Women of Faith award to the Rev. Jane Spahr rescinded
by John Filiatreau, Presbyterian News Service, April 19, 1999
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The director of the National Ministries Division (NMD) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has overturned a committee’s selection of the Rev. Jane Spahr as one of three recipients of the prestigious Women of Faith awards for 1999.
Spahr, who is openly lesbian, is employed by Downtown Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., as a “lesbian evangelist” for “That All May Freely Serve,” a ministry that reaches out to Christians who are, in her words, “gay, bisexual and transgendered men and women – people who have been hurt and violated.”
The Rev. Curtis A. Kearns Jr., the NMD head, reportedly reversed a selection committee’s decision to present the award to Spahr because her ministry is not in keeping with the policies of the PC(USA). Kearns, who has declined to comment, said he will issue a press release on the decision next week.
The annual awards are presented during General Assembly at a breakfast sponsored by the Women’s Ministries Program Area of NMD, which presents the awards.
The other women selected to receive the 1999 awards are Elder Jane Dempsey Douglas, a retired professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Elder Letty Russell, a professor at Yale Divinity School in Connecticut.
The program’s theme for this year is “On Behalf of Women: Reforming Through the Word.” The Women’s Ministries Program Area intended to recognize the three recipients and to more broadly honor “the gifts of clergywomen, educators, songwriters, poets, campus ministers, theologians, lay pastors and authors who have witnessed as reformers through the Word.”
The members of the selection committee were elected to represent various constituencies within the Women’s Ministries Program Area: Presbyterian Women, the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns, the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, the National Association of Presbyterian Clergywomen and the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators.
The panel chose the three recipients after reviewing more than 80 nomination forms that put forward 59 different women.
The Rev. Barbara E. Dua, associate NMD director for Women’s Ministries, said the Women of Faith awards are intended for “women who sort of push the boundaries.” She said the committee, which she said was “not staff-driven but constituency-driven,” chose the three recipients after a process in which “the cream rose to the top.”
Dua added: “We are going to try to think very creatively about the award breakfast itself, to try to make it a healing rather than a damaging event. We’ve just been taking this one step at a time. I’d say we’re all together, trying to support one another through this.
“There is the possibility of canceling the breakfast. We will give serious thought to it.”
Dua said this year’s selection process was handled no differently than it has been in previous years. She said the names of award recipients have never been submitted to the division director for approval.
Kearns’ reversal of the committee’s decision apparently sets a precedent for the PC(USA).
“It has to go across the board,” said one Women’s Ministries staff member. “It can’t be only for NMD.”
The award recipients, including Spahr, were informed of their selections by telephone on March 30. Spahr has since been told that her award “may not be forthcoming.”
Sylvia Dooling of Voices of Orthodox Women has written two editorials, Women of Faith Award and Woman of Faith (cont.) about the nominees.
The Layman Online will continue to follow the story.