(Editors note - Sorry for the variable fonts and text sizes. An artifact of creating this post off several documents!)
What a great day! The Conference Room on the 8th floor of the Westchester County Michaelian Office Building at Martine & Court Streets in White Plains was filled almost to capacity for the annual "reformed" Women's Equality Day ceremony in anticipation of the 88th anniversary of women's voting rights on August 26. No one left the room disappointed; all witnessed a stirring program honoring the Reverend Geneva Patterson of Peekskill with the 2008 Mott-Stanton-Anthony Award, and listened to this year's impressive guest speaker Maggie Gallagher, well-known author, syndicated columnist and President of the National Organization for Marriage.
Westchester County Board Legislator the Hon. Gordon A. Burrows was again the very appreciated sponsor for the day's events. Mr. Burrows, a lifelong Yonkers resident, is a lawyer and respected long-time public servant who now represents District 15 on the County Board.
Co-chairs Regina Riely and Judith Anderson flank County Legislator Gordon Burrows:
A bit of history: The original official Westchester County achievement award commemorating the ratification of the 19th Amendment was presented to women for 28 years by a woman's group who discriminated against honoree candidates if they were pro-life and voted their conscience on abortion. This offensive position was protested annually, as it was a slap in the face to all women on the anniversary of women's voting rights!
Honoree Reverend Geneva Patterson signs the Guest Registry:
This year's moving Invocation was given by Damon Owens of the Life Education And Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.) who spoke on behalf of The Reverend Clenard Childres of L.E.A.R.N. and the Black Genocide Awareness Project who was unable to attend this year.
Here are some of the inspiring words that day:
Opening greeting by Linda Levirne of the Northern Westchester and Putnam Center for Life in Katonah, NY:
Good afternoon and welcome on behalf of this year's Women's Equality Day Reformed Committee. Thank you for taking time to be with us to celebrate the 88th anniversary of women's voting rights. Our day's theme is Feminine Dignity at the Crossroads...
We are truly connected to our feminist roots! Our friend, Carol Crossed of Feminists Choosing Life, recently purchased the original Susan B. Anthony house and is currently directing its renovation as a museum for all. Carol reminds us that while it is true “that our event has been reformed from its pro-choice-only days, we are women who understand that this event was in truth ‘returned,’ or better yet, ‘restored’ to the original intention of the suffragettes’ concept of equality.”
Regina Riely continued...
Thank you, Linda. How very true. That concept of equality that Carol speaks of is exemplified by our former recipients of the Mott-Stanton-Anthony award who stood at the crossroads of dignity and life choices, each in her own way:
Mildred Fay Jefferson, M.D. - surgeon, political activist & educator;
Lisa Marrero, M.D. - physician, Elinor Martin Residence counselor;
Dorothea Muccigrosso- principal, educator, multi-cultural motivator;
(seen below center – please stand - applause)
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne at Rosary Hill Home – faith, generosity and palliative end-of-life caregivers;
Christine Mortell-Plazas- pro-life courage and interracial women’s business collaborator; here today also! please stand!
Here's Christine when she was 2006 Honoree!
Gabrielle Long Wright - midwife and Natural Family Planning instructor; and today’s honoree,
Rev. Geneva Patterson – pastor, worker and friend in service to incarcerated women and to the community (applause).
True feminism, as lived by these women, recognizes a moral order that is changeless, and yet attuned to the here and now. The woman was and is the guardian of and the most influential model of ethical behavior by her openness to life, despite the sacrifice it entails: protection of progeny, physical strength and moral courage, speaking truth, giving and receiving love. Depending upon her guardianship and the path she chooses, the morality of civilizations stand or fall. In whatever other role she occupies, the dignity of every person from conception is obvious to her, and through her actions, obvious to others.
