c. 2007 Religion News Service

VICTORIA, British Columbia _ The new moderator of Canada’s largest Protestant denomination wonders why there are so few men in his church.

David Giuliano, elected last year as head of the 600,000-member United Church of Canada, believes liberal religious institutions aren’t as welcoming of males as they think they are.

Even though Catholic and evangelical churches, Orthodox Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques continue to be run almost exclusively by male clergy, he says most liberal religious institutions have in the past few decades experienced a sea change regarding gender.

While Guiliano celebrates the empowerment of women in Christianity and other religions, he worries that one side effect has been that negative views of manhood have almost become institutionalized in liberal Christian circles.

Giuliano, 46, is wondering why there seems to be, roughly speaking, only one male for every three females who regularly attend his moderate-to-progressive church. Statistics compiled by Alberta sociologist Reginald Bibby also suggest the United Church may be the most gender-imbalanced denomination in Canada.

In addresses Giuliano has been giving across the country, he has been talking about how his denomination has to find more effective ways to connect with boys and men, to be more creative about achieving gender balance.

“Does the current version of Christian spirituality, promoted within liberal circles, genuinely address men? Can we reclaim, could God redeem, a masculine form of spirituality that will be healthy for our culture as a whole?”

Giuliano is concerned that mainline Christian churches reflect the casual devaluation of men that occurs in mass entertainment and advertising, where men are often comically portrayed as incompetent bumblers.

At his public talks, Giuliano displays images of boys engaged in exuberant activity, enjoying risk and physical expression. But in a later interview, Giuliano cited some shadow moments in his pro-feminist church. One of them occurred at a co-ed spiritual camp.

During one indoor talk-oriented event, Giuliano said a few boys drifted away when asked to talk about intimate feelings. The camp leaders dismissed the boys’ lack of involvement as a male fear of sharing emotions.

Later, however, when the boys were in their glory playing an outdoor co-ed game of Ultimate Frisbee, several girls stopped playing. The boys were blamed for not being inclusive.

“It was a reverse form of judgment. What to the boys felt like ecstasy was seen as male exclusion,” says Giuliano, a clergyman based in northern Ontario, as well as a writer, poet, community activist and married father of a teenage daughter and son.

Giuliano also has concerns about a popular Christian hymn, “Spirit of Gentleness,” which includes the line, “Our women see visions; our men clear their eyes.” The hymn suggests women have got it together, while men are misguided. Giuliano wonders if that’s the best vision of manhood that boys and men can hope for from liberal spirituality.

Raising his 19-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, Giuliano kept bumping into some apparently hard-wired differences.

To respond to his growing son’s spiritual needs, Giuliano helped create rites of passages _ a camping trip at age 8 in which Giuliano affirmed his son’s qualities, a bar-mitvah-like event at age 13 in which his son was welcomed into the “community of men” and a solitary journey at age 16 in which his son chose to spend time alone on an island.

Giuliano likes to quote the American author Garrison Keillor, who says: “Years ago manhood was an opportunity for achievement, and now it is a problem to be overcome. Being `all right’ is a dismal way to spend your life, and guys are not equipped for it. We are lovers and artists and adventurers, meant to be noble, free-ranging and foolish, like dogs, not competing for a stamp of approval as a `Friend of Womanhood.”’

The last thing Giuliano wants is to follow the patriarchal structures of conservative religions. But with less condemnation of males and more imagination, Giuliano is convinced churches can develop rituals, disciplines and programs to respond more positively to what he considers masculine energies.

He says there is nothing wrong with males developing the supposedly feminine and “soft” qualities of intimacy, nurturing and gentleness, but that shouldn’t be the end of the story.

He maintains it’s also a good thing for spiritual leaders to encourage some of the best ones associated with manhood _ such as courage, nobility, wisdom, strength and a willingness to confront wrongdoing.

“We participate in God’s wholeness only when there is a place for everyone,” he said. “If we want the church to be whole, we would be less judgmental, and more curious, about why men are the way they are.”

KRE END TODD800 words

A photo of David Giuliano is available via https://religionnews.com.