Female Clergy/Chaplains

[Gregory Matthews]

 

I served as an Army Chaplain during the time when women first began to enter the military.   In many ways, I think that the foundational issues that were faced by the military are also the ones faced by us in the SDA Church.  While that may not become clear in what I post here, on this Veteran's Day I thought that I might post some of my thinking on this subject from both the military and SDA aspect.

 

*  I became an Active-Duty Army Chaplain at the same time as the second female Army chaplain.  To this day, I am angry at how the Army as an institution, allowed her to be treated.  The following link takes you to my somewhat angry comment published at the time of her death.

 

https://www.mykeeper.com/ChaplainMajorRetBettyWPace

 

* I served a 3-year tour on the teaching faculty of the Army Chaplain School.  Generally, the students were qualified to serve as Chaplains.  A Few were not.  During my time there, a SDA student left the Army as it became apparent that such was not for him.   We should expect the same for our females and not attribute the lack of success of one to the gender/denomination as a whole.

 

*  I was the first Army Chaplain to serve in combat in a COED unit.  [NOTE:  This is not the place to get into a discussion as to what you may think you have heard about World War II, and what you may think to be exceptions.]  In general, the females worked harder to perform because they knew that they had more that they had to prove, than did the males.

 

*  As a result of my combat experience and my position on the Chaplain school faculty I became involved in other experiences intend to educate people as to female military members.

 

*  At an earlier time in Adventist history, I was involved in helping women who alleged to have been abused by SDA clergy to have their allegations properly heard by competent authority.

 

*  I have provided pastoral care to such women.  As a result of the above, I will be the first to say that women in Adventism today have achieved a measure of success.  But an engrained bias against them still exists.   This is true even in the Conferences that employ female clergy.  In one aspect of this problem, I see Adventist women as seemingly accepting it.  I do not see it changing until some woman finds herself in a position to do something about it.