About C:WED

The Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine is the locus of our exploration of the parallels that exist among the imaging and treatment of women and of the Earth and how our images of the Divine are related to these parallels.

We began by exploring these relationships within the context of our own tradition–the Christian. While we continue our exploration in this tradition, we have also engaged people of other traditions, such as the Buddhist, Ancient Goddess, Hindu, Indigenous, Jewish, and Muslim. Our work is made available through this blog.

The immediate purpose of the Center is educational, while the ultimate goal is the healing of creation.

We move toward the achievement of our aims through the daily living of an eco-feminist spirituality. C:WED’s

WHAT IS C:WED’S MISSION AND MESSAGE?

  • C:WED’s immediate mission is educational. Its long-term goal is the healing of creation.

  • Intuition, as well as extensive work in the environmental movement, led us to conclude that the forces that are now bringing the Earth to destruction are the same forces that are responsible for the global oppression of women.

  • We found in the major world religions a basis for justifying this oppression, an oppression that grows out of a patriarchal world view. The patriarchal view sees certain members of the male ruling class as normative and the rest of creation as derivative and other.

  • We were led to conclude that the healing of creation—the ultimate goal of C:WED—can only be accomplished if there is a change in world view. Within this shift, the human will no longer be regarded as above and apart from the rest of creation. Rather, humans will take their rightful place as members of the Earth community.

    WHY WAS C:WED CREATED?

    C:WED was created over 30 years ago to promote its mission of education toward the goal of healing the creation. We strongly believe that now, given the times in which we are living, C:WED’s mission statement is not only as relevant today as it was then, but that our message is needed even more now than ever.

Meet the Team

The founder of C:WED is Eleanor Rae, PhD co-author of Created in Her Image: Models of the Feminine Divine, and author of Women, the Earth, the Divine. Anne Andersson, MA is a theological educator, feminist writer, and co-founding member of C:WED.

  • Founder

    Eleanor has a PhD in Contemporary Systematic Theology from Fordham University.

    She is the co-author of Created In Her Image: Models of the Feminine Divine, and author of Woman, the Earth, the Divine. She has given talks and workshops all over the world, for example, at the Parliament of the World's Religions; the World Council of Churches in Kuala Lumpur; and the UN Women's Conference in Beijing.

    Eleanor served several times as president of the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology, whose archives are at Yale University.

    She was employed for 17 years by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport where her last position was Director of the Office of the Laity.

    She is the founder and president of Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine (C:WED), which had consultive status at the UN for 20 years and where she founded and presided over the Earth Values Caucus.

    Mostly recently, Eleanor founded and was president of the Hutchinson River Restoration Project.

    She has worked with pink dolphins and giant otters in Peru and leatherback turtles in Suriname.

    She was awarded the Ursula Lauris citation for leadership achievements.

    Eleanor is the mother of three grown children, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother of three.

  • Co-Founding Member

    Anne has master's degrees in Contemporary Systematic Theology from Fordham University and in Education from Hunter College. She has been a theological educator for over 25 years as an adjunct professor at St. John's University and in levels ranging from preschool through high school.

    As a frequent presenter at annual conferences of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Academy of Religion (MAR-AAR), Anne organized, presided over, and presented on a four-person panel that was chosen to receive the 1997 Kate Connelly-Weinert award, given annually by the MAR-AAR. The title of the panel was "Learning to See the World as a Whole: Insights on Peace from Mentors of Wisdom.” Eleanor Rae was a member of the panel with her presentation on Divine Wisdom. Anne's presentation was on Maria Montessori, a woman whom she greatly admires as a mentor of peace, a feminist, and a spiritual and educational visionary. The other two panelists were Sr. Kathleen Deignan, CND, PhD, presenting on Thomas Merton, and Eleanor Ash, MPhil, on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

    Anne followed her longtime passion for addressing the problems that patriarchy can pose with an essay entitled: "Dismantling Patriarchy—A Redemptive Vision: Ritual and Feminist Critical Theology in Basic Ecclesial Communities," published in Women and Religious Ritual, edited by Lesley A. Northup. The Pastoral Press.

    With the same passion, Anne founded Christian Women: Quo Vadis?, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was dedicated to raising awareness about patriarchy, women, and the Catholic Church.

    Anne published its monthly newsletter "Aqueduct: A Spiritual Channel of Communication" with its sub-themes: "Where are we going? Toward unity of all women & men. Toward God."

    Anne is a founding member of C:WED and was editor of its newsletter "Weaving the Connections." Under C:WED, she greatly valued participating in annual sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations. She and Eleanor have worked closely together for over 40 years on raising awareness of the parallels among patriarchy and the oppression of women and of the Earth, and how our images of the Divine affect these parallels.

    Presently, Anne resides in New York City and continues as an educator, writer, and feminist. She is the mother of three grown sons and recently, with great joy, welcomed the arrival of a baby granddaughter.