in a place at the edge, tending to those at the margin,
while affirming their own threshold position and power.
This paradoxical edge-ness becomes obvious with the view of the pulpit. The group got
divided over the issue of using an elevated pulpit. Those who prefer to preach in the pulpit
argue that the pulpit as a symbol of preaching authority compensates for their marginal
identities. They point out that preaching authority did not come to women for a long time. For
many churches it is still not allowed so it is important to continue to claim this space as women’s
space. However, the voice of those who oppose the pulpit is equally strong. This voice included
the view that the pulpit sets above and apart from the congregation, which is opposed to their
call, which is to serve and to empower the congregation. This divergence of perspectives on the
pulpit reveals the complexity of the nature of power in church leadership.
That is why leadership, developing and fostering it, is important to them. In fact, they claim
their leadership role is crucial to the UCC. To them, ordained ministry leadership is about being
and building a bridge, connecting people with the current world, with the Bible, and connecting
them with different cultures and different experiences to build up a community of faith. One
interviewee captured the essence of this sentiment in this way: “leadership to me is being able
to walk in two worlds in terms of being able to communicate to people who aren’t educated in
theology at a doctoral level, and still being able to dig into the difficult theological issues.”
Another remarks, “I see myself as always building bridges. I continually make the connections
for more inclusion and offer my perspective from a minority and being who I am. I also have
privileges because I know how we all participate in these imbalances.” Others similarly
responded, “I am a bridge builder.” “I can talk about things relating to intercultural ministry and
intercultural relationships, simply by nature of being different from the majority. I have the
advantage and the privilege being able to communicate with the majority marginal perspectives,
being able to navigate both worlds.”
The ordination and leadership issue leads to the final section of the report.
5. Future of the Church
The group’s overall assessment of the church is that the church is not going to die. They
were frustrated with some people’s pessimistic (unfaithful) thinking that our church is in a
palliative care mode and will soon be dead. However, they were not naïve. One person
remarked, “We are not in the complacency of being a strong voice in society for being rich
church. So now is the same with the early church when things were looking shaky, it made the
Gospel stronger.” Another interviewee reviewed, “in our history opening doors for the
marginalized and their issues, things like ordination of women and LGBTQ, we have taken not
only a prophetic role but also a pioneer role. But we have been left behind to the fact that the
demographics in Canada are changing and we in the church are not.” Others resonated with
this view: “If we’re going to grow the church we will have to do it by engaging in intercultural,
intergenerational and welcoming racialized people.” “So invest in racialized young Canadians
going to seminary. Invite non-European students and ministers to serve our church. The face of
the leadership will change the face of the church, its culture, its interest and energy.”
The group was critical of the status quo, clinging to the way things are, its structure, its
leadership, the same old face, so to speak. “There is no future with hardened hearts, small
imaginations, and lack of exposure to new (meaning non-European) culture and people.” “My
church couldn’t care less if there was another person of colour knocking on the door, but what
they do care about is the fact that our membership in the UCC has gone down 50%. That is the
sign of dominant culture people resisting to give up their power. It is the perspective of the one
who has, now afraid of losing it, rather than that of the one who is welcomed to be a part of the
church. So turn to the one who is coming to our church, rather than thinking of dying. That is
one way to turn to God.”
Realizing all the difficulties and challenges ahead of us, this group showed strong faith and
hope for the future. They were not afraid of the current situation but seemed to be energized by
this challenge because there are new possibilities and people are already making them happen.
Conclusion
What racialized ordained women in ministry in the UCC need identified in this report is
not a radically new system or a totally new process. Rather they speak of the need for more
flexibility and humility on the part of the dominant group in positions of power and privilege
within the church. For those who are ‘the norm’ in the church this is a call to disengage the
practice of normativity that can be uncomfortable yet life-giving. And the church must work at
this. Unlearning is a crucial learning. It will be hard but we can do this, if we trust in God and
trust in the leadership of the newer younger and less dominant members.
The group researched and identified here has been learning to become a bridge of
different cultures and identities due to their multiple identities. This is the gift to be used and
lifted up because they know how to talk over differences. They know how to negotiate their
marginal identities without being marginalized. The study findings show that their role of being a
bridge is a gift to the church since the church needs to learn how to bend (meaning to be
flexible) and how to connect with new and existing members in this changing world. The church
is becoming marginal in society and this new (challenging) reality may bring a new (and
positive) identity if we learn how to be open to the change and to embrace the change. Instead
of being obsessed with the loss, we need to look at who is coming to our churches, finding the
ones who are excited about our church, our theology and policies, and responding to the ways
that newer (less dominant) folks praise, pray, and practice their faith. They can be our leaders.
We receive their leadership in humility.
I named my research as feast. Eating food together is about sharing our gifts,
overcoming the barriers that exclude people, especially those at the margins, and instead
receiving them in humility and gratitude. That is what the church is about and we as the United
Church of Canada have been doing it.
“Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kin-­‐dom of God! Come; for everything is ready now. Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town, bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame and compel people to come in.” (Luke 14:15, 17, 21, 23)