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A Conference: Celebrating Theological Education for Women in Sri Lanka July 23rd to 26th 2006


For six months Rosemary was heavily involved in the organisation of a conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the entry into TCL of the first female student. The conference was entitled "Celebrating Theological Education for Women in Sri Lanka" with a theme "Go and Tell" and attracted a larger number of delegates, both lay and ordained, male and female, than anticipated. The Guest of Honour was the first female TCL student to go on to Ordination in the Methodist Church, the Rev'd Mihiri de Silva Salgadoe. The picture above shows a relaxed outdoor workshop in the beautiful grounds of the OMI (Order of Mary Immaculate) at Ampitiya, Kandy, where the conference took place.	The conference included the presentation of a number of academic papers written by women theologians in Asia. Standing between Dr. A.W. Jebanesan, TCL Principal and Rosemary are Suchitra Behera from Bangladesh, Prof. Evangeline Anderson-Kumar from India (Bangalore) and Prof. Muriel Montenegro from the Philippines. The keynote paper was given by Dr. Nimalka Fernando from Sri Lanka.

There were a number of workshops, including Women and Peace, Women & Violence, Prayer, Dance, Women and the Environment, Spirituality, Liturgy, Biblical Studies on Gender Perspectives.	The conference was open to all denominations including evangelical/ free churches and the Roman Catholic Church. It was a time of sharing experiences of being women within the Sri Lankan churches. Some women shared their stories in special sessions. These stories were often very moving, describing struggles against discrimination in various forms. Several said that these struggles had made them stronger and better able to serve God.

There were over 100 attendees from all over the island - although, sadly, the security situation reduced the number of representatives from the North and East. The hope is that there will be similar conferences in the future.

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