Kerala Wall better than Trump's: Woman bishop

She also said without women the Church will cease and it is time for women to assume leadership roles.

(Photo credit: toronto.anglican.ca)

Kottayam:  Kerala's Women's Wall was 'better' than the one which US President Donald Trump wants to build, said Jenny Andison, bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. Jenny, who was here to speak at the CSI convention on Wednesday said she had read about the Women's Wall and related developments.

"I have also heard about the Supreme Court verdict allowing young women to enter the Sabarimala temple. But I can't speak about the Hindu community. That is not my place," the bishop told TOI on Wednesday.

She also said without women the Church will cease and it is time for women to assume leadership roles. Urging the Indian churches to give more roles to women, she said: "If you don't include women, you will be missing out on 50% of the people."

"I think God calls women into leadership just the same way He calls men. Women and men bring different gifts into leadership. God made men and women in God's image and created them equal before Him. God calls us to exercise our gifts equally, although in different ways. I have some different skills than my brother bishops," said Jenny who supervises 52 churches in her region in the diocese of Toronto.

"In our diocese people didn't say let's have a woman bishop. They prayed to the God for a good leader who has right skills. They were not plotting or planning to find a woman," she said.

"God always called women into leadership and it is only society and culture that did not want to accept what God was doing. If people are elected for their skills and gifts we must not stand in God's way," added the bishop.

"I was not elected because I was a woman. I was elected because the community believed that I got the skills and gifts necessary to lead the Church. India had a woman prime minister and she was not elected because she was a woman. People believed that she had the right skills and ability to lead the country. She just happened to be a woman," said Jenny.

When asked about the practice of confession followed in churches, she said that in the Anglican church all confess together to the God on all Sundays.

"We don't confess individually to the priests. We do it together as a community. You can speak directly to God and pray," she said.

"Anglican communion allows priests to marry and have family lives. One benefit is that the priest is not alone. They will have the support of the husband or wife. Being a priest is a difficult and stressful job. One can feel lonely. It will also help relate to the members of the church because we also experience the same joys and challenges of raising a family," she said.

Source: Times of India