Expanding the circle

Beijing Circle gathering in Minneapolis offers sharing and inspiration

The Beijing Circles that met together in October 2007 at St. James on the Parkway in Minneapolis are still unbroken — and they look to be expanding, if a February 11 gathering is any indication.

The February 11 gathering included a Beijing Circle discussion.
Photo: Susan Barksdale

The October gathering had been a national conference, but the February one was a time for local sharing. Some participants came from current Beijing Circle groups at St. James and at St. John the Evangelist, St. Paul. Two women brought their teenaged daughters along. Others came from two churches interested in forming their own circles. And there were even some “walk-ins” — including a Roman Catholic nun from Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (in St. Paul) who had seen the notice in a local Catholic newspaper. Many were already involved in service projects concerning the plight of women worldwide.

What drew these 24 women (and one man) was a concern for women’s issues throughout the world, as they gathered in “Beijing Circles” to explore how they could make a difference.

From a platform to a circle
The Beijing Platform Plan for Action was developed at the Fourth World Conference on Women, sponsored by the United Nations and meeting in 1995 in Beijing, China. It contains 12 “planks” — critical areas of concern — ranging from the increasing burden of poverty on women to violence against women to stereotyping and gender inequalities to discrimination against the girl child. The Beijing Platform was signed by 189 UN member nations, but that was just the beginning.
Ten years later, in reviewing the progress made on the areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform, a small group of women from the Episcopal Church were so deeply moved by their experiences at the 2005 gathering of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW - Beijing +10), that they dedicated themselves to inviting their sisters in their part of the world to share in their discoveries. From that commitment, the Beijing Circles were born (material from the Beijing Circles Resource Booklet).

Although the Beijing Platform predates the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it dovetails nicely with MDG work, especially with the goal that emphasizes girls’ and women’s issues. Coincidentally, St. James is also one of our diocese’s MDG pilot congregations for 2008.

It has been noted that the Beijing Platform is the content, and the circle is the process. “With circles, there is no leader,” says the Rev. Margaret Fell, Priest Associate at St. James, who helped found the St. James circle.“You can’t hold hands in a pyramid.” Circles generally include no more than 8-10 people, so that every voice can be heard.

A time for sharing
The February 11 participants shared a potluck supper, discussed ways to support each other, and then gathered in three circles to discuss the final plank in the Beijing Platform (“Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl child”). For the St. James circle, this was the culmination of their year-long study of the platform. For the circle from St. John the Evangelist, which has just been meeting since September, this was a skip ahead. For others, including non-circle members from St. James and St. John’s, people from St. John in the Wilderness in White Bear Lake and Ascension in Stillwater who are interested in forming their own circles, and visitors from elsewhere, this was a first experience of the circle discussions and reflections.

This combination of people in various stages of work made for an interesting and valuable evening, as was shown in the comments before and after the circle discussions. The St. James circle has been active for a year. Casey McGuire noted that although she had joined because of her passion for women’s issues, “what kept me here is the depth of the work.”

The circle at St. John the Evangelist is newer, and was begun in 2007 when Margaret Fell served the parish during rector Frank Wilson’s sabbatical. Kate Briggs of St. John’s was participating in her first circle gathering. She had been away for a year, and returned to find that all her friends were in the circle, so she came to learn more. “The bonding within our group is beginning,” says St. John’s member Ellen Harrington. “I like things with an international flavor,” she added. “It suggests bigger ideas.”

All those who have participated in Beijing Circles spoke of the impact the work has had on them, whether they have begun specific projects or not. “It’s not just what we’re reading about,” was one comment, “but what’s happening to us because of it. . . . There is a definite impact on our individual lives.”

Adding to the circles
The evening ended with prayer and the promise of more gatherings, perhaps on a quarterly basis. Sr. Kathy Ryan from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet took home a Beijing Circle resource booklet to share with others in her order. Jo Krueger of Ascension, Stillwater, was also enthusiastic. “I will go back and do a lot of talking,” she said. The Rev. Joanie Delamater, Associate Priest at St. John in the Wilderness, White Bear Lake, came with another woman from the parish. They are interested in establishing a circle as well, possibly with an emphasis on micro-grant work.

“There was a real spirit here tonight,” said one woman as she left.

The evening could also be summed up by another woman’s comment: “A lot of things need to get done, and it might as well begin here.”

Click here to learn more about the Beijing Platform, the Beijing Circles, and to see a resource booklet.

Click here to read an article about the October 2007 Beijing Circle conference in Minneapolis.