2012 Women in the World Conference
Women in the World Brochure 2012
“Feed my Shepherds”: Spiritual Healing and Renewal for those in Christian Leadership
“Devotion to social justice, persistence in difficult circumstances, service for the common good, and a vision of a better world” are highly valued characteristics of transformational leaders and notably, were also characteristics of Anna Howard Shaw and the recipients of the award given in her name. Nurturing and sustaining transformational gifts and ministries comes at a cost. Over the years, the Center has engaged in analyses of personal collective experiences of women in ministry. Research and retention studies, time and time again, reveal an unhealthy level of spiritual malaise, often expressed as “burn out,” desert seasons, and loss of passion for a ministerial call. Both clergy and laity are at risk of suffering spiritual crisis due to the stressful environments of many church contexts.
Shepherds need tending as much as the sheep. This year’s Women in the World conference will name the nature of today’s crisis in personal spirituality and reflect on the causes of and remedies for spiritual desolation in today’s leaders.
Date: March 21, 2012
Time: 9:30am-8:30pm
Location: Boston University School of Theology
(various locations and directions listed below at the bottom of the page)
Recommended Book
(will be on sale at the conference):
Feed My Shepherds: Spiritual Healing and Renewal for Those in Christian Leadership by Flora Slosson Wuellner.
Book Description:
A church member has just lost a parent. Another member is scheduled for surgery. Yet another member is having marital problems. Just another day in the life of a congregation. Church leaders (both clergy and lay) give immeasurable comfort and nourishment to those in need. But it sometimes leaves them drained, stressed, and wounded. Feed My Shepherds addresses the struggles and burnout experienced by those in caregiving ministries and offers practical tips to practice healthy spirituality. “”While all Christians need nurture, the active leader who encounters spiritual and emotional stress daily has special, urgent needs,”” writes Wuellner. “”If the shepherd is not fed along with the sheep, that inner hunger and fatigue, those unhealed hurts can cause the shepherd to do great, unconscious harm to those within his or her care.”” By looking at the intense, healing relationship between the risen Jesus and his disciples, Wuellner offers a paradigm of healing for today’s disciples as well. She draws on scriptures from the Gospels’ post-Resurrection narratives and adds spiritual reflection, personal questions, and guided meditations that can meet a variety of needs.
Speakers and Bios
Christina Belogour
Christina Belogour received her Masters in Divinity, with a specialty in pastoral counseling, in 1998 from Boston University. She was ordained in 1999 and served as associate pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston, an American Baptist church. She earned a Ph.D. in pastoral psychology from Boston University in 2007. Her research interests include feminist and liberation theologies as frames for understanding both appearance discrimination and pastoral identity issues. Currently, she works at Bay Path College as a professor of cultural diversity, social psychology, counseling, introductory psychology and psychology of women.
Pamela Lightsey
Pamela Lightsey is a scholar, social justice activist, and military veteran whose academic and research interests include: classical and contemporary just war theory, Womanist theology, Queer theory and theology, and African American religious history and theologies. Pamela’s forthcoming publications include “Reconciliation,” in Radical Evangelical, “If There Should Come a Word” in Black United Methodists Preach! and one work in progress, Inner Dictum: A Womanist Reflection from the Queer Realm. She currently works at Boston University School of Theology as Associate Dean for Community Life and Lifelong Learning and Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology
Mary Elizabeth Moore
Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore sees her primary work as working with others and contributing her small part toward repair of the world. Her recent books include Teaching as a Sacramental Act, Ministering with the Earth, and Teaching from the Heart, plus the co-edited volumes Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World and Practical Theology and Hermeneutics. She has also written many articles on education, process and feminist theologies, and justice and reconciliation. She currently works at Boston University School of Theology as the Dean and Professor of Theology and Education.
