VOA慢速英语20060731b

THIS IS AMERICA - Clergy¹ in America: Still Mostly a Man's World, but More Women Answer Calling and Make GainsBy Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, July 31, 2006

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week our subject is women clergy.

(MUSIC)


Katharine Jefferts Schori

A new leader begins a nine-year term this November as presiding bishop² of the Episcopal Church. Katharine Jefferts Schori will become the first woman to lead one of the churches in the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

There are almost eighty million Anglicans in all. More than two million of them are members of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Bishop Jefferts Schori won election in June at the church's General Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Episcopal bishops⁴ elected her on the fifth ballot⁵. She was the only woman among seven candidates.

Some Episcopalians wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury to object to the new presiding bishop-elect. The archbishop, Rowan Williams, is leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. He says Bishop Jefferts Schori will bring many intellectual and pastoral gifts to her new work. But he also noted⁶ that her election brings into focus some continuing issues.

The Church of England has just recently begun steps toward letting women become bishops. But that might not happen before two thousand twelve.

The Episcopal Church is almost four hundred years old. The American church accepted women as priests and bishops thirty years ago. But church leaders in California, Illinois and Texas still bar women clergy.

The fact that the next leader is a woman is not the only issue. Bishop Jefferts Schori is now bishop of Nevada. The Episcopal Church in her state permits blessing⁷ ceremonies for the relationships between two people of the same sex. She believes homosexuals should be fully⁸ included in the church.

In two thousand three she supported the election of a gay bishop, Gene³ Robinson, in New Hampshire. The subject has divided Episcopalians and other Anglican churches.

Katharine Jefferts Schori is fifty-two years old. The next leader of the Episcopal Church says she brings different life experiences to her work. She has a doctorate⁹ in science. She studied oceans.

And this former oceanographer is also a pilot who likes to fly a small plane. She and her husband have a daughter who is a pilot in the Air Force.

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Antoinette Brown Blackwell is credited as the first woman in the United States to be officially appointed as a minister. She attended the seminary at Oberlin College and served in a Congregationalist church in South Butler, New York.

Antoinette Brown Blackwell became ordained¹¹ in eighteen fifty-three. A person who is ordained is given the full responsibilities of a member of the clergy. But she left the church less than a year after that. She later became a Unitarian.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest religious organizations in the United States. In two thousand, Vashti Murphy McKenzie became the first woman elected a bishop in the A.M.E. Church.

Now another woman minister hopes to become a bishop. She is Reverend Debora Grant of Saint John A.M.E. Church in Columbus, Georgia. The election for bishop of the A.M.E. churches in Georgia will take place in two thousand eight.

Religious groups in the United States commonly require ministers to have studied in a seminary. This is true especially of major denominations¹³.

The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada collects information from more than two hundred fifty seminaries. In the school year that ended in two thousand five, the association says, one-third of students in ministry¹⁴ programs were women.

Future ministers learn not just about religion. They often study archeology and sociology, as well as art and music related to religion. And they learn about administration and about helping¹⁵ the sick and troubled. Most seminary students gain experience as student ministers before they graduate.

Many religious groups continue not to accept women clergy. Different groups offer different reasons. But custom, tradition and a desire to honor what is believed to be the will of God, often as expressed in holy writings, all play a part.

Leaders of the Mormons, for example, say men hold the priesthood offices of the church because God has stated that it should be so. However, the church says women have important leadership duties, and teach and pray The Roman Catholic Church has faced a lot of pressure to let women become priests. The church has expanded the duties that women can perform, but they still cannot become priests.

Among Protestants, not all groups accept women clergy. And some churches limit the service of women ministers.

The biggest Protestant denomination¹² in the United States is the Southern Baptist Convention. For many years, women could serve as senior ministers in its churches. Senior ministers have the most responsibilities and earn the most pay. But in two thousand the Southern Baptists decided¹⁶ that women should no longer enter these jobs.

Many Protestant denominations do let women become senior ministers. Even so, some women believe there are unwritten rules that can keep them from getting jobs.

In some denominations, a church official appoints ministers to their jobs. In other denominations, ministers must find their own church.

A Protestant minister in Washington who works with hospital patients has looked for a senior ministry position for a long time. She asks not to be named. She says: People would be happy for me to work with children or sick and old people. But many places do not want a woman for the top job.

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In the Jewish religion, women can become Reform, Reconstructionist or Conservative spiritual leaders.


Rabbi Sally Priesand

In nineteen seventy-two Sally Priesand became the first woman rabbi to be ordained in the United States. Hebrew Union College in Ohio ordained her as a rabbi in Reform Judaism. Two years later the first woman graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania.

The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York serves as the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism. The seminary ordained its first woman rabbi in nineteen eighty-five. That followed more than ten years of intense debate.

Orthodox Judaism does not ordain¹⁰ women as rabbis. But a small number of women are said to have completed studies in Orthodox seminaries.

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Amina Wadud teaches Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth¹⁷ University in Richmond. Professor Wadud made international news in March of two thousand five. She led a group of men and women in Friday prayers.


Amina Wadud leads Friday prayers in New York on March 18, 2005

At least eighty people gathered in the Synod House of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, an Episcopal church. Other places refused the event because of reports of bomb threats.

Some Muslims denounced Professor Wadud. They said the prayer leader, or imam, should be a man and that men and women should not have prayed together. Conservative Muslims said her actions violated traditions of Islam. But many liberal Muslims praised what she did.

A seventy-year-old woman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says she has been a loyal Roman Catholic all her life. She says that years ago, she agreed with the belief that women should not become priests.

Now she disagrees with that. Women have always cared for homes, families and communities. Why not let them care for people's spiritual needs? she asks. As long as people have an answer, this issue will continue to be debated in America and across the world.

(MUSIC)

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁸. I'm Steve Ember.

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can download transcripts¹⁹ and archives of our shows at www.unsv.com. And we hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

2 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

3 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

4 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

5 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

10 ordain   

vi.颁发命令；vt.命令，授以圣职，注定，任命

参考例句：

• The church's ruling body voted to ordain women as priests.该教会的管理机构投票通过接纳女性为牧师。
• The essence of management refers to its internal inevitable ordain quality,and is also called ultimate attribute.管理的本质是指管理自身内在的必然的规定性，即根本属性。

11 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

12 denomination   

n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位

参考例句：

• The firm is still operating under another denomination.这家公司改用了名称仍在继续营业。
• Litre is a metric denomination.升是公制单位。

13 denominations   

n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 )；教派；面额；名称

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• The service was attended by Christians of all denominations. 这次礼拜仪式各教派的基督徒都参加了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

18 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

19 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句