![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wtb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/Judy-Antoine-and-Terry-Culbertson.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nJudy Antoine<\/strong>, a semi-retired Spanish teacher, spent\nmany years in South America. She is a member of the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist\nSociety and has lived in the Syracuse community for about 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry Culbertson <\/strong>was ordained in the Church of God in\nAnderson, Indiana. For several years, she was director of pastoral care at the InterReligious\nCouncil of Central New York, and she was the first chaplain of Hospice of Central\nNew York. Terry now is head of spiritual care at Upstate Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma Dippold<\/strong> is a member of the Church of Jesus\nChrist of Latter Day Saints (Mormon). She is a retired kindergarten teacher who\nvolunteers at the zoo and in school. Along with her husband, she facilitates\nInternet support for families dealing with alcoholism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie Moreland<\/strong> has been a member of St. Andrew\u2019s Roman\nCatholic Church for about 40 years. She retired from Syracuse University\u2019s\nDivision of International Programs Abroad as director of summer programs abroad,\nhas worked at Cornell University on the Family Matters Project, and has tutored\nhomebound students in the Syracuse City School District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marilyn Wolfe<\/strong> is pastor of University United Methodist\nChurch. She was a middle-school English teacher and is currently a college writing\nteacher. She co-chairs the Domestic Violence Coalition and is active in the\nfaith-based Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTell us how you\ncame to your faith tradition? Were you born into it, or was there some other\nway in which you found it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie<\/strong> responded that although she came from a\nRoman Catholic background, many members of her family, including her\ngrandparents, had left the Church while they still lived in Belgium. Millie\nlived with her grandparents after they came to the United States, and as a\nyoung child she did not attend church. At the age of 11, she heard a girlfriend\nmention that she was going to church. Millie became curious and was encouraged\nto go by her grandparents. She attended several different churches with her\nyoung friends: Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Unitarian. In high school,\nshe, along with two friends, began to explore the Catholic faith. Her own\nmotivation was a desire to belong, and it felt like \u201chome\u201d to be there. She\nfeels that the most significant gift in her life was her grandparents\u2019\nencouragement and openness to exploring all faiths. Their compassion and\nnonjudgmental attitudes were evident in the way they responded to immigrants\nfrom many faith traditions who were frequent guests in their home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marilyn<\/strong> responded to the same question by\nstating \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cyes.\u201d She said she was both born into it and adopted into\nit. She was born into the Presbyterian Church, but her mother had spent time in\nthe Methodist tradition. Largely as a result of the negative influence of a\nyouth pastor she had in high school, she left the faith of her childhood. At\nthat time, although belief in Jesus made sense to her, God was a problem! She\nhad great difficulty with the \u201chellfire and brimstone thing.\u201d She then met her\nhusband, who talked about grace: \u201c\u2026 grace in the morning, grace at noontime,\ngrace in the evening,\u201d Marilyn said. \u201cI realized I was starving for grace.\u201d Her\nhusband and his parents were Methodists. In time, she had to walk through her\ndisbelief. At one point after her ordination, she found herself to be the\npastor of both a Methodist church and a Presbyterian church. She calls it,\n\u201cMethoderian\u201d! Marilyn can readily identify with anyone who says they do not\nbelieve in God, and she feels this is largely the result of them having been\nwounded by their church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma<\/strong> said she too can relate to those who say\nthey do not believe in God. She has been a member of Al-Anon for 23 years. If\nsomeone attends a meeting and claims to not believe in God, the question she\nposes is, \u201cWhat God don\u2019t you believe in?\u201d The answer is most often, \u201cthe God\nof hell and damnation.\u201d She then tells them, \u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma\nis a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She and her\nhusband came from different faith traditions, something her father strongly\ndisapproved of. But the young couple finally found a common faith that met\ntheir needs. Their new church placed a strong emphasis on family, and its\nmembers adhered to a health code prohibiting the use of alcohol. Her husband was\nbattling an alcohol problem, however, and being in a faith community where\nalcohol use was expressly forbidden was sometimes even more difficult for them.\nAfter a long and challenging struggle, her husband had a spiritual experience that\nremoved all desire for drink. Now, both he and Velma offer Internet help to\nfamilies confronting alcohol addiction. Velma knows that their religion is a\nbig part of their lives and is supplemented by the spirituality contained in Alcoholics\nAnonymous (AA) and Al-Anon programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry<\/strong> shared that the members of her church\nbegin services with a testimony giving praise and glory to God. Terry\u2019s\ngrandmother was a Roman Catholic from Poland, but Terry herself was born and\nraised in the Church of God, which her grandparents had joined in the Baltimore\narea. People become members by being \u201cborn again\u201d into Christianity. The church\noriginally began in the 1800s and was known as the \u201cCome-Outers,\u201d encouraging\npeople to come out of various denominations into a unified Christianity. Its\nmembers traveled about and sang of the unity of Christianity, often from the\nbacks of wagons. She stated that as a child, she knew of no other church than\nthis \u201csinging church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judy<\/strong>, the child and grandchild of\nmissionaries, was raised Methodist and spent many of her growing-up years in\nChile. Life revolved around the church. By college, however, she felt she had\n\u201chad it with God and wanted to experience something different.