Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-05-31
WONAN'S WORLD.
PREACHING IN THE PULPIT.
Over Three Hundred Women Ministers
Now in the Uniteh Siutes

Over Three Hundred Women Ministers
Now in the United States.
The Pauline edict ''Let your wom-
en- keep silence in the churches" has
been lively source OF controversy
ever since it was uttered. For many
generations o literal adherence was
insisted upon, and it finally came to
be regarded by the majority of man
kind rs an actual article of faith. All
through the ages, however, there has
been an occasional woman whose gen.
ius has triumphed over prejudice and
who has become not only preacher,
but a founder of new religious body :.
Ann Lee and Mrs. Hutchinson are
well known examples.
Within the last two hundred years
there has been a gradual change of
opinion on the question of woman s
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 aud 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
mum Thomas, wife of the pastor of
the Peoples Church, was ordained ga
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
Church, which twenty years ago ex-
cluded DR.. 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 its pastor
unanimously invited his wife to fill
the vacancy. The Rev. Hannah jew
EFT Powell wre recently installed as
pastor of the lniversalist / 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 a 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
cf their masculine colleagues. Women,
Mrs. Croker believes, have the power
to enter more fully than men into the
lives of the people, and are able to
gain their confidence with compare
tive ease. They also know how to
deal with young people and children.
Mrs. Crooker was 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
fulfilled 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 philar-
thropic subjects.