WOMEN IN CONGREGATIONALISM

Nobody told Congregational women that they were the weaker sex.

This chapter is my personal tribute to Beryl Allen, Nance Power, Lil Latimer, Edna Cooper, Ethel Clack, Dorothy Holdaway, Ena Sambell, Dot Robarts, Bernie Millard, and to my mother, Rose Wilson— to dozens of strong, brave, uncomplaining Congregational women.

Many of them lived into their 90s and were too busy working for the Church, for their families and for society to consider sinking into a quiet old age.

They loved us, who were then the young people of the Church, into being who we are today.

I honour them all.

They were pioneer feminists before the word was known.

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CONGREGATIONALISTS ARE NOT TYPING-POOL PEOPLE

One woman, an uncomplaining realist who is now in her 90s, lives in a hostel, and has impaired memory following a stroke, seems to me to have the essential qualities of a Congregational woman.

When my father died unexpectedly when I only fifteen, my older brother asked, ‘What are you planning to do?’ I told him that I was thinking of going to university to do something with music. He said, ‘What’s the point of going to university? You’ll only get married.’

I wasn’t going to worry the family, so I went to business college and did typing and shorthand. I got a job and completed my training in the evenings, coming dux of the college. I was working at Burnley when I got a letter offering me a job with the Victorian Railways.

Most girls went into the typing pool, which would have driven me mad. But I got a job working with the Chief Train Dispatcher over Spencer Street station. I was the only girl working with thirty male train dispatchers.

Congregationalists were not typing pool people. We were open-minded. We were encouraged to have opinions of our own.

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I was always in the church choir. I liked singing and had fun in the choir. I was really a contralto but I sang soprano because they were short.

I wrote descants for the choir to sing in all their hymns. Someone told me recently that Camberwell Uniting choir are still singing my descants.

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Kevin Green was the Methodist minister at Church Union, and he looked after us. He was a wonderful help. Liking Kevin Green helped with union. Then he moved to the city. Never mind, we coped.

After 12 months our church was sold to the German Catholics and everyone went to worship at the Methodists. At the move, someone asked, ‘Would you have voted for Church Union if you had known that you would have to lose your church?’ I stood up and said ‘I would.’

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What did I like about Congregationalism? I’ve never been anywhere else. But it was a happy church to belong to. I belonged to the youth group and had companionship and kindness from the people at church.

We were broad-minded, not like the Baptists. I liked the church meeting where we could all have our say.

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Coping? What’s the use of doing anything else? You make the best of what you’ve got.

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WOMEN MINISTERS: A MATTER OF PRIDE . . .

Congregationalism led the way in ordaining women ministers, and this fact was a matter of pride to participants. Most who took part in this project were from Victoria, and they mentioned Rev. Isabel Merry, the state’s first woman minister, again and again.

Paul D. Chandler, in Making a Difference: Croydon Uniting Church: the First 100 Years, said this of her:

“Rev. Isabelle Merry was inducted at Croydon on 12th December 1936, the first woman to be ordained as a minister in any denomination in Victoria, and Belle served there for nearly seven years. Subsequently, Belle left to pursue studies in Social Work and was then appointed as the first full-time Chaplain of a public hospital—the Queen Victoria—where she served for 30 years. She continued her association with the Gifford Memorial Church, and later the Gifford Group, until her death. In 1976 she was awarded the OBE for her chaplaincy services”(58).

A male minister stated:

Women have been the backbone of most of the congregations I have been in or have heard about. But in ministry, Congregational women ministers have been pioneers. I have heard of others but my immediate contact was with Rev. Isabelle Merry who became a friend. She was a pioneer in women’s ministry and a mentor as well.

It was always a matter of great pride that we Congregationalists should have the first Victorian woman minister, Rev Isabel Merry, stated another participant. We had a lot to do with her towards the end of her life when she often worshipped at Alma St. We were very fond of her and it always amused us when she said that she couldn’t stand agapanthus in a garden! Ours was full of them, but she came for meals just the same. We missed her very much when she died.

But Rev. Belle Merry was not the first Australian Congregational woman minister. This honour went to Winifred Kiek.