\u201d She was\neventually drawn to the Unitarian Church, where she could respect Jesus Christ\nas a prophet. Unitarians rely not only on the Bible but on many other sacred\ntexts as well. Judy feels that she has finally gained a sense of the Spirit of\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat spiritual\npractices do you follow within your tradition? What powerful memory do you have\nof your tradition? What helps you celebrate?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry<\/strong> was quick to respond. In her church,\nthey have a foot-washing tradition. \u201cWe don\u2019t have sacraments, but we do the\nLord\u2019s supper and baptism by immersion.\u201d One of her greatest memories is of an\n\u201cupper room\u201d experience when her own grandmother washed Terry\u2019s feet. The men\nand women are separated for this practice; there is singing and candlelight\nduring this profoundly moving ceremony, which is considered an \u201cordinance of equality.\u201d\nThe symbolism is that we must all humble ourselves in order to be of service to\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie<\/strong> <\/em>referred back to Judy\u2019s negative\nexperience as a young person concerning her faith. She stated that her\nexperience was quite different and that, as a young person, she was seeking to\nknow, \u201cWho and what is God?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judy<\/strong> said it was fascinating how many of the\nyounger generation choose a different faith path than their parents\u2019 path. She\nleft the religion of her childhood to find more openness in a Unitarian connection,\nand her own daughter has embraced the Islamic tradition because she did not\nlike the openness of the Unitarian tradition! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marilyn<\/strong> shared her experience of participating\nin a 30-minute Bible study which her husband used in his church in Moravia, New\nYork. During this practice, which comes from Communities of Liberation in\nAfrica, everyone reads the same verse while sitting in a circle. Then each\nperson speaks for only a minute. Once everyone has spoken, the process is\nrepeated for a second and then a third time. This practice invites each person to\nlook at something new in his or her life. Marilyn hopes to open this practice\nto a group within her own church and has even begun using it during her morning\ndevotions. She knows that sometimes she feels anxiety or tension when reading a\nparticular verse, and the text draws out her true beliefs. Marilyn has found this\nprocess to be particularly helpful as she has worked through some racism issues\nwithin the African-American male clergy. Through this study, each of them has\nbeen enabled to speak and to hear the others speak. Without even realizing it,\ntheir communication has been enhanced through this process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie<\/strong> related a one-time experience she had in\n1964 when her husband was undergoing surgery for cancer. The surgeon came out\nto meet her and sadly told her there was nothing more he could do for her\nhusband. \u201cI shut down,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mind kept going in all directions, and at\neach end there was nothing. I realized that this was devastation. I lost all hope.\nI remember feeling total devastation, nothingness. What finally came to me as\nhope was the presence of God in my life and in all our lives. This experience\ngave me so much and became so much a part of who I am, and I am deeply thankful\nfor it now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Judy<\/strong> responded by telling about the\ncelebration held in her Unitarian church on the Sunday closest to November 2,\nalthough she is not sure all Unitarian congregations have a similar\ncelebration. They celebrate the Day of the Dead by having each member place on\na community tree within the church the name of a person or a pet that has died.\nChildren as well as adults participate in this ceremony, which is called \u201cThe\nLeafing of the Tree.\u201d She is especially fond of this custom because of her\nbackground in South America, where this is known as a time to feel the love of\nthe deceased. She feels that in the US, we tend to be more reluctant to visit\ncemeteries and commemorate the dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry<\/strong> recalled \u201cwatch-night services\u201d held in\nher church on New Year\u2019s Eve. The congregation gathers for Holy Communion and\n\u201cwatches\u201d in the new year by joining in community and prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma<\/strong> mentioned that every Monday evening is\nset aside to be with family. She and her husband serve in their temple, and\nthey feel close to their sons and to their parents who have gone before them.\nShe stated that in their tradition, family is all-important; family is\neverything. There is continuity to family. She feels strongly that children\nshould remember to be a family and also to honor the idea of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie<\/strong> explained that in her community, a\nmeditation group was started four years ago. This has had a tremendous impact\non her life. She is reminded that, \u201cWhat matters is trying to live each moment\nin appreciation of that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judy<\/strong> followed this stream of thought by\nstating that her church also has a meditation group that has made a drastic\nchange in her life. She began to meditate when she was diagnosed with cancer.\nShe explained, \u201cIf I lived my life over again, I would not cut out cancer because\nit forced me to do things I otherwise would not have done.\u201d Barbara inquired\nabout her method for meditating, and Judy suggested one might begin with her\nfriend Glennette\u2019s method of closing her eyes and tossing a tennis ball up, catching\nit first in one hand and then in the other. This can be done when one is truly\nfocused. Judy eventually graduated to counting breaths. Now she has a mantra\nthat she uses in her meditation practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry<\/strong> mentioned that the richness of music,\nsuch a large part of her tradition, is a wonderful way to pray and meditate.