The suburban citizen., 1900-04-28
NOMANS WORLD.
PREAcAlNo In rHE PuLPlr.

TNLNSHINA NV lHE FULFIL
Over Three Hundred Women ministers
Now in the United states.
The Pauline edict "Let your wom-
en- keep silence in the church hes" has
been lively source of controversy
ever since it was uttered. For many
generations q literal adherence was
insisted upon, and it finally came to
be regarded by the majority of man
kind as an actual article of faith. All
through the ages, however, there has
been an occasional woman whose gem
ius has triumphed over prejudice and
who has become not only preacher,
but founder of a new religious body
Ann Lee and Mrs. Hutchinson are
well known examples.
Within the last two hundred years
there has been gradual change Of
opinion on the question of woman 5
place in the church. The earliest
English Methodists permitted women
exhortors, or outdoor preachers, and
Quakers have always held that the
Spirit was as likely to move one side
of the meeting house as the other.
America, having no established church,
has really done more than any other
country toward destroying the old ira
dition, and for many years women
have been seen in pulpits and pastor
ates, leading useful, happy lives, be-
loved and approved Of by the COM
munity. In the Unitarian, Congrega-
tional and Methodist churches they
have long been appreciated, and lately
the Baptist, Presbyterian and other
conservative denominations are be-
ginning to invite women to ministerial
duties.
An interesting and significant cere-
mony took place in Chicago recently,
on which occasion Mrs. Vandelia Var
nun Thomas, wife of the pastor Of
the Peoples Church, was ordained "a
liberal and independent minister.
Every denomination of the Congress
of Religions was represented, and the
officiating minister was the present
pastor of the Methodist Episcopal
4hurch, which twenty years ago ex-
cluded DIR. Thomas from its member
ship.
OF other women who are in pastoral
places, the Rev. Frances Kimball was
lately ordained to the Universalist
ministry, three other women ministers
taking part in the ceremony. Mrs.
Kimball has charge of the churches at
South Barre and Williamstown, vt.
The Congregational Church at Con-
don, Ore, on the death Of it's pastor
unanimously invited his wife to fill
the vacancy. The Rev. Hannah Jew
EFT Powell was recently installed as
pastor of the Universalist Church, at
North Jay, Me-, Congregational and
Methodist ministers officiating. The
address of welcome on behalf of the
parish. was given by Mrs. Silas
Wright.
Speaking Of the ministry as pro-
fession for women, Mrs. Florence Kol-
lock Crooker, of Michigan, expresses
her belief that women generally should,
and will, choose a domestic life, and
that the proportion of women minis
ters will never be large, there being
only three hundred now IN the United
States; but the few who are irresisti-
bly, called to the work will always have
qualifications which men lack. Their
power for good, granting ar equal
equipment, will be greater than that
of their masculine colleagues Women,
Mrs. Crooker believes, have the power
to enter more fully than men into the
lives of the people, and are able to
gain their confidence with compara-
tive ease. They also know how to
deal with young people and children.
Mrs. Crooker was q minister before
her marriage, and since has acted as
State missionary of the liberal churches
of Michigan. She organized churches,
selected and ordained ministers, sup
piled pulpits, and in too many ways
the duties of the bishop of
the older denominations. At present |
her time is divided between assisting
her husband in his parish work and |
lecturing on educational and philan-
4ropic subjects.