Put in historical context, Mott, Stanton and Anthony were concerned with the human dignity of others, and that drew them into the abolitionist and temperance movements of the mid-19th century. Their fight for this moral order translated into the striving for women’s suffrage, a pre-requisite for equality under the law. At the crossroads they chose a path with a new direction, feminine dignity, and the American feminist movement began.
Judith Anderson then introduced keynote speaker, Maggie Gallagher:
Maggie Gallagher is President of the National Organization for Marriage, which through NOMCalifornia.org helped raised nearly $1 million and helped gather 1.1 million signatures this spring to put a California marriage amendment on the ballot in time to respond to the California Supreme Court ruling.
A recognized expert on marriage, she was named to National Journal's list of the "most influential" voices in the same-sex marriage debate. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, the author of three books on marriage, and an editor of the Princeton Principles of Marriage (published by the Witherspoon Institute).
Maggie has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, National Review and other influential media. She has debated gay marriage before audiences throughout the country, including intellectual centers such as Harvard Law school, Princeton University, Yale Law School, the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institution, the Franciscan University at Steubenville, the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association, the Aspen Gay and Lesbian Institute and on national media, including ABC's Nightline, CNN, Fox News, and NPR.
Maggie, being interviewed by channel 12 before speaking
(Maggie, a well-informed and articulate presenter, then spoke about her quite unexpected role in recent years addressing audiences and appearing on panels to defend traditional marriage - marriage between one man and one woman - and its unique place, value, and role in society. She spoke of the universality of this union as present in some form in various cultures for thousands of years, beyond and before the existence of governments themselves. Maggie addressed the benefits of traditional marriage to the core individuals involved - man, woman, child. This mutual arrangement, reflecting the complimentary nature of the sexes was explored, as was the challenge that the same-sex "marriage" push is placing on the traditional marital union. Maggie said that it is more difficult to define a traditional institution that has existed for so long, as opposed to speaking about something new that on the surface seems so "harmless" to entertain. Maggie spoke of the struggle to lure minds away from a growing sense that the traditional form of marriage in itself is bigoted and prejudiced against homosexuals. An argument that is not easy in today's morally relative culture. The desire of same-sex attacted individuals to live free of harrassment does not translate into a justifiable right to call the union of two men or two women, marriage. Damon Owens commented during the Q&A that the language of civil rights is being superimposed on an argument that is not compatible with this comparison. Maggie agreed that despite this fact, it is an argument that it easy to sell. It strikes an emotional cord - facts, actions and consequences notwithstanding.
Mother Quessie Carr, Assistant Pastor, below, spoke about the beautiful person, Honoree Geneva Patterson. Quessie spoke of the Reverend's faith witness and her ability to touch the depth of the human person, seeking holistic solutions that go beyond institutional fixes to transform lives, especially those women Geneva worked with in prison.
The Reverend Geneva Patterson's bio:
"Our 2008 Honoree is a graduate of our own Ossining High School. She attended Westchester Community College for two years, and received her certificate in Food Management while employed at the Westchester Medical Center for 24 years. s.She was then offered a position as a Community Health Worker and given a job in the Westchester Department of Corrections Women’s Unit. This would alter her life in countless ways, giving her an opportunity to help hurting, incarcerated women from ages 15 to 69 years of age. While there she helped them to reach the services they would need once out of prison, to connect them to their families, and to teach them how to prevent contracting STDs/HIV. Many of these women’s lives were changed, and they are still in contact with her today.
The Reverend Patterson has been in ministry for thirty years.
In 1980 Rev. Solomon C. Phifer and Geneva were two of the original founders of Faith New Testament Church in Ossining, NY. Rev. Phifer, a Howard University Graduate, conferred Rev. Patterson’s first missionary license on her in 1982 at the church she helped to found. In 1985 Rev. Zelma Knowles granted an Evangelist license to Pastor Geneva from the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Ossining. In March 1995 she started the Christ Prayer Warriors Outreach Ministry as a faith community in Peekskill with other Christians sitting around the table in her home to reach out to the hurting, the lost and the impoverished, and give them a hand up and out of their situations. The following month Geneva was ordained as pastor by Dr. Paul Richardson of Full Gospel of Christ Fellowship, Richmond, VA. Their help programs include Think of a Child; The Smile Foundation, Back to the Workplace with Pride, Wounded-Women-Whole-Again.