Lindsay Lockley stated in Congregationalism in Australia that “in 1926 Winifred Kiek, wife of the principal of Parkin College and herself a graduate of the Universities of Manchester and Adelaide and of the Melbourne College of Divinity, was ordained to the pastorate if the Colonel Light Gardens Church in Adelaide. To that church she gave seven years’ service, followed by eight years at Knoxville” (301).

She, too, was remembered by participants.

Winifred Kiek was the first Australian woman to be ordained. The Winifred Kiek scholarship named in her honour allows women to study theology, not necessarily for ministry. Her example set off the Fellowship of the Least Coin, a women’s group which became a circle of prayer. On two occasions a year they meet for a public prayer service.

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WOMEN HOLD THE CHURCHES TOGETHER . . .

I have the utmost respect for the work that women do. All clubs would be r. s. without women. Women hold the churches together, stated one male participant.

This sentiment was echoed many times.
The deacons were devils, said another man. They would decide to have the church painting and then agree to ask the ladies to provide the paint. The ladies would cook . . . Where would any church be without the ladies raising funds?

In 1944 at Williamstown the Church Women’s Friendly Group was formed to help the women of the Guild raise money. Some of the present day ladies held functions in their homes such as Breakfast Before Church and pancake lunches before they became fashionable, and it was amazing how that money lasted. The church was able to purchase electric fans, carpet for the church, a sound system, pew cushions and paint and accessories for the front door and vestry. The women paid, too, for refurbishing the pews and tiling the front entrances of the church.

The two ladies who managed the bank book and saw that there was always something in the account were Mrs Valda Ferguson and Mrs Laurie Humphries. We even managed to pay a church cleaner for a time, he stated.

Another man summed up the position of Congregational women members:

The Church was managed through congregational meetings, usually held after worship on a given Sunday. As women tended to form a majority of members, their numbers were automatically influential. All office-bearer positions were open to women. Women were expected to and encouraged to speak at meetings. Whether people were given training in leadership, I don’t know. The experience gained in many roles and by participation certainly produced many women competent in leadership. There having been only one woman minister in Victoria was not because of barriers or intention to block women, I think.

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THE STORY OF A DEACONESS

Maynard Davies in Beyond My Grasp noted that when a discussion was held about women attending Assemblies as delegates, Rev W. F. Cox stated that he “had no objection to women attending the meetings of the delegates as he did not think the sisters would ever attend in such numbers as to interfere with the business” (76). But this was in 1893, and things for women have improved since then.

It is perhaps good to remember, however, that while Congregationalists were the first to ordain women ministers, we were still people of our time, and that true equality between men and women is seldom seen anywhere in society, even now. Or, as one man stated, Women’s position was certainly pioneered by our churches, but how far we still have to go with the Church’s misreading of scripture so that it can maintain male supremacy.

The story of Victorian Congregationalism’s only deaconess is bitter-sweet.

Sylvia Parry is one of the most loved women Congregationalists, and her service to the church has been invaluable. She makes no complaints, but for a number of reasons, she has worked for the church without pay since her marriage in 1963, in spite of being theologically trained and commissioned as a deaconess in 1960. I suggested, gently, that there was an injustice here. Deaconesses are humble people, said Sylvia. Indeed. All of us should be humble people. I wonder, however, whether Sylvia’s experience would have been different if she had been a man.

This is her story.

I had planned to become a nurse, but major surgery prevented my ability to lift, which was necessary for nursing, and it was the matron of the Prince Henry’s Hospital who caused me to rethink my career; somehow she had heard of my deep commitment to the Church.

In discussion with the Union Secretary, I expressed the desire to study theology. But there were two major problems, health and my youth. A 20-year-old studying at Seward House was untenable; and boarding at Kew was financially impossible.

Through the annual fête held in the Lower Town Hall, I discovered that the Presbyterians had deaconesses. These women were passionate about their study and their practical work in the field. I left that fête to explore the option of becoming a deaconess with the Union Secretary. It was eventually agreed to fund a bursary for me to train at Rolland House, the deaconess and missionary college in Rathdown St Carlton, so the next year my study began.

