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2008-04-15 issue:

Women encouraged to name brokenness, move to healing

150 women gather at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center

by Anna Groff

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At the April 11-13 Women in Conversation conference “Daring to Let Our Spirits Soar,” Carolyn Holderread Heggen recalled the time she sat through a church business meeting in which the head of elders said women could not speak from behind the pulpit. The only exception was to lead singing.

After the meeting, she and other women gathered in the parking lot. They were angry at the rule and ashamed they had not protested, especially since their children were in the meeting.

Holderread Heggen, keynote speaker for the conference held at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, Mt. Pleasant, Pa., shared this grievance and encouraged the women to “acknowledge our wounds and grieve our losses” as part of the journey from brokenness to healing.



In a workshop at the conference, Elizabeth Soto Albrecht shares a carving of a woman and baby, which could symbolize Mary and Jesus. Soto Albrecht said she views it as symbolizing God holding her. Photo by Anna Groff.

Holderread Heggen named several other injustices she mourns, including the absence of early Anabaptist writings from women, the limited vocational choices women face and the lack of articles and letters written by women in Mennonite publications.

Holderread Heggen, who is currently working on the Transforming the Wounds of War project in Oregon, provided these additional suggestions for the 150 women gathered:

First, listen to your own inner longings and desires. The church and our culture make women feel more virtuous when we defer to others, she said.

“We are more attuned to the needs of others than the longings and groaning of our own hearts,” she added.

Second, learn to forgive yourself and others.

“[Forgiveness] is a strategy that’s very powerful in moving beyond bitterness,” Holderread Heggen said. “It’s a gift we give ourselves.”

Third, reject theology that devalues females and is contrary to the teachings and example of Jesus.

“The church hasn’t always been as affirming of our feminine bodies and souls as Jesus has been,” she said.

The conference was cosponsored by Mennonite Women USA and Laurelville Mennonite Church Center. A second gathering will take place April 18-20 in Wichita, Kan.

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