Breakfast Brightness

Friends of the Women's Center breakfast today, May 3, 8:00 a.m., rain or shine!

Despite the rainy, gray, foreboding weather, a dozen or so Friends of the Women’s Center turned out for this year’s Friends of the Women’s Center Breakfast. Umbrellas may have lined our hallway, but the companionship, renewing of old acquaintances and making of new ones, and sharing of stories from seminary days and beyond occupied us all well past time for some of us to be on our ways to other events of these Festival of Theology and Reunion festivities.

It is always a privilege to be able to welcome the dedicated and talented women and men who call themselves Friends of the Women’s Center. This year we were particularly happy to have with us, once again, the Rev. Arch Taylor. Rev. Taylor’s recent generous grant to the Women’s Center in honor of the late Margaret Hopper Taylor made possible the series of seminars “Mending the World: the Margaret Hopper Taylor Seminars Challenging Domestic Violence.” These seminars were a centerpiece of the Women’s Center’s program this spring semester, and we are still celebrating the learning and insights they produced, and considering how to build on those.

We hope to be building on some of this morning’s conversations in the months to come, as well: looking into making further progress on the funding the long-anticipated Jane Krauss Jackson Award for Collaborative Ministry; cultivating connections between the Women’s Center and Presbyterian Women of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery; reflecting on the complexities of the current political situation; and collecting more of the stories of our foremothers who championed the cause of the Women’s Center and brought it into being.

We also look forward to seeing Michael Whitman’s pictures of the breakfast – which he assured us would not feature any actual eating.

All in all, for a gray and rainy Tuesday morning, this year’s Friends of the Women’s Center breakfast was a bright occasion.

On the April Calendar

Easter is on the April calendar

April 24, 2011 is Easter Sunday on the western liturgical calendar


This is what’s on the Women’s Center’s calendar for April:

April 8 we will join hands in prayer in solidarity with Join Hands for Congo, at noon in the Women’s Center. Anyone who can’t be with us in person is invited to pray with us where you are in solidarity with the women and men who will be joining hands around the US State Department to raise the call for US diplomacy to further the cause of peace and security in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We are praying for a speedy end to the conflict and the sexual violence in DRC, for responsible and effective action by the United State government in aid of this cause, for the safety of the women and men who are taking part in this public action on April 8, and for clarity and compassion in our public life.

April 12 the Women’s Center will wear red, and calls on others to do the same, to celebrate Pay Equity Day. Pay Equity Day is the day that “women’s earnings catch up to men’s” — from the previous year. (In other words, if we started adding up earnings on January 1, 2010, then what US men made by December 31, 2010 is what US women will have made by April 12, 2011.) We will celebrate the day (and raise awareness of the persistence of gender inequity in paid work in the US) by wearing red; the Gender and Ministry Committee invites all members of the Semninary community to gather in the LPTS quadrangle at 11:30 a.m. to raise their voices in support of pay equity. Anyone who wishes can talk more over lunch in the Women’s Center.

Later that same day, we will hear Grawemeyer Award winner Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson lecture at 7:00 p.m. in Caldwell Chapel on his work on the early Christians (many of whom were women).

April 14 & 15 we will attend the Presidential Inauguration festivities, which will include participating in the Fan Fair at 10:00 a.m. April 15 in Winn Center. The Women’s Center will be there with information about our purpose, program, and prospects.

April 16 is the final Seminar in the series “Mending the World: The Margaret Hopper Taylor Seminars Challenging Domestic Violence.” JoAnn Rowan, a veteran of Louisville’s Center for Women and Families, leads this seminar, “It Happens in the Nicest Congregations: What Everyone Needs to Know About Domestic Violence.” Since it is not a question of whether but of how, precisely, domestic violence will affect the congregations in which LPTS graduates will serve, we encourage students to take advantage of the scholarships available to defray the $12 cost of the seminar, and to REGISTER ONLINE FOR THIS SEMINAR. Additional information is at our page on Mending the World.

April 17 is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. We are delighted to have been invited to the More Light at LPTS B-B-Q this afternoon in the residential commons area. We’re looking forward to the pitch-in celebration of community and are trying to think of something reasonably delicious we can contribute.

April 24 we will be celebrating Easter with Christians around the world, giving thanks for the good news that Mary Magdalene announced, and praising God for New Life!

April 28 the Women’s Center will serve as the venue for More Light Movie Night.

We will be missing our Faculty Liaison Dr. Johanna Bos from April 8 – April 18, as she attends a conference in Sweden, and will be praying for her pleasant and productive travel, and her safe return.

During April, the Women’s Center will also be looking for next year’s Student Coordinator. We are seeking someone who has a heart for gender issues and gender justice and who could see themselves spending 16 hours a week contributing their energy, intelligence, imagination, and love to the work of the Center — and getting Field Experience credit for doing so. If you or someone you know fits that description, please contact the Women’s Center right away for more information!

We continue to provide space for the meetings of Just Faith, which meets in the Center on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., and now also host the Board of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which meets the fourth Sunday of each month. We are delighted to be able to make our space (WE LOVE IT!) available to others whose efforts further the ends the Women’s Center also seeks.

Congregational Responses to Domestic Violence

Click here for more information on this Saturday's Seminar Congregational Responses to Domestic Violence

What can faithful members of congregations do to prevent domestic violence before it starts, respond to it in the congregation when it occurs, and take action to respond to the prevalence of domestic violence in society?

We will work on answering this question this Saturday,
(April 2, 9 – 12)
,
in the Women’s Center,
as Rev. Nancy Troy leads an interactive seminar on “Congregational Responses to Domestic Violence.”

A light lunch in the Women’s Center follows the seminar;
CE credit may be available (contact the Women’s Center);
$12 covers materials and lunch;
a limited number of student scholarships are available that cover the $12 fee (contact the Women’s Center)

Please PRE-REGISTER ONLINE for this seminar, or contact the Women’s Center to reserve a spot. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday morning.

The seminar is the second in the series “Mending the World: The Margaret Hopper Taylor Seminars Challenging Domestic Violence”.

Something for Youth Group

Mending the World - Margaret Hopper Taylor Seminars Challenging Domestic Violence


Who might enjoy and benefit from the first in a series of seminars challenging domestic violence being offered in the Women’s Center on Saturday?

Perhaps, anyone who has anything to do with a church youth group, from parents to leaders to pastors. In this interactive seminar, “Gender Respect: New Directions in Preventing Domestic Violence”, led by Rus Funk will address some of the path-breaking work he and Menswork are doing to build positive self-image and modes of interaction with adolescent males, and make the connection between this work and the prevention of domestic violence explicit. The seminar takes place

Saturday, March 12
9 – 12
in the Women’s Center
lunch follows the seminar

MORE INFORMATION ON THESE SEMINARS

REGISTER ONLINE

Still Time to Register for “Gender Respect”

Mending the World - Margaret Hopper Taylor Seminars Challenging Domestic Violence


The first in a series of seminars challenging domestic violence, “Gender Respect: New Directions in Preventing Domestic Violence”, led by Rus Funk takes place

Saturday, March 12
9 – 12
in the Women’s Center
lunch follows the seminar

MORE INFORMATION ON THESE SEMINARS

REGISTER ONLINE