United Church of Christ & the People Involved
Here is an introduction to the ordination process in the United Church of Christ into which these women decided to journey together.
The road to ordination is a complex and considered process involving the sense of call to ministry of the individual seeking ordination and the discernment of the denominational community of which that person is a member. In the United Church of Christ, the responsibility for approving candidates for ordination falls to the Association, a regional grouping of churches, which is part of a larger Conference. Sometimes, as is the case in the No. California-Nevada Conference, a Conference Committee on Ministry handles the process of receiving candidates to be “In-Care” (language used in the 1970’s) and conducts the interview to recommend ordination on behalf of the Association.
Through a process of discernment, three women affirmed their individual calls to ordained ministry but also determined that because of their understanding that ministry happens in, through and because of community, they would seek to be ordained collectively. In other words, they would go through the In-Care and ordination process together to model their commitment to community as central to ministry.
Stacy Cusulos, Jody Parsons and Loey Powell were students at Pacific School of Religion (class of 1977) and began conversations during their last year of seminary about ordination. Informed by feminist and liberation theologies, these three along with two other women who later dropped out of the process, Cherry Morton and Susan Cutshall, determined that requesting a collective ordination best reflected their theology of ministry. They were members of Mill Valley Community Church, UCC, where the Rev. Bill Eichhorn was pastor. In conversation with Bill, a request was made to the congregation to support their request for In-Care status - and the journey began.
The first paper submitted to the Committee on Ministry was written by all 5 women in the initial group outlining why they were seeking a collective ordination. The rationale and theology in this statement continued to inform the candidates even after the group eventually became the three who were ordained, Jody, Stacy and Loey.
This ordination occurred in the Golden Gate Association of the No. California-Nevada Conference of the UCC, the same Association which had ordained the Rev. William R. Johnson in 1972 as the first openly gay person to be ordained by a mainline denomination. At the time, Stacy, Loey and Jody as self-identified as lesbians, something that was known widely. However, they chose not to publicly state this in their request for ordination because they anticipated that their collective request would push a lot of institutional buttons. The Committee on Ministry knew that sexual orientation was not relevant to approving or denying ordination (thanks to the process they went through with Bill Johnson’s ordination), and most members of the Committee also knew that the three women were also lesbians. It was not a part of any conversation during the In-Care and ordination process. A strange tension to move through at the time but as the documents in this exhibit reveal, those institutional buttons were buzzing.
Lois “Loey” Powell was born in Massachusetts, daughter of Eleonore and Oliver Powell, where her father was senior minster of Central Congregational Church in Worcester. The family moved to Oak Park, IL, when Loey was in 1st grade where she lived through high school. She attended Oberlin College, and then Pacific School of Religion where she met Jody Parsons and Stacy Cusulos. Her parents were active in social justice ministries over the years and co-founded the United Church of Christ’s Parents of Lesbians and Gays.
Read Loey's full profile below:
Jody Parsons grew up in New Jersey and Minnesota before moving to California in the early 1970s. She attended Macalester College, where she graduated in '72, before going onto Pacific School of Religion. Early on, Jody realized the importance of being involved in social justice and has worked tirelessly for change ever since.
Read Jody's full profile below:
Stacy Cusulos grew up in a Greek-American family and within the Greek Orthodox Church. Her first language was Greek. In her late 20’s, moved to become a minister, a role forbidden women in her church, Stacy began study at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, and joined the United Church of Christ. Her exposure to feminist and liberation theologies deepened her life-long commitment to social justice.
Read Stacy's full profile below: