Cynthia Clark Wedel

Cynthia Clark Wedel (August 26, 1908 – August 24, 1986) was an Episcopal leader and educator. Wedel was the first woman to be named president of the National Council of Churches. She was elected one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches in 1975.

Early life and education

Cynthia Clark was born in Dearborn, Michigan, on August 26, 1908. Her parents were Arthur Pierson Clark and Elizabeth Snow Clark.

Clark attended Northwestern University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1929 and a master's in 1930. She was the first woman to serve as the associate general secretary for Christian unity, a position on the board responsible for ecumenical relations. Wedel was one of several women from Church Women United appointed by President Kennedy in 1961 to serve on the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. When United Church of Christ pastor Albert Cleage decided to run against her, it became the first time the election had been contested. By the late 1960s the Episcopal Church was one of the few Protestant denominations that did not ordain women, but Wedel described that policy as "more objectionable in theory than restrictive in practice." During and after her presidency, she traveled the U.S. preaching and speaking in favor of church unity.

Wedel was also an active participant in the World Council of Churches (WCC), serving on the WCC committee on the laity from 1961 to 1968.

Awards and legacy

In 1972 she received the Northwestern Alumni Medal.

She