Anna Howard Shaw Award Banquet Honoring The Rev. Dr. Aida Irizarry– Fernández
The Anna Howard Shaw Award is given in recognition of women who embody those values expressed in the life of Anna Howard Shaw: courage born out of Christian faith, dedication to increased opportunities for women, devotion to social justice, persistence in difficult circumstances, service for the common good, and a vision of a better world.
Past recipients have include C. Faith Richardson, Susan M. Morrison, Jeanne Audrey Powers, Margaret Suber Wiborg, Yolanda Pupo-Oritz, and Katheryn Pfisterer Darr.
This year we honor the seventh recipient of the Anna Howard Shaw Center, Aida Irizarry-Fernandez. Anna Howard Shaw Award Banquet will be held in conjunction with the Annual Women in the World Conference.
The Rev. Dr. Aida Irizarry– Fernández
Rev. Dr. Fernandez was appointed to Hope United Methodist Church in Belchertown, MA in 2010. She came from Mathewson Street UMC in Providence, Rhode Island where she served for two years.
From 2000 to 2003 she served as the District Superintendent of the Metro Boston North District. In 2003 she was appointed to the new Metro Boston Hope District in The New England Conference where she served until 2008.
Fernandez was ordained a deacon in 1989 and received her elder’s orders in the Southern New England Conference in 1991. She received her D.Min. from New York Theological Seminary in 1997, and her M.S.W. and M.Div. from Boston University in 1989.
Her experiences include pastoral ministry, interfaith counseling, advocacy, clinical social work, leadership development, teaching, administration, and psychotherapy. In addition, Aida served as a consultant to the National Hispanic Plan for eight years.
Fernandez was reassigned for a second term to the board of directors of the General Board of Global Ministries. She currently serves as a board member of the Anna Howard Shaw Center at the BU School of Theology and as faculty for the Curso de Estudio at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary.
Schedule
9:30-11:00am…………….…………..1st Speaker1 : Christina Belogour
11:10am-12:00pm……………….………Worship2
12:15-1:15pm……………….…………..…. Lunch1
1:30-3:00pm………………………….. 2nd Speaker1 :Aida Izarry-Fernandez
3:00-3:15pm………………………………. Break
3:15-4:45pm…………………….……. 3rd Speaker1 : Pamela Lightsey
4:45-5:00pm…………………….………… Break
5:00-6:00pm……………………………….. Panel1 : Moderator: Mary Elizabeth Moore
6:00-6:30pm……………………………. Shaw Center Open House3
6:30-8:30………………………………..Anna Howard Shaw Award Banquet4
Directions:
Parking (“P” on map):
Warren Towers Garage
700 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA
Public Transportation (“T” on map):
Green Line, BU Central stop
1Conference (“C” on map):
Photonics Building, PHO 906,
8 Saint Mary’s St., Boston, MA 02215
2Morning Worship (“W” on map):
Marsh Chapel, 735 Commonwealth Ave.
3Anna Howard Shaw Center (“S” on map):
School of Theology, STH 321
745 Commonwealth Ave.,
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
4BU Faculty Lounge
775 Commonwealth Avenue, 5th floor
Directions to Photonics Center from STH
- From the School of Theology (located at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and St. Mary’s Street), turn onto St. Mary’s Street.
- Continue up St. Mary’s Street, the Photonics Center is located at #8 St. Mary’s Street.
- The Photonics Center will be in your left, it is the tall building with several flags flying from it.
- You will enter the building from the street onto the 2nd floor. Take the elevator to the 9th floor. The consultation will be in Room 906.
Directions to Photonics Center from Warren Towers Garage:
4 minute walk
When exiting the parking garage, turn right on Hinsdale Street. (79 feet)
- Turn left at Commonwealth Avenue (0.2 miles)
- Turn left at St. Mary’s Street. (138 feet)
- The Photonics Center is located at #8 St. Mary’s Street.
- It will be in your left, it is the tall building with several flags flying from it.
- You will enter the building from the street onto the 2nd floor. Take the elevator to the 9th floor. The consultation will be in Room 906.