Clergywomen, especially minorities, treated poorly BY YOLANDA PUPO-ORTIZ I recognized the voice of my friend immediately. She was hoarse from crying and I knew that something terrible had happened. I cannot stand it any longer, she said. I am resigning. After three years as an associate pastor, my friend was quitting. This church was her first appointment after ordination. She wanted so much to be a good pastor. She loved people and all she wanted was to serve them. She did not mind being the associate pastor, she said, as long as she could be a real partner with the senior pastor and use her gifts and graces in that ministry. Now, after only three years, she had become one more number in the list of ordained clergy women who leave the local church ministry. Why? What had happened? A study conducted in 1997 by the Anna Howard Shaw Center of the Boston University School of Theology showed that even though more women than men are graduating from seminary, United Methodist clergy women are leaving local church ministry at a higher rate than their male colleagues. A large proportion of these women are ethnic minorities, specifically African- and Asian-American women. Furthermore, many of the clergy women who leave local church ministry are also surrendering their credentials and opting out of the ordained ministry. According to the data offered by the clergy women who participated in the study, in general, women left local church ministry because of systemic issues within the United Methodist Church. These issues include a lack of support from district superintendents and the hierarchical system, difficulties maintaining their integrity within the system, and rejection by their congregations. Sexism still exists in society and, sadly, also in the church. It manifests itself in overt and subtle ways. The disregard of womens capability and value is manifested in lower salaries for women who have the same or even better qualifications than their male counterparts. The undermining of womens power is manifested in the after meetings, gatherings where decisions are informally made among male colleagues. Sexism is also manifested in what seems to be innocuous jokes and comments which perpetuate stereotypes and devalue womens humanity and leadership styles. It is still alive in the expectation that married women can receive lower salaries because their husbands work. Sexism is as alive as racism and the other isms that bring benefit to a few at the expense and powerlessness of many. In spite of the struggle for so many decades, and the strides we have made in inclusiveness both in church and in society, hidden biases continue to undermine our attitudes and behavior. When you think that everything is all right, all of a sudden you see it sexism, racism, classism again in unexpected places and ways. These isms rage against the will of God who created us as a family. Conse-quently they can only be understood as sin. The wholeness of creation is fully experienced in the sharing and interdependence of all people. We were created for oneness. Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian cosmonaut, expressed this upon his return from space when he said that what had impressed him the most was, not only the beauty of the earth as seen from space, but the closeness of all the continents, their essential unity. Yet this wonderful creation of God, this beautiful household, has been repeatedly divided by the sin of separation and exclusion. If sexism is part of our sin, we can easily conclude that it will not get eradicated by good intentions alone. The eradication of sexism, as well as the eradication of racism, classism and the other isms that divide Gods household, must be part of our spiritual journey. We must go through a conversion experience that, out of repentance, will bring forth a new life that understands inclusiveness as an integral part of our faith and wholeness. The Rev. Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz, a member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, is an associate general secretary with the General Commission on Religion and Race. | 
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