c. 1997 Religion News Service

BOSTON _”Systemic issues”within the United Methodist Church, including lack of support from the church’s hierarchy, are responsible for clergywomen leaving local parishes at a 10 percent higher rate than their male counterparts leave, a new study concludes.”It is an issue that needs to be dealt with for the health of the church,”said Margaret Wiborg, director of the Anna Howard Shaw Center at the Boston University School of Theology, which conducted the study and presented it to the 8.5 million-member denomination’s General Board of Higher Education on Oct. 10 and made public this week.

The four-year clergywomen retention study was based on questionnaires returned by 1,388 clergy and 123 follow-up interviews.

According to the study, 82 percent of those surveyed intended to serve local churches after ordination but only 38 percent of the women interviewed were actually serving in local parishes.”Women really felt called to their ministry,”said Wiborg,”So why, after they had fought so hard for ordination, were they leaving?” Topping the list of reasons clergywomen gave for leaving their parishes was”lack of support from the hierarchical system,”the report said. It noted ethnic minority women cited that reason 13 percent more often than white women.

Other reasons included rejection by particular congregations, calls to other types of ministry such as a chaplaincy position or a post within the church’s bureaucracy, as well as family responsibilities and concerns.”There have been studies done before that were based on people’s attitude toward clergywomen but not ones based on the women’s experience,”said the Rev. Beth Collier, Shaw scholar and senior researcher for the study.

In the follow-up interviews, 74 percent of the women interviewed criticized the denomination’s system of appointing clergy to local congregations, which they said too often defined a pastor primarily by her gender.

The attitude among bishops and district superintendents who make the appointments was”not `here’s what the person is like, here’s what the person can do, here’s a little bit about the person,’ but, `hold onto your seats, we’re going to send you a woman,'”said one interviewee of her experience when her district superintendent introduced her to her parish.

Wiborg urged the denomination to respond to the findings by taking a close look at and possibly reforming the appointive system.

Another interviewee noted continuing prejudice against women pastors in some congregations.”There was a man in one of the churches who was convinced I was demon-possessed (because I was woman) and spread that around,”she said.”There was a Baptist church in the county that had a covenant service in which they decided to pray without ceasing until I left the county. … And I did.” Clergywomen in the South Central and Northeastern jurisdictions _ geographical governing units of the denomination _ left local parishes with the highest frequency, the study found.

The researchers said the study is the first step in examining and changing the denomination’s treatment of clergywomen.”Some clergywomen might remain in local parish ministry through efforts (to make) … the structure of the United Methodist Church … more responsive to the different needs and circumstances of clergywomen in American culture,”the study said.

In the coming weeks, said Lynn Scott, an official with the denomination’s Division of Ordained Ministry, focus groups of women clergy will begin meeting to draft specific recommendations for church action.

DEA END LEBOWITZ