c. 1999 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Wearing a white dress, a white lace veil atop her head and white gloves on her hands, Ida Belle Canty takes a tiny glass of wine from a communion tray held out to her by First Baptist Church of Woodlawn Pastor Odie Hoover.

On the first Sunday of each month, the wives and widows of church deacons dress in white, sit in the front pew and are served communion by the pastor. It’s a tradition followed by African-American Baptist churches across the South.

The custom of honoring women of influence _ sometimes called”the mothers of the church”_ is a nod toward the silent power such women hold in their congregations.

In most Baptist churches, women are a strong majority of the congregation, sometimes 70 percent or more. They have the numbers to vote a pastor in or out. Yet few Baptist women are ordained and fewer still are elected as pastors because of the traditional view, widespread among both genders, that only men should be pastors.

Women tend to show their authority with subtlety and an old-fashioned sense of the matriarchal role.”We have plenty of influence in our church; I don’t know about others,”said Canty, 89.”Women exert a tremendous amount of influence in the average black congregation,”said the Rev. Wilson Fallin Jr., an associate professor of history at the University of Montevallo in suburban Birmingham.

But some ministers are blunt in their assessment of the limited power that women wield in churches.”In the black Baptist church, no woman would have the power and the influence of the pastor,”said the Rev. Hobdy Moorer, pastor of Sixth Street Peace Baptist Church.”The average woman doesn’t want a woman pastor.” One reason women are seldom ordained or elected as pastors is that the women in the congregation often are opposed. “I’m not for it,”said Edna Fisher, president of the women’s auxiliary for the 160-church Mount Pilgrim District Association here.”I’m just frank about it. I have not seen it in the Bible where a woman was appointed or anointed to preach. The angel appeared at the tomb and gave them a message. That was a message. They were not carrying the Word. They were carrying a message for the disciples.” The ordination of women is now common among independent charismatic or Pentecostal churches, as well as in such mainline denominations as Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Even in those churches, however, women head pastors are relatively rare.

The ordination of women is also becoming increasingly common in Baptist churches, both black and white, resulting in more women assistant pastors. Yet there are few women head pastors of Baptist churches. “Ordained women are often gender-tracked to Christian education or music ministry,”said Nancy Eiesland, professor of sociology of religion at Atlanta’s Emory University.”Women of the church sometimes feel their leadership is devalued by this push for ordained women, so they may feel their work is suddenly made to seem less important by the presence of ordained women.” The most powerful women in the Christian world are usually not ordained ministers, but the heads of well-financed organizations.

In the Southern Baptist Convention, the Woman’s Missionary Union has been considered one of the most powerful groups, with 1 million members in churches across the country. Dellanna O’Brien, who retired Sept. 1 as WMU’s executive director, was for a decade widely considered the most influential woman among Southern Baptists.

Mother Angelica, founder of Eternal Word Television Network, has been cited even by her critics as probably the most powerful woman in the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, which forbids women priests but increasingly encourages women administrators. Her global media reach has been the envy of bishops who at times have questioned her power.

But most often, in thousands of small churches throughout the nation, women exert their influence in more traditional ways.”They fill roles that are maybe not officially recognized, but nonetheless very important,”said Eiesland.”Much of religious life is founded on a network of compassionate care by the women of the church.” Women serve as Sunday school superintendents, presidents of choirs, on committees that serve shut-ins and visit hospitals, and take charge of food preparation after funerals _ in essence, nearly every church function except preaching from the pulpit.”There is sometimes a fine line between official leadership and symbolic leadership,”Eiesland said.”These women are clearly leaders in their church. They may not have the kind of official papers that ordination gives. They see symbolic leadership as very important.” At Birmingham Baptist Bible College, there are 100 women among the 300 students training for the ministry, said Fallin, who is also president of the college.”Some women are very satisfied with the traditional ways of doing things, such as the pastor and deacons being male,”he said.”Others are not.” Given an opportunity to preach from the pulpit on a Sunday morning earlier this year, the Rev. April Wells, minister of education at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church here, spoke out against attitudes that keep women from becoming pastors. She also wrote an article expressing her view in the Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center.”For generations, the Bible has been used as the weapon of choice to keep women in their place,”Wells wrote.”The victims of such cruel oppressive practices make up the majority of congregations and provide the greatest amount of financial support to the church.” But church women don’t necessarily see themselves as victims of patriarchy.”Women consistently participate in religious organizations at a much higher rate than men,”Eiesland said.”It would be hard to say women are overwhelmingly unhappy because they are filling lots and lots of pews every Sunday morning.” (OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Sadie Trotter, 80, a deaconess at First Baptist of Woodlawn, said she doesn’t care to discuss the issue of women’s ordination. Women don’t need to be ordained to serve their churches faithfully, she said. “We can be teachers and examples,”said Trotter, a longtime Sunday school teacher and volunteer in youth programs.”Whatever the Lord tells you to do. God gives you gifts to do what you should do. You do what He gives you to do, and do the best you can with it.” Trotter said her greatest gift in life has been nurturing youth.”I listen when young people talk, I give advice,”she said.”Being a mother, a grandmother and great-grandmother, that’s been the love of my life.” After the Sunday communion service, the women in white were treated with honor as fellow church members came by to greet them. That’s all the thanks or credit needed, Trotter said.”I served wherever I was needed,”she said.”People respect me and I feel honored because they do.”IR END GARRISON