Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations. Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women's rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). In 1979, Rigoberta, too, joined the CUC. That year her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish Embassy where he and some other peasants were staying. Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and raped. Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages than her native Quiche. In 1980, she figured prominently in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast, and on May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression. In 1981, Rigoberta Menchú had to go into hiding in Guatemala, and then flee to Mexico. That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life: as the organizer abroad of resistance to oppression in Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant peoples' rights. In 1982, she took part in the founding of the joint opposition body, The United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. In 1986, Rigoberta Menchú became a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC, and the following year she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble, about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people. On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Menchú has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats have forced her to return into exile. Over the years, Rigoberta Menchú has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but in the Western Hemisphere generally, and her work has earned her several international awards.
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I have huge issues with the United Methodist Church. I'll just come out and say that right up front. I grew up in the UMC, and tried, for about one second, to be a pastor in one of their congregations. Today, at a general conference of gathered delegates from all over the world, the UMC's deciding body choose to keep excluding gays, lesbians, and transgender people from their clergy. I've met Beth Stroud personally. She says that it is important for her to stay in this church body. I can't imagine the heartache this church has caused her, yet she chooses to remain because she believes in something bigger. I couldn't do it. I didn't do it. I have to say, though: there are very few people throughout the whole arc of history who can say they've been defrocked.Even fewer who can say they've been defrocked over a justice issue. There's something to be said for that. The United Methodist Church should be ashamed of themselves. They are moving backward, not forward, and in 20 years, where will they be? Beth Stroud served as an ordained United Methodist pastor for six years before losing her clergy credentials in a 2004 church trial. In the trial, Beth was found guilty of “practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teaching” because she acknowledged living in a committed relationship with another woman. The process that led to the trial began in April, 2003, when Beth told her congregation, the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, PA about her relationship with Chris Paige, a consultant to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. The congregation offered nearly universal support to Beth, setting up a legal fund to assist with her defense and hiring her as a lay minister after she lost her credentials. Beth continued to serve as a member of the church staff until 2008, when she decided to pursue an academic career. The trial verdict was overturned on appeal, but the original verdict was reinstated by the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church in October, 2005. The Judicial Council is the highest judicial body of the United Methodist Church. There is no further avenue of appeal. Beth is the author of You! A Faith That Fits, the official youth curriculum of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. Beth accepts guest preaching and speaking invitations, and is working on an advanced graduate degree from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Beth holds an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College. Before going into professional ministry, she worked as a writer and editor in New York City. Beth and Chris make their home in Philadelphia. They serve their community as foster parents, and are currently blessed to share their life with their daughter, who was born in 2005. She's a cutie! Here's the Washington Post article from the time of the trial:The highest court in the United Methodist Church yesterday defrocked a lesbian minister in Philadelphia and reinstated a Virginia pastor who had been suspended for denying a gay man membership in his congregation. The nine-member Judicial Council also rejected a declaration by Methodists in the Pacific Northwest that there is a "difference of opinion among faithful Christians regarding sexual orientation and practice." The court said the declaration was a "historical statement without prescriptive force" and had no bearing on church laws. The decisions amounted to a clean sweep for conservatives who believe gay sex is a sin and want to strictly enforce a Methodist rule against "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" in ordained ministry. They were the latest in a series of defeats for liberals in the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination who have sought to be more welcoming toward gay men and lesbians. The court rulings, which are final, put an end to the Rev. Irene "Beth" Stroud's hopes of remaining an ordained Methodist minister. Stroud, 35, said she thought she "was prepared for whatever might happen" but found it impossible to master her emotions yesterday. "It's been tears off and on all morning," she said. Stroud said she will continue working at Philadelphia's First United Methodist Church of Germantown as a lay minister, which means she cannot administer Communion and baptisms. Her case began when she told her congregation in 2003 that she was living in a "covenanted relationship" with another woman. Her message from the pulpit violated the church's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the clergy and resulted in a formal charge by her bishop. In December 2004, a jury of 13 ministers convicted Stroud of "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teaching" and removed her ministerial credentials. But a regional appeals panel overturned the verdict, citing legal errors and an ambiguous clause in the church's constitution that pledges no discrimination on the basis of "status." Yesterday, the Judicial Council reaffirmed the original jury's verdict by a 6 to 2 vote, with one judge absent. Wary of such a decision, Stroud had not resumed ordained ministry since the original trial. "If it's a choice between serving in the ordained ministry with my credentials intact, and serving as an 'out' lesbian person acknowledging the most important relationship in my life and not having those credentials, I'll take being out. I think it's better and more honest, and more healthy in the long run," she said. The Judicial Council's rulings also represented a significant change in fortune for the Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church in South Hill, Va. Johnson, 58, had been on an involuntary, unpaid leave since June, when Methodist ministers in Virginia voted 448 to 114 to discipline him for refusing to allow a gay man to become a member of his congregation. His district superintendent and his bishop had urged Johnson to admit the man. Yesterday, the