Ten women receive seminary scholarships May 24, 2004 NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS) - Ten seminarians are recipients of an annual scholarship
given to women over 35 who are preparing for ordained ministry in the
United Methodist Church as a second career. Each
woman has been awarded a $5,000 Georgia Harkness Merit Scholarship for
the 2004-05 academic year. Recipients must be enrolled as full-time
students in a master of divinity degree program at a University
Senate-approved theological school and certified candidates for
ordination. The senate is a United Methodist organization that certifies
schools for affiliation with the church. Since
1983, the Harkness awards have been given in memory of the life and
service of teacher and theologian Georgia Harkness, who died in 1974.
She was instrumental in the decision by the 1956 General Conference to
give women full clergy rights in the former Methodist Church. Award
recipients must demonstrate leadership traits that she embodied:
scholarship, spiritual leadership and social justice leadership. "These
10 women embody the spirit of Georgia Harkness," said the Rev. Marion
Jackson, a staff member of the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry. The church is preparing for the 50th anniversary
of women receiving full clergy rights in the denomination, Jackson
noted. Harkness, who worked for that, "was a part of our courageous
past, and these women represent our bold future." The scholarship recipients, their schools and annual conferences are: · M. Guadalupe Alonso-Redondo, Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology; California-Pacific Annual Conference. · Arlindall Burks, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Florida Annual Conference. · Beverly W. Casstevens, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, North Georgia Annual Conference. · Marian Crane, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. · Catherine Davis, Hood Theological Seminary, Salisbury, N.C., Western North Carolina Annual Conference. · Sally Dolch, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference. · Tamara Holtz, Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Mo., Nebraska Annual Conference. · Mary Anne Kelly, United Theological Seminary, Buffalo, N.Y., Western New York Annual Conference. · Karen Jean Sorden, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, West Michigan Annual Conference. · Karen Lee Stoffers, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, California-Nevada Annual Conference. For
more information, contact the Division of Ordained Ministry at P.O. Box
340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007, or (615) 340-7409; or log on to the
Georgia Harkness Web site at www.gbhem.org/Harkness.html. This
report was adapted from a press release by Pamela Crosby, a staff
member of the Office of Interpretation at the United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn. News media contact Linda Green (615)742-5470 or e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.
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