Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses
As we go marching, marching
We bring the greater days
For the rising of the women
Means the rising of the race
No more the drudge and idler
Tender toil where one reposes
But the sharing of lives glories
Bread and roses, bread and roses
-James Oppenheim
On June 18, 2006, I was serving as Curate at All Souls’, Point Loma. My rector, the Rev. Mike Russell, was a Deputy to Convention. On that fateful day, he sent me an email with a quote from “Bread and Roses” (posted above). I knew it well. As a teenager, I was a big fan of Judy Collins, and she had included Bread and Roses on her 1975 album of the same name. I knew that it spoke of love, beauty, and the equality of women, but I did not know that a year after James Oppenheim wrote “Bread and Roses” it inspired the Bread and Roses Strike led by women workers in textile mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
On June 18, 2006, The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected as the first female Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Mike Russell sent his email in response to that joyful, momentous occasion! Women were now represented at every level of my beloved church!
As it turns out, June 18, 2006 was also my daughter’s 12th birthday, and as sometimes happens when you reflect on your children, I recalled my own 12th birthday in 1973. I was a faithful member of St. Charles’ Episcopal Church in Northridge, California, where twelve-year-olds were allowed to be acolytes . . . Ah, but not so fast, only twelve-year-old boys were allowed to be acolytes. Girls were not permitted to serve.
Even at twelve years old, I knew that God was calling me to something in the church – but it certainly wasn’t clear what it would be. My options were very limited. My Junior High School career aptitude test told me I could be a funeral director – I guess that was the best the algorithm could come up with since, after all, girls couldn’t be priests.
The 1970s were filled with watershed moments for the Episcopal church–the Philadelphia Eleven being ordained in 1974, General Convention approving women’s ordinations in 1976, and the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. When I again became involved with church in the late ‘80’s, I assumed that the ordination of women was old news, that everyone was on board. That was far from the truth.
Today, I serve as Canon to the Ordinary to Bishop Susan Brown Snook, the first female Diocesan Bishop in San Diego. I have served as priest-in-charge at several congregations. I have led the Standing Committee of the Diocese during a transition period, and, just as my Jr. High aptitude test suggested, I have walked with countless families as they celebrated the lives of their loved ones who had passed away. …And I have even served as an acolyte!
The Episcopal Church continues to work together to include all, to welcome all, and to recognize God’s gifts to all of us created in the divine image. There’s still much work to do. And so this June 18, not only will I celebrate my daughter’s birthday (her 30th!), I will remember all those faithful women who have gone before me, and I will give thanks for their courage, their struggles, and their love for God and God’s church.
by
Category: #Communications
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Thanks for these beautiful thoughts, Gwynn.
Lovely article! And I also know that song well, bought the (vinyl) album when it was new. The rising of the race…originally written in 1911.
What you wrote was very lovely and meaningful. I of course remember the days when a girl could not even be an acolite. So grateful for Bishop Shori and all who will now follow.
Amen, dear Gwynn!
Thank God for enlightenment, along with those women s/he empowered to fight the good fight so that today the Episcopal Church stands a little taller for all its members.
Wow! So reflective and well written, A good reminder of the progress we’ve made and the hope we should have! Thank you!
Thank you for your sharing. I, too, grew up in the Episcopal in the Episcopal church where we could not participate.
Hi Gwynn, My family and I attended the St. George’s celebration 2023; (my sister and I love to sing “Jerusalem” at the top of our lungs). I asked an usher where you were and he replied, “she should be here, if the Bishop is here Rev. Gwynn is close.” But it was crowded and there was no sign of you.
Today I searched for you in the picture of the women priests: couldn’t find you, so was particularly delighted to come across your article. Very well said. Thank you. I recently came across old Vestry Minutes, reminding me of the sterling job you did for our congregation as our Priest in Charge, before the Bishop called you to her side. (Dare I say ‘stole you from us’?) Thank you for your service to our church, Gwynn. May God bless your current endeavors.