Female Ecumenical Bonding

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A week or so ago we had our first gathering at Elizabeth Reiser’s house.  Because we have no female on the faculty (we’re hoping that will change with the newly hired faculty) Elisabeth kindly offered her home to us so that we might gather as women and get to know each other.  It was a lovely evening of conversation, tea, wine, and chocolate, of course.

Tonight we decided to do something less formal and had an ecumenical “girls” night of face masks, painting of nails and other various “girly” things.  It was a lot of fun and we had some interesting conversations.

Naomi from Nigeria just joined us this week.  She missed the  2 week orientation and therefore is unsure about how things work and what she needs to do.  Naomi, Aimee (from the U.S.), and I went to Nyon today in order to help Naomi get the things she needed.  She missed the group trip to Geneva that gave us all a somewhat guided tour of the bus/train system, so we showed her where the shops were and how to navigate the system.  She and I will be heading to Geneva tomorrow to attend the Lutheran church and hear the female minister from Brazil.

When asked flat out if she is a pastor, Naomi said no, but upon deeper inspection we found out that although she is not ordained, she is considered a non-ordained minister in her denomination.  She preaches and teaches, but she is not allowed to perform marriage ceremonies nor is she allowed to serve communion.  We asked her if she would like to be ordained and she said yes, but that it is not possible at this time.  She said that it is a struggle in her denomination at this time, but that she is being given more and more recognition as time passes.  She turns 46 tomorrow and has been what we in the DOC would consider a minister for several years.  She is working in the system to change the hearts and minds of those around her and is making progress.  In the beginning she was only allowed to teach women’s groups.  Now she preaches on a regular basis along with her teaching.  She is an amazing woman and I have much to learn from her.  I pray that I will have the patience and understanding to learn from Naomi and all the other fascinating people that surround me.