Episcopal Press and News

"Creative Journey" Supports Diocesan Women's Ministries

Episcopal News Service. June 21, 1995 [95-1159A]

(ENS) In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, Episcopal women of Oklahoma and members of the staff of the national office of Women in Mission and Ministry (WIMM) met together at an Oklahoma conference center May 17-19 for "Creative Journey," a new program in women's leadership developed by WIMM and held in partnership with the women of a diocese. Together, 26 women worked to "develop new forms of creative expressions to expand their sense of self-worth and to form a faith community for social action and spiritual nurturing," said Ann Smith, director of the WIMM office. "A renewed sense of partnership was formed within the church on a local, diocesan and national level." The women, she said, "were united through the compassion they felt for each other's emotional wounds inflicted by the bombing and the betrayal of (former national treasurer) Ellen Cooke, and they were ready to begin a new way of working together." Leaders for the event included Virginia Doctor, a Mohawk and missionary from Alaska, Smith and Sister Helena Marie from WIMM, and Eleanor Smith and Barbara Owens from Oklahoma. Another Creative Journey session was scheduled for June 2225 in the Diocese of Dallas.