 |
| Rev. Platz: the first |
I should elaborate when citing the "Lutheran church." The church or synod that first opened the door for women was the "Lutheran Church in America." Elizabeth Platz became the first woman ordained by any Lutheran denomination in America. Keep in mind that the "Lutheran" umbrella also includes the Wisconsin Synod folks who view the Pope as the antichrist. Let's put aside that synod for the purposes of this discussion.
In 1970 we also had the American Lutheran Church. Confusing: the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church. Not sure why the separation was needed but such is the quality of church matters. I must laugh too, as I'm reminded of the Monty Python movie "Life of Brian." A group of people took umbrage when someone identified them by the technically incorrect name. So they responded: "We aren't the Judean People's Front, we're the People's Front of Judea." Or maybe it was the other way around.
The American Lutheran Church made Barbara Andrews its pioneering first female to be ordained, one month after Platz. Platz gained the most distinction just as Jackie Robinson stole the show as the pioneering black baseball player. Robinson played in the National League. The A.L. had its pioneer too, named Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians. Doby faced the same challenges as Robinson. Jim Bouton wrote in "Ball Four" that being the first black in the American League was like "being the second person to invent the telephone."
We all remember how Robinson made his historic inroads with the N.L.'s Brooklyn Dodgers. I doubt that a movie was ever made about Doby whose team was the Cleveland Indians. The A.L.'s statement would have been more decisive had the storied Yankees opened the door. But MLB probably felt it was walking on eggshells. The Yankees hesitated on promoting Vic Power, a Puerto Rican, and belatedly went with the safer, more conservative Elston Howard.
And why, today, should we bestow any credit on MLB or in the case of religion, the Lutheran church, for granting a right that ought to be incontrovertible? And as I have written in the past, Martin Luther King Day can be questioned along the same lines. MLK valiantly did what someone had to do and someone was inevitably going to do, ensure that black people got fundamental rights. Oh it's a "milestone" I suppose, just like for the Lutherans to go with women.
Women OK in the pulpit? People of color being allowed to play major league baseball? And we wax celebratory about such things, to lionize the likes of Branch Rickey who held the power to see if a milestone such as this might be made reality? How brave! Brave to merely acknowledge basic rights, which never should have been a matter for dispute?
Annual holiday evolves
I feel as though my thoughts on MLK Day are shared. I notice that when the holiday arrives, the media have shifted the focus. No longer is it merely to honor a man who crusaded - rather the focus is on "MLK Day of Service." So, a day to accentuate the ideal of service, which is terrific. But I don't think this was the original intent. It has become embarrassing, just as mainstream Lutherans ought to feel shame about not opening the door to women until 1970.
I was confirmed in 1970 at our First Lutheran Church in Morris. We have since had women pastors. No one thinks anything of it now. Today in fact, it has become very difficult to obtain pastors no matter what kind of beings they are. Now we have gotten past the barrier when it comes to LGBTQ. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has gotten past it through a painful process that brought hemorrhaging. Us ELCAers don't even bother talking about it anymore. We have merely followed our conscience, declared a prohibition on discrimination, so it's no big deal.
(There is a zero percent chance I can type "hemorrhaging" right on the first try!)
Imagine discussing the ordination of women as a big deal in 1970. I suppose it was at the time. Or else, the door would have been opened sooner. I think the Wisconsin Synod still considers the Pope to be the antichrist. And you wonder why a lot of young people are disillusioned about religion?
Let's return to baseball
There are more milestones I wish to discuss here. Here we're back into baseball and again, color is the focus. The year was 1971, 24 years after Jackie Robinson made history (to be followed by Doby, by comparison a footnote). The date was September 1, 1971. I was 16 years old. The Pittsburgh Pirates became the first MLB franchise to field an all-black and Latino starting nine.
You know, in the long picture I think the day will come when it's quaint to talk so much about color or ethnicity. It's quaint with a capital "Q" to talk about women being ministers.
The so-called "players of color" were already the foundation of Pittsburgh's team. But it was September of '71 when we got that entire non-white lineup. What is a "white" person? We aren't really white.
The Pirates had a couple white (non-color?) players go down with injury: Richie Hebner and Gene Alley. So Dave Cash and Jackie Hernandez filled in. Let's emphasize that there was no ballyhoo or sense of ceremony at game's start, none at all. Manager Danny Murtaugh gets tons of credit for saying he was just putting his best players out there.
Remember superstar Roberto Clemente? Or Willie Stargell? Endearing names and images from stardom. Al Oliver recalled that in the third or fourth inning, he was sitting next to Cash and one of them said: "You know, we got all 'brothers' out there, man," and then both chuckled.
Remember the comedy movie "Undercover Brother?" You might need reminding that "brother" was a term with currency in the 1970s. I think it has died.
The old race codes, whether formal or understood, were getting harder and harder to enforce - damn them anyway - because our society no longer had a clear breakdown of white vs. black, white vs. "Negro." Jim Crow was going to have to die because of this, if it could not break down entirely for the right reasons. People in the legal profession in the Deep South could see this early-on, I'm sure.
I think a comparison could be made to the abortion issue today. A prohibition simply cannot be legislated. Blame God if we want: He created us with our mystifying reproductive traits.
So today we hear about Kamala Harris as a pioneering "woman of color" on a presidential ticket. Good grief, we're proud of this? We're proud of seeing this kind of "first?" Why?
Oh, the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series! Isn't that great.
Addendum: The recently-deceased Chadwick Boseman played Jackie Robinson on the big screen. Some justice was done Larry Doby with the 2007 made-for-TV documentary "Pride Against Prejudice: The Larry Doby Story."
'71 Pirates on my podcast
So today my "Morris Mojo" podcast shares more about the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, world champions. I invite you to click on permalink, and thanks for visiting:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment