Female priest's views differ from mainstream Christian values

By: Miyoko Ohtake

Posted: 1/16/07

Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows is a priest - but not just any old, stereotypical priest. She's black, a female and is a certified preservationist. She also supports abortion.

"The Bible doesn't say anything about abortion," said Baskerville-Burrows, the Episcopalian chaplain at Hendricks Chapel and the priest at Syracuse's Grace Church. "There is something God has to say about it, but it has to do with what kind of life we're called to live and lead."

Baskerville-Burrows' stance on abortion, which aligns with that of the Episcopal Church, is liberal for Christian religions. Conservative priests often pull passages from the Bible to support their anti-abortion positions. Often cited are the Book of Luke to substantiate fetuses as people, the book of Genesis to condemn murder and the First Canonical Letters to explicitly condemn abortion.

"I think that's a dangerous road to go," Baskerville-Burrows said of using Scripture to support or denounce abortion. "If what I'm doing, if what I'm advocating, if what I'm hoping to bring out in the world are all in the service of Christ's love and commandments, if an abortion is going to be, in the long-run, a better life and a better service of love for the persons involved, it's going to be better."

Baskerville-Burrows is not alone in her beliefs.

"I think that people often freak out about Christians or Jews or Muslims or religious people being pro-choice," said Sarah Reks, a member of Grace Church and the parish's youth group leader. "I think that 'pro-choice' always makes it sound that people want to have abortions, but abortion is a tragedy."

Baskerville-Burrows calls it "a painful reality," and both she and Reks believe that abortion is not a matter to be decided upon by the government.

"I think it's something that a woman has to deal with herself, and if she's a religious person, it's something she can deal with in her relationship with God," Reks said.

Nevertheless, few individuals approach the enthusiastic, bounce-in-her-step priest to discuss the subject.

"Part of it is just the demographics," Baskerville-Burrows said. "On campus, students are hesitant to talk about that, and at church, most people are sort of past child-bearing, so it's not an issue, but I would hope people think it would be OK to talk about it."

Baskerville-Burrows hopes to have children in the future and is not above struggling with the issue of abortion on a personal level.

"I probably wouldn't want to have an abortion if I got pregnant, but I believe that everybody should be able to make that choice for themselves," she said.

It is her approachability that appeals to the Grace Church congregation, which has doubled since Baskerville-Burrows became the head priest in July 2004.

"She has this way of preaching that makes you feel connected to her," said Reks. "We're all in the same struggle. We're all working to have a deeper relationship with God and to make ourselves better people and better Christians. She's right there with us."

In a recent sermon, Baskerville-Burrows didn't preach to the congregation; she spoke to them about her childhood affection for Greek mythology, the reasons she always wears skirts (she has scrapes on her knees) and about her attempts at yoga headstand positions.

"I just have this mental block," she said, looking into the eyes of the congregation members one-by-one as she spoke. "I don't want to fall. We need to trust that we will not land on concrete but the hand of God."

For some members of the congregation, the fact that Baskerville-Burrows is a female priest gives special significance to Sunday services.

"As a woman, it's especially meaningful to have the liturgy conducted by a woman," said Reks. "I think of God as having both a female and male persona, but in most churches, the dominating persona is male."
The Episcopal Church began welcoming women into the priesthood in the 1970s. Making a speedy four-year theological journey from start to ordination, Baskerville-Burrows became a priest in 1997.

"At first, my mom was kind of nervous, because she thought I'd be a nun," Baskerville-Burrows said, laughing. "Once she figured it out, she was really cool with it."
More unusual in the Episcopal Church than her gender is Baskerville-Burrows' race.

"She brings all of who she is to the priesthood, and her being black is part of who she is. That is something that is more unique than the fact that she is a woman or pro-choice," said Carrie Schofield-Broadbent, a friend and colleague and the priest of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Liverpool, N.Y.

Although the Episcopal Church is predominantly composed of white, middle- to upper-class individuals, the Grace Church congregation is 25 percent black.

Baskerville-Burrows said she has been blessed to have never encountered racial discrimination within the church.

"There are jobs or churches that I applied to that I didn't get considered for," she said. "But when I see some of my friends who are white males who have the same difficulty in getting those level jobs, then I go, 'It's all about what's the right fit.'"
Despite her popularity at Grace Church and in the Central New York area, Baskerville-Burrows does not doubt that one day she may hit a glass ceiling because of her race. She does encounter the occasional stereotyping.

"I had this one person say to me, 'well, I want to talk to you about urban ministry," Baskerville-Burrows said. "I was like, 'I don't know about urban ministry. I just got here! I'm going to be doing urban ministry, but just because I'm black doesn't mean I've done it. I've been in wealthy churches the whole time. I don't know anything about poverty.'"

That is, in the church.

Baskerville-Burrows grew up in a poverty-stricken household in the Brooklyn projects. Her father left her mother when Baskerville-Burrows was a junior in high school and she credits her own success to smart choices and an idea of what her life could be like.

The plan was not always priesthood, however.

"I went to a journalism high school, because I was interested in journalism, and then, I changed my mind and thought about psychology for a while. I had a little side counseling practice in the cafeteria my junior year at high school," she said. "Then I fell in love with politics and thought I was going to do that until I got to college, and I was like, 'ah, I don't want to do that,' so I said, 'what do I love?' I love architecture. So, I was an architecture major."
Baskerville-Burrows attended Smith College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1988. After working in New York City for four years, she attended Cornell University and received a master's degree in historic preservation and restoration.

"That's one of the side benefits of calling me as the priest (at Grace Church)," she said. "They get this preservation experience."

Although she longs for the warm California weather, Baskerville-Burrows sees Syracuse and Grace Church as home, and she has large goals for both.

"The big thing is just to keep growing and trying to find creative, new ways to reach out to folks so they can find a spiritual home that will nurture them, even physically if they need to. To give them food, companionship and an experience with God," she said.

As for goals in her personal life, they are the same, she said, laughing.

"I don't know how to separate (the church and my life. My goal is) just to do that and to do it the best I can without getting burned out."