In July 2008 she began Women Ministers’ Association, drawing together women ministers from every faith and denomination to work together for the special needs that women face. They come together to help women find life-giving and loving solutions to dangerous, violent, unhealthy and unholy situations in which they find themselves. This group includes Bishop Fisher, Minister Greenhill, and Pastor Yolanda Jones who now leads a faith community in Mt. Vernon.
Pastor Patterson is the wife of Robert Patterson for 33 years and mother of Robert F. Patterson. She continues to correspond with women whom she has helped in the Department of Corrections."
The Reverend Patterson then gave a wonderfully stirring extemporaenous commentary about her life and work. She spoke about the humble sense of purpose in this life, her prison ministry work, and involvement in the community with the Christ Prayer Warriors Community Outreach Ministry. She spoke about encouraging women in prison not to abort children, to see them as a blessing even under these difficult circumstances, and to allow her to help them find other solutions. She spoke of her abiding faith and she concluded with the following words:
"I would like to thank Judith Anderson, Regina Riely and
the Women’s Equality Day Reformed Committee for the
award that they have given me today. I feel so undeserving
of it. I am just a North Carolina born and bred native, one
of eleven children, raised by two loving and giving parents.
That loving and giving spirit has been imbedded in my
heart. When I remember my ten siblings, I thank my
parents for giving us all a chance for life. God gave me a
very important job. As pastor to shepherd His people and
protect them. I can’t but be a guardian of life. I’m honored
to be a part of this great cause."
Brigid Faranda presents Reverend Patterson the Mott-Stanton-Anthony award
Judy’s closing comments:
"Thank you, Reverend Geneva and Maggie, for an inspiring afternoon. Thanks to the Committee and all its many helpers, too.
Today we celebrated a great crossroads in history that officially recognized women’s dignity in society by granting them the vote.
Eighty-eight years later, thirty-five years after Roe, this is again a year of daunting crossroads for women.
The Rev. Patterson and Maggie Gallagher exemplify the fight for feminine dignity in very hostile environments. They have great courage as they tackle two of the toughest issues that challenge our definition of feminine dignity today. They are pioneers who help us see the totality of woman’s being through an understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, and understanding human dignity through the unique needs of incarcerated women. They should be viewed as heroines whose personal stories – what they do and who they are - teach us lessons about the true nature of feminine dignity.
This year is a milestone for women in the U.S., with Mrs. Clinton as the first serious female Presidential candidate. A fact like this is sadly overshadowed, however, by the knowledge that women in China and India are being forcibly sterilized or destroyed in great numbers by abortions specifically aimed at females in the womb.
In his poem “The Road Not Taken,” the poet Robert Frost says that when choosing a path, be aware that “way leads on to way” – another way of saying, you can’t go back. Women certainly cannot go back to a second-class sense of who they are or what they possess: inherent dignity.
But some women must also examine the road they have taken in promoting abortion as a good. Its legality does not make it so. Experience has proven that this path causes women to pay a price in human dignity, all over again.
The early feminists understood the struggle for truth. They lived it. They spoke forcefully against slavery, for equality in the voting booth, and against taking the life of the unborn. This meant respect for women and children as human beings, not property to be abused or discarded.
So what is facing women at the crossroads of dignity and feminism today?
Prayer, action, energy, and commitment to speak the truth to others, not just today, but all year – that is part of the answer.
Of course, the other part is you. You will make the best happen – you men, and especially on this day, you women. You are...pro-life.
Thank you. Now we will close with the Benediction given by Reverend Geneva Patterson."
Mother Quessie, Reverend Patterson, and her husband Robert
