Vol. 25 No. 4, December 2006

In God's Image is an Asian Christian women's effort to provide a forum for expressing our reality, our struggles, our faith reflections and aspirations for change.

Editorial

Each step forward taken by women on their long and often painful ‘search for a new humanity’ never seems to bring us within sight of journey’s end. Recently, I attended the “Service of Ordination of Women as Priests” at the Anglican Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour in Colombo 7, when the first-ever women priests were ordained, 3 years after all 3 of them had been received as deacons. It was a satisfying event. We know there is yet a long way to go, but nonetheless, this is still a milestone reached. 

The first Anglican woman to be ordained a priest was Florence Tim Oi Li of Hong Kong in 1943, under wartime conditions. The Lambeth Conference decided in 1968 to ordain women as deacons and the Clergy Synod discussed the issue of women priests in 1974. In the Sri Lankan Anglican communion, formal conversations on the ‘Ministry of Women in the Church’ began in 1983, the year which saw the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka ordain its first two women ministers. But it was only in this year of grace, 2006, that the Anglican Church eventually ordained its first women priests.

One of them, the Rev. Malini Devananda, has contributed an article to this issue of In God’s Image (IGI) – ‘Women Opting for a New Humanity’ – which deals with the subject of domestic violence. Some readers of IGI may recall that the Women’s Commission of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, by invitation of the Editorial Board of IGI, focused on the theme of women and violence in the December 1995 issue of this journal. Now, so many years later, despite constant agitation by women’s movements and others, violence against women is still rampant. However, another step forward has been taken in Sri Lanka with the passing of a new Act on Domestic Violence by Parliament in October 2005. Domestic violence, of course, has been a worldwide phenomenon. I can’t resist a quote from Virginia Woolf’s classic, “A Room of One’s Own,” first published in September 1929. When she looked up Prof. Trevelyan’s History of England and turned to the section headed ‘Women’, she found “Position of” and then, under “Wife-beating”, that it “was a recognized right of man, and was practiced without shame by high as well as low”. That it is still practiced by some men across all social strata globally, we know, and, incredible as it may seem, there are still some men (and women too!) who regard it as a male prerogative. 

The whole subject of our quest, however, implies much more than the elimination of physical violence. It implies the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. It implies the recognition of the right of women everywhere to take charge of their own lives. It implies the end of subtle exploitation by international or any other institutions. It implies, also, a passionate and genuine desire for peace and goodwill, for our humanity is lost in wartime and without peace (with justice), and there is no possibility of that new heaven and new earth which is the dream of all humankind. This has been touchingly depicted in our cover picture donated by the celebrated artist, Nalini Jayasuriya, who has given it the title, “Will the Dove of Peace return to our bleeding motherland?” Some of the articles and poems convey the pain and cost of war in human terms. So, not patriarchy, not matriarchy, but a new community in which it would be abundantly evident that male and female of all communities and races and religions moved together in happy and equal partnership. Surely, it is natural for us to look to the Christian Church as a whole to spearhead this new community? 

Pauline Webb, who in her time campaigned tirelessly for the full participation of women in every area of church life, has summed up our goal beautifully in her booklet, Where Are the Women? (published in 1979): “This is the community of which we are the inheritors in today’s Church. In this, women are called to share in the apostolic vocation, not as hidden influences behind the scenes but in glad and open partnership, as we work together within the kingdom of the home and in the kingdoms of the world, seeking to live in both as those who serve one another and the whole community as equal citizens in the Kingdom of God.”

Guest Editor

Acknowledgement

It has been our pleasure to work with the women of Sri Lanka on this special issue of In God's Image for December 2006. As everyone knows, Sri Lanka has been a country rocked by war due to a continuing ethnic conflict (between Tamil and Sinhala). Sri Lanka was also among the Asian countries hit by the deadly December 2004 tsunami. Sri Lanka is also the site where conflict transformation and peace continue to be the aspiration of the people. This aspiration runs through the essays and poems of women contained in this special issue of IGI. We are grateful to our very active AWRC members led by Malini Devananda and Annathaie Abayasekera and to the very able guest editor, Anne Abayasekara, who have made this issue possible and to all the women who have shared their stories and reflections through IGI.

Publications Secretary

If articles listed in the table of contents interests you, and you would like to have a copy of this journal, please write to igi@awrc4ct.org.