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St. Stephen's College, Edmonton, 1999) Chapter 5, P 9 ST. STEPHEN’S COLLEGE RELEASE FORM NAME OF AUTHOR: Caryn Douglas TITLE OF PROJECT-DISSERTATION: A STORY OF LOST OPPORTUNITY: THE APOLOGY TO DEACONESSES DISJOINED BY THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA DEGREE: DOCTOR OF MINISTRY YEAR DEGREE GRANTED: 2009 Permission is hereby granted to St. Stephen’s College to reproduce single copies of this Project-Dissertation and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the Project-Dissertation, and except as herein before provided, neither the Project-Dissertation nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author’s prior written permission. ________________________________ Signature ST. STEPHEN’S COLLEGE, EDMONTON A STORY OF LOST OPPORTUNITY: THE APOLOGY TO DEACONESSES DISJOINED BY THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA By Caryn Douglas A Project-Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of St. Stephen’s College In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY Edmonton, Alberta Convocation: October 26, 2009 (THIS PAGE IS CREATED BY THE COLLEGE) ST. STEPHEN’S COLLEGE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to the Academic Senate of St. Stephen’s College for acceptance, a Project-Dissertation entitled, Pilgrimage to Hope, submitted by Full Name of Student in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry. Doctoral Research Committee Members: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ External Reader: _________________________________ Date: ____________________ ii ABSTRACT This project tells the story of the removal of United Church of Canada Deaconesses from ministry when they married and examines the apology given to these women by the United Church in 2006. The act of removal, called disjoining, was officially ended in 1960 but the practice and its negative effects continued for several decades. The study explores the development of the biblical and theological history limiting women’s vocational choices. It traces the enactment of disjoining in the Deaconess Order with an emphasis on the period of the 1950s and 60s as the rule disappears. Remembrances and reflections of women who were disjoined during this period enflesh the archival records. They tell stories of lost opportunity. A theological framework of eight stages is applied to assess the success of the apology in attaining the goal of a true conversion of heart. The apology is also a story of lost opportunity. The church’s confession of its sexist policies and practices is oriented to the past, without thorough truth telling. There is no application of the insights from the disjoining practice to continuing patterns of gender based discrimination. Recommendations for the United Church to further the commitments made in the apology conclude the project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... vi Chapter 1 A SHORT STORY OF DISJOINING ................................................. 1 Some Historical Background ..................................................................................... 4 One Story of Disjoining .............................................................................................. 7 Making an Apology ................................................................................................... 10 My Interest and Choice of Methodology ................................................................ 12 Chapter 2 HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF DISJOINING ..... 17 Biblical Roots for Diaconal Ministry ........................................................................ 17 Diaconal Ministry in the Early Church ..................................................................... 19 Women Workers through the Middle Ages ............................................................. 22 Reformation and the Vocation of Wife and Mother ................................................ 23 Diaconate Reestablished and Spreads to North America ..................................... 25 The practice of Marriage Bars .................................................................................. 31 Marriage Bar in the Woman’s Missionary Society ................................................. 36 Chapter 3 DEACONESSES AND DISJOINING IN THE UNITED CHURCH ... 38 Methodist and Presbyterian Roots .......................................................................... 38 Disjoining in the New United Church Deaconess Order ....................................... 40 Responsibility for Enacting Disjoining ................................................................... 45 Disjoining Rule for Marriage Ended ........................................................................ 48 Employment Status ................................................................................................... 54 Disjoining as Deaconess Order Oversight Decentralized ..................................... 60 Deaconesses Seeking Reinstatement ..................................................................... 63 Some Effects of Disjoining ....................................................................................... 65 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 4 THE AMBIGUOUS CONTEXT FOR DISCONTENT ....................... 71 Chapter 5 A THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR APOLOGY ...................... 81 A Framework for Reckoning Wrong ........................................................................ 83 Lament........................................................................................................................ 84 Call .............................................................................................................................. 85 Truthing ...................................................................................................................... 86 Confession ................................................................................................................. 88 Forgiveness ............................................................................................................... 89 Reconciliation ............................................................................................................ 90 Gospel ........................................................................................................................ 91 Metanoia ..................................................................................................................... 92 The Place of Grace .................................................................................................... 93 Apology in Scripture ................................................................................................. 94 Applying the Framework .......................................................................................... 97 iv Chapter 6 THEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE DISJOINING APOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 98 Lament...................................................................................................................... 100 Call ............................................................................................................................ 107 Truthing .................................................................................................................... 111 Confession ............................................................................................................... 119 Forgiveness ............................................................................................................. 124 Reconciliation .......................................................................................................... 126 Gospel ...................................................................................................................... 133 Metanoia ................................................................................................................... 136 Chapter 7 REFLECTION AND WORK AHEAD ............................................ 138 Systemic United Church Problems Revealed in the Apology Process .............. 140 Further Work that Could be Done .......................................................................... 141 My Journey from Lament to Metanoia ................................................................... 146 Final Words .............................................................................................................. 149 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 152 APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................... 159 APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................... 160 APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................... 164
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