\nShe feels inspired by both the words and the sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marilyn<\/strong> shared some of her experiences in ACTS.\n\u201cWe have just come through a very difficult time that brought out our\nexperiences with racism. There were some African-American male pastors who had\ncertain ideas about female clergy, and I, in turn, had certain ideas about\nAfrican-American male pastors who had certain ideas about female clergy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n She mentioned two other\ngroups, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the Citywide Coalition,\neach of which was setting up meetings with the mayoral candidates. \u201cWithout\ntalking about it,\u201d Marilyn said, \u201cwe realized that we were not working\ntogether. We finally decided to commit to two meetings, one with the candidates\nand another with the winner. God intervened in a wonderful way, and we decided to\nbegin a process of one-on-one conversations among ourselves. We talked about\nour families and our faith. This process literally transformed us as our mutual\nvulnerabilities, frustrations, doubts, fatigue, and hurts surfaced. We have\nrecently gone through a process of affirmation and appreciation that has been\nvery powerful. Now, knowing that we can address problems through building\nrelationships, our goal is to bring congregations together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n What about challenges\nwith gender issues in each of your faith traditions?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma<\/strong> answered first, saying that their clergy\nare not paid. Theirs is primarily a patriarchal tradition in that men alone\nhave the priesthood. The upside of that is, it gets the men out to church! It\nis common to see entire families attending together. Velma wryly commented that\n\u201cmen run the church, but it\u2019s the women who do the work!\u201d On rare occasions,\nthere have been situations when men have felt threatened by powerful women.\nHowever, Velma feels that within the Mormon tradition, women are not\ndowntrodden. In Utah, women for many years have been elected to public office.\nShe stated that Mormons believe that mothers and fathers each have particular\njobs to do, and that she has never felt inferior being a female within this tradition.\nAbuse is not tolerated, and teenage boys are taught to be very respectful of\nwomen. Her daughter is studying to become a hospital chaplain, and Velma knows\nit would be easier for her to obtain a chaplain\u2019s position if she could be\nordained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Millie<\/strong> added that in Roman Catholicism, there\nis some turmoil as a result of women wanting to be ordained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judy<\/strong> added that she became interested in the\nUnitarian tradition because it is liberal and considers women\u2019s roles as\nimportant as men\u2019s. The tradition is careful to use inclusive language. \u201cI am\ninterested in the nurturing of the soul,\u201d she said. \u201cWomen speak from the heart\nand from the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry<\/strong> explained that her tradition has always\nordained women. In fact, her aunt, Sister Esther, founded four churches in the Washington,\nDC, area. She observed, \u201cI never knew that churches did not<\/em>\nordain women until I got to seminary!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat aspects of\nfaith do you want your children to hold onto?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marilyn<\/strong> stated, \u201cNeither Jew nor Gentile\nexpounds on the property rights of females. Women must \u2018scan for privilege.\u2019\nConsider the situation when the parents of Jesus had to leave to go to Egypt.\nThey had to leave quietly, without telling the neighbors. Both of my daughters\nhave been moving away, in a sense, scanning for privilege and being critical of\nthe Text. My children believe in Spirit as being neither male nor female.\nWhatever they decide to call themselves is all good to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, Barbara welcomed\nquestions from the audience. The first question concerned what it is like to be\na single person within the Church of Latter Day Saints. Velma<\/strong>\nconceded that within their tradition, it is much easier if one is married, although\nspecial activities are held for singles within the church. Everyone theoretically\nhas a calling within the church, but she admitted that she might feel somewhat\nleft out if she were single.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to the next\nquestion, Terry<\/strong> explained that the Church of God\nis not considered a faith tradition; it is a movement. \u201cOurs is a holiness\nchurch, rather than a Pentecostal one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensuing comments centered\non appreciation for the stories of how each of these women came to their\nvarious faith communities and for their openness in sharing about their\npersonal perspectives as well as their children\u2019s journeys. There seemed to be\na consensus among them that it was important to allow their children to make\ntheir own faith decisions. Marilyn<\/strong> stated\nthat she and her husband let their children know it was expected that they\nattend church until they left home. Millie<\/strong> ended\nour discussion by again expressing gratitude that her grandparents were willing\nand open to have her seek her faith, and that they provided her with that model\nfor a spirit of compassion and openness. Five women spoke about their life experiences and journeys of faith as Christians. Their church affiliations include Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Church of God, Unitarian Universalist, and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,43],"class_list":["post-7677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-christianity","tag-pluralism",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7677"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8875,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677\/revisions\/8875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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