Three years of living in community forged the deepest of friendships—sharing worship twice a day, meals and study. The majority of lectures were held at Ormond College with the male theologs. The lay status of Presbyterian deaconesses meant that they were “commissioned” rather than ordained and at every commissioning service women were “set apart” to “minister and not to be ministered unto.”

My commissioning was held at Augustine and there I worked for 6 months part-time. The remaining time was spent at Blackburn South. This church had commenced their services and Sunday School in a bus on Home Mission land. By the time I arrived, an all-purpose hall had been built. With a very committed congregation we “grew” a thriving youth group and Sunday School.

Following the pattern of the Presbyterians, I was permitted to preach but not to offer the sacraments. The Rev. Len Pearce responded to our pleas for ministry continuity and my role became that of visiting, building and nurturing the congregation and youth work. More surgery meant part-time work and after 3 ½ years I decided to marry.

The president of the Congregational Union of Victoria forgot about Congregational women ministers, and in line with other models for women, I had to resign. Our marriage was conducted during Sunday worship, which seemed newsworthy to The Age and television (much to my angst, but causing even more anxiety to my mother about how far the lunch would spread considering the ravenous youth).

On reflection, the Congregational Church did strongly hold to the belief in the priesthood of all believers and regarded women highly, but women’s position really depended on their maturity. I think of Rev. Isabel Merry, Dame Phyllis Frost and Mrs Mervan Plumb. I sat in a Home Mission meeting with Dame Phillip Frost. She was a big, mature woman who could give her vision of what was needed in our city. Men like Walter Albiston, the Congregational Union Secretary, honoured and respected this woman.

At this point I smiled. I wondered whether the women whom Sylvia had named might have envied the love and acceptance which surrounded her gentle, nurturing personality, just as she envied them their respect. Many types of women are valuable to the Church. Sylvia went on:

Thankfully, the Uniting Church has come a long way since its inception. As the National Secretary of the deacs for some years, I was very aware of the struggle for equal pay, conditions and voice. With the creation of the deaconate, (male and female) deacons are now ordained to their specific Ministry of Word and Sacrament, and at last there is equal status.

Did I consider applying for ordination at Union? No. I had been told to write a letter of resignation at the time of marriage in 1963. I had health issues, and Seward House is a long way from Black Rock. Some deaconesses were offered reinstatement in 1977. I was in London at the time; I received no offer.

I was offered reinstatement about 12 years ago in the 1990s by Rev. Alan Scott, the Presbytery minister. I was then convenor of RE at the local primary school as Mrs Parry. I had been stripped of status. Alan Scott said that this was an injustice. I told him that I was not looking for pay, but that I would value having my status as a deaconess, now a deacon, restored. He told me that I needed to speak to the Secretary, Rev. Robert Johnson who was from NSW. He didn’t know the work that I had been doing. The Secretary told me that to be reinstated, I would need to work full-time. My mother had just had a coronary and had been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. I shook his hand and told him that I was sorry that the church did not value the work of those who, because of other commitments, could only work part-time.

I still stand alongside the incumbent minister. I still enjoy the gift that I have. The Servant Song is strong in my psyche; not to be ministered to but to minister. I would have loved to return to study but I had 3 children under 4, and a strong commitment to the local area was precious to me. Space wouldn’t have allowed it if I am honest.

Belle Merry had been a self-funded theological student; I received a bursary to go to Rolland House. At that time (1963) in the Education Department, women resigned if they married. I was paid 2/3 of what a man would be paid to do the same work. I only worked part-time. I drove a Morris Minor. Other deaconesses were no better provided for. But they are humble people.

Some deacs became ordained. Rev. Coralie Ling had been a Methodist deaconess.
Mrs Sylvia Simpson worked at Breuthen as pastor. Pastor William Leach came to Congregationalism from the Salvation Army. He was at Black Rock. He was very well-loved, but not ordained.

He was, however, paid.

Sylvia will not voice a word of complaint, but she has served the Church daily, effectively, without pay, for nearly fifty years.
Congregationalists were pioneers with women ministers and we can be proud of this. But Sylvia Parry is evidence of the fact that, in our dealings with women, we did not always get things completely right.

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Next: Chapter 15. The Best Aspects of Being Congregational

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