Female bishop sets Church on wider path – Eureka Street
Female bishop sets Church on wider path
CHARLES SHERLOCK APRIL 16, 2008
The Rev. Canon (sic) Kay Goldsworthy will be consecrated a Bishop in the Church of God on 22 May, in St George’s Anglican Cathedral, Perth. She will be the first woman to become a bishop in an Australian church, although women have been appointed as bishops elsewhere in the Anglican Communion since 1989.No-one who knows Kay Goldsworthy would question her spiritual, intellectual, pastoral or administrative capacity for episcopal ministry. She was one of the first women ordained deacon in 1986, and one of the first ordained priest, in 1992. She has held school, parish, diocesan and international positions.
The celebration of this day in this year may bring challenges, but it may also be a sign of hope of Christian churches walking down a wider path.
But Bishop Goldsworthy will face significant pressures. Some will arise from the nature of a bishop’s vocation. Others will come from those who cannot accept the legitimacy of a woman as bishop, and from those who have been waiting for this moment for decades.
The Anglican bishops, meeting this week in Newcastle, have worked hard on ways of accommodating opposition, but at local level this is unlikely to be a large issue. Opponents will have little direct contact with the new bishop.
Supporters of the ordination of women, on the other hand, can place unhelpfully high expectations on both the women concerned, and on the church as an institution. As time has passed, these pressures have eased, but may be reignited. Where clergy constitute a mix of women and men it is soon realised that holiness, effectiveness and pastoral sensitivity are not the preserve of either gender.
But deacons and priests function largely in congregations, where they become known personally. That they are male or female is less significant than their ordained identity. A bishop is seen much less regularly at parish level, and a new bishop is something of a curiosity to those who do not know them already. Bishop Goldsworthy may need considerable patience to help some supporters move beyond stereotypes.
And a bishop is a representative person, a personal sign of the wider church to the congregation. Here, many people retain the deeply-held presumption that men can represent both women and men, but women can only represent women. This is unlikely to be an issue in Goldsworthy’s home diocese, where she has undertaken episcopal roles for some time. Yet it may present issues in relating to other parts of the Anglican Church, and ecumenically.
This situation will be eased considerably when another woman is nominated or elected as bishop in the near future — it is not as if Australian women with the capacity to be a bishop are few in number. That would at least dilute the pressures of being the ‘token woman’, especially in bishops’ meetings, where Bishop Goldsworthy would be a lone voice, and with the best of intentions still expected to give ‘the women’s point of view’.
Fortunately, she has the opportunity to experience working in a mixed group of bishops when she participates in the Lambeth Conference in July.
One interesting aspect of this appointment is the date. It is traditional practice for a bishop to be consecrated on a ‘red-letter’ feast day. In 2008, 22 May is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, ‘Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Communion’ — ‘Corpus Christi’. It is a feast included in the Australian Anglican Calendar only in 1995, a tangible sign of ecumenical progress.
Charles Sherlock is an Anglican theologian, currently Registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity, and a Canon of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Melbourne.
Circumcision (and HIV)
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS is a syndrome which, untreated, leads to death. If treated, it can be a chronic debilitating illness. It is contagious, and is spread through expose to body fluids, essentially. Those body fluids include blood, semen and menstrual fluids.
Male circumcision is the surgical process of removing the foreskin, which covers the end of the penis.
The foreskin, or prepuce, is highly sensitive tissue which protects the glans penis (in a way similar to the protection given to the eye by the eye-lid), and is a key part of the male sexual anatomy. It contains many nerve endings which add to the pleasure of sexual contact.
So much for defining the terms.
In recent years there has been quite a lot of discussion about some research which appears to indicate that male circumcision has a role in the prevention of HIV. This research is mostly based on some studies undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa. While the research is in some ways flawed, it does appear that there may be some weak statistical data supporting the suggestion that male circumcision has a preventative effect. What it appears to do is prevent transmission from a receptive infected partner to an insertive uninfected partner.
Media reports have made circumcision sound like a vaccine against transmission. There has been a lot of coverage of the reports, and a lot of discussion about statistics. There has also been a lot of generalisation of the import of the studies.
The effect is weak. In order to prevent one case of HIV transmission, it would be necessary to circumcise nearly 60 men. In some countries in Africa where circumcision is practiced, circumcised men have higher rates of infection than uncircumcised men.
What the studies, and the apologists for them (and for circumcision) don’t appear to address are the cultural issues sitting behind the dynamics of disease transmission. Different sexual mores and habits will have an effect on how, and to whom, HIV is transmitted. Who does what to whom and when is an important question. Men who are removed from their families and have sex with sex workers are more likely to be infected. The terrain is far from straightforward:
For several years, researchers have been debating the relationship between male circumcision and HIV. Several studies have indicated that circumcised men are less likely to become infected with HIV than uncircumcised men. However, because circumcision is usually linked to culture or religion, it has been argued that the apparent protective effect of the procedure is likely to be related not to removal of the foreskin but to the behaviours prevalent in the ethnic or religious groups in which male circumcision is practised. In addition, some researchers have assumed that any association between circumcision and HIV must be complicated by the presence of other sexually transmitted infections, which have been found to be more common among uncircumcised men.
Clearly, the correlations are not straightforward. In the higher income countries, the rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men do not vary greatly even though the circumcision rates do: few men in Europe and Japan but four-fifths of men in the United States are circumcised. In Africa, however, circumcision seems to confer some protection. A study in Nyanza Province, Kenya, among men from the same ethnic group, the Luo, found that one-quarter of uncircumcised men were infected with HIV, compared with just under one-tenth of circumcised men. The protective effect remained even after other factors, such as sexual behaviour and sexually transmitted infections, had been taken into account. A study of over 6800 men in rural Uganda has suggested that the timing of circumcision is important: HIV infection was found in 16% of men who were circumcised after the age of 21 and in only 7% of those circumcised before puberty. A recent review of 27 published studies on the association between HIV and male circumcision in Africa found that, on average, circumcised men were half as likely to be infected with HIV as uncircumcised men. When African men with similar socio-demographic, behavioural and other factors were compared, circumcised men were nearly 60% less likely than uncircumcised men to be infected with HIV.
Even though the weight of evidence increasingly suggests that circumcising men before they become sexually active does provide some protection against HIV, the practical implications for AIDS prevention are not obvious. Circumcision, where it is practised, usually has links to religious or ethnic identities and life-cycle ceremonies, and may customarily be done after puberty. If the same scalpel were used without sterilization on a number of boys, this could actually contribute to the transmission of HIV. Finally, if circumcision were promoted as a way of preventing HIV infection, people might abandon other safe sexual practices, such as condom use. This risk is far from negligible – already, rumours abound in some communities that circumcision acts as a “natural condom”. A sex worker interviewed in the city of Kisumu in Kenya summed up this misconception, saying: “I can sleep with circumcised men without a condom because they don’t carry a lot of dirt on their penis”. While circumcision may reduce the likelihood of HIV infection, it does not eliminate it. In one study in South Africa, for example, two out of five circumcised men were infected with HIV, compared with three out of five uncircumcised men. Relying on circumcision for protection is, in these circumstances, a bit like playing Russian roulette with two bullets in the gun rather than three.
So, what are we to think?
And what are you, if you’re a parent of a boy and are thinking of circumcision for him, to do?
There are some reality checks to be had. If you’re in the west, it is important to know that the studies done on western men don’t support the same generalisations. Remember, the male population of the US is overwhelmingly circumcised, and HIV spread like wild-fire there, among insertive and receptive men alike. Remember, the effect is weak. It isn’t a vaccine, and the effect of behavioural modifications (using condoms, reducing promiscuity etc) is much more effective in the prevention of HIV.
Yes, it is true, circumcision may give some weak benefit, but there are costs, too.
The Total Gift – Meditation as a response to Christ’s Love
On Saturday I went to the Australian National Forum for the Australian Christian Meditation Community. Laurence Freeman is the Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation, and he presented the talks.
He spoke about the nature of Christ’s love, and how, through Christian meditation, we respond and are formed. It was a lovely day. I’d guess that the talks will be out on CD soon.
Christian meditation is a great gift to me. It is a way of contemplative prayer that is nurturing and supportive. I think particularly important is the sense of community engendered by participation in the world community of meditators. I was touched by this, particularly, as I made my life profession on Saturday. It was a privilege to be surrounded by other oblates who are also called to this as a life path. The feeling of love, care and joy was overwhelming.
It’s been so long, O Blog
Hi Blog
Apologies for the delay posting. Work interferes somewhat with things like that, but here I am, blogging again.
We’ve moved into the house in Korumburra. Korumburra is a small, sleepy town in South Gippsland. It is quite pretty, especially the hills around the town. The street we live on is lined with deciduous trees, and they’re beginning to lose their leaves for the winter. We’ve been quite active houseowners, and have been gardening, painting, putting up fences, cleaning walls (inside and out), cleaning gutters – the list goes on. It’s a good place to live.
The local church is also quiet. It is a beautiful church – very much in the gothic revival tradition of architecture. At the moment there isn’t a parish priest – the last one retired in September and a new one hasn’t yet been appointed. That’s a bit sad. There are three retired priests who are ministering as locums, but the community is showing the signs of being without a leader.
Work is good. I’m surprised that I’ve been here for three months now. It seems to be progressing well. I get tired easily, but I seem to be coping with it OK. I’m beginning to understand the industry, and see where the various bits and pieces, acronyms and abbreviations all fit in.
Doctor Who has begun again in the UK. I haven’t seen the first two episodes, but I’m looking forward to them. I’ll be interested to see how Catherine Tate goes as Donna when there is a sustained role to play.
Biff the Dog and Molly the Dog are well. It is fascinating to see how their personalities have changed since we moved. They seem much more balanced and relaxed. Perhaps that’s just because the routine at home is much more settled now.
Tomorrow I’m going to the Australian Christian Meditation Community’s National Forum, which is being held in Melbourne. Fr Laurence Freeman will be there, as will a lot of other people! I’ll be making my life profession tomorrow afternoon.
Health is OK. I spent yesterday at Peter Mac having intravenous immunoglobulins, rituxamab, and a unit of blood. I have a slew of minor complaints – sinusitis (a course of antibiotics and treatment for allergic rhinitis), diarrhoea (a referral to a gastroenterologist), a fungal patch on my leg (some topical antifungal lotion) and weight loss. Mysteriously, or semi-mysteriously, I’ve lost 5kg in about 3 weeks. That’s certainly partly because I’m doing more incidental exercise and eating better. We’ll see if it continues.
That’s about all!
Col
