The Publication of the Episcopal Women’s Caucus


Fall 2002 Vol.23:2-3

Special Section:
Making Real the Church of Tomorrow

Plus:
A New Archbishop, a change of Direction?

In this issue. . . .

The year 2001 was a traumatic one in our history. “Nothing will ever be the same again,” we said, not truly knowing then how profound that rather glib statement would become, how it would live and prove its truth in our minds and spirits.

After September 11, 2001, your EWC Board seriously considered calling off that year’s Annual Gathering. Today we’re glad we didn’t. The theme of that Gathering—Making Real the Church of Tomorrow—has become a part of our thought and perhaps even a part of our being, seared and tempered there by fire and pain and tragedy. It has gathered into itself a series of thoughts and ideas, some expressed as sermons, some as essays, some as brief meditations and prayers.

In this issue, we have gathered these writings into a special section in the middle of the magazine.

When we came to put this issue together, however, we began to realize that our special section wasn’t so special after all, that—in one way or another—every story here, and maybe every story we have ever run in the past or will run in the future, is about the church of tomorrow.

After all that’s what we’re about: bringing to life and reality the Gospel dream of justice and equality for all of God’s children.

Certainly our new Archbishop of Canterbury will shape the church of tomorrow in ways that even he and we cannot yet imagine, as will the life of the late Suzanne Hiatt, remembered here in two vivid memorial addresses.

And certainly the stormclouds gathering in places like Kansas, New Westminster, Delaware and Pennsylvania will also shape us; already they are claiming their casualties among us. Even such stories as the need for prison ministries or the humane outreach of Saint Mary’s parish in the Diocese of Virginia are a part of the coming church—the church we are all called to help shape.

We believe that Ruach—and our soon-to-be-launched website—can play a part in making real the vision of a church dedicated to justice, equality and unconditional love...but only if you help us.

Please send us your best thoughts and ideas, your most telling essays and sermons, your prayers and poems and, of course, your letters and comments. We can’t promise to print all of them—our space is constrained by necessity—but we will publish all we can. We will be happy to accept submissions by email to Katie Sherrod (ks1246@aol.com) or Anne McConney (jamcconney@aol.com).