Judicial Council reinstated Johnson, with back pay, with a 5 to 3 vote. It said local pastors have the discretion to decide on members. Johnson was traveling yesterday and did not return messages. The Rev. Tom Thomas, who served as Johnson's legal counsel, said the decision "salvaged" the career of a good pastor and "preserves the way pastoral ministry has been done in our church for 200 years." The Judicial Counsel viewed the case as a question about a pastor's authority, rather than a question about whether people in same-sex relationships are eligible to join the church. In a dissenting opinion, Judicial Council member Susan T. Henry-Crowe said the decision "compromises the historical understanding that the Church is open to all." Like many other Protestant denominations, the Methodist Church has been struggling with sexual issues for 30 years. Its legislative body, the General Conference, meets every four years and has, in recent sessions, reaffirmed the prohibition on "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" in the clergy by increasing margins. Because of a changing geographic formula, conservative Methodists from the South have been gaining influence in the General Conference and have helped elect more conservatives to the Judicial Council. In May 2004, delegates also voted to tighten church laws, making it easier to charge, try and convict gay ministers. "A lot of loopholes have been closed, but I believe in risky ways," said the Rev. Thomas E. Frank, director of Methodist Studies at Emory University and a proponent of welcoming gays into the church. "There's a lot of ambiguities in the judicial procedures because the church has never tried that hard to get people out; instead, it's emphasized being a big tent and getting everybody in. It's a sharp reversal when we start heading in the other direction." Mark Tooley, a conservative Methodist at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, said the rulings show that Methodism "is not moving in the direction of the Episcopal Church and declining liberal Protestantism in the West." Rather, he said, it "is moving in the direction of global Christianity, which is robustly orthodox." It takes an awesome amount of courage to hold your head high after "The Church" tells you that you are 'incompatible with Christian Teaching.' Today's post is dedicated to Beth and all the brave souls who continue to struggle inside an institution that refuses to love each person equally, just as God made us. It is also dedicated to all the people who are no longer with us because they fought the same battle and lost. Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE, Ph.D. (born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. In July 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall traveled from England to what is today Tanzania and bravely entered the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. She was equipped with nothing more than a notebook and a pair of binoculars. But with her unyielding patience and characteristic optimism, she won the trust of these initially shy creatures. She managed to open a window into their sometimes strange and often familiar-seeming lives. The public was fascinated and remains so to this day. Today, Jane’s work revolves around inspiring action on behalf of endangered species, particularly chimpanzees, and encouraging people to do their part to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment we all share. The Jane Goodall Institute works to protect the famous chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, but recognizes this can’t be accomplished without a comprehensive approach that addresses the needs of local people who are critical to chimpanzee survival. These programs began around Gombe in 1994, but have since been replicated in other parts of the continent. Likewise, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, which Jane started with a group of Tanzania students in 1991, is today the Institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth program for young people from preschool through university with nearly 150,000 members in more than 120 countries. She's an amazing woman. We went and saw the Chimpanzee movie--it was great--the kids loved it. There's so much to learn about Jane Goodall. I invite you to find out more... In honor of May Day and all the Occupy Movements going on around the nation, I thought I would highlight some of the trade unionist women from history. As I learn more each day, I think it would be interesting to do a focus on women's organizations throughout history, like the women's trade union league, the Jane Club, the National Dress Reform Association, WATER, and others. I find these organizations fascinating. It's almost like when you're at church and somebody has an idea so they start a committee. All these women's organizations are like church committees: they begin around a specific thing that needs attention and end when there's something else more important to pay attention to. Fascinating. Mary Kenney was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on 8th January, 1864. After a brief formal education Kenney worked as a dressmaker to help support her invalid mother. In 1889 Kenney moved to Chicago where she worked in several different factories. Kenney became a trade union organizer and was eventually invited to Hull House to meet Jane Addams. It was agreed that Kenney and fellow trade unionists could hold their meetings at the house. Kenney moved into Hull House and in 1891 established the Jane Club, a co-operative house where girls with low wages could live together. There were six apartments in the house. Within a year they were all occupied with each person paying $3.00 for rent, food and services. Working-class women, such as Kenney and Alzina Stevens, who had developed an interest in social reform as a result of their trade union work, played an important role in the education of the middle-class residents at Hull House. They in turn influenced the working-class women. As Kenney was later to say, they "gave my life new meaning and hope". Kenney became a well-known trade union figure and in 1892 Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labour, appointed her as his first woman organizer. In 1892, John Peter Altgeld was was elected governor of Illinois in 1892 and the following year he appointedFlorence Kelley as the state's first chief factory inspector. Kelley recruited a staff of twelve, including Kenney and Alzina Stevens. In 1894 Altgeld and Kelley managed to persuade the state legislature to pass legislation controlling child labour. This included a law limiting women and children to a maximum eight-hour day. This success was short-lived and in 1895 the Illinois Association of Manufacturers got the law repealed. Kenney moved to Boston where she married John O'Sullivan, a journalist working for The Boston Globe. She was employed by the Women's Educational and Industrial Union and helped to organize garment and laundry workers. In 1903 Kenney joined with William Walling to form the Women's Trade Union League. The main objective of the organization was to educate women about the advantages of union membership, to support women's demands for better working conditions, and to raise awareness about the exploitation of women workers. In November, 1914, Kenney was appointed as a factory inspector by the Department of Labor, a post she was to hold for twenty years. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan died in West Medford, MA on 18th January, 1943. |
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