March 17, 2013. Jackson, MS. Lady Preachers.

This weekend, I learned something about the Presbyterians.  They do not ordain women as ministers.  Kate mentioned quite casually that their choir sang at an Episcopal church in New York and that the preacher was a lady.   She said that it was a scandal.   I just laughed and pointed out to her that my parents held joint commissions as Salvation Army Officers, and that my mother was a better preacher than my father.   Further more, I told her that the Salvation Army was the first organization to recognize the position of women in their organization.  My opinion to Kate was that the Presbyterians were behind the times.

This weekend, I investigated the subject with Christina and discovered that the Presbyterian have several different groups, with differing customs for women.  But Kate was correct.  The First Presbyterian Church, where they are members,  do not allow women to be ordained as ministers.  Horrors.  I stayed on my high horse for quite a while.

Poor Kate.  Not only my mother, who was a lady preacher but Ken's mother also, before she married,  was also a Salvation Army officer and preached!!  Ken's grandmother too, much to the chagrin of her family.  So it is in the genes.  I certainly could never join that church, nor the Catholic church and for the same reasons.   Once upon a time it was a man's world and my mother always objected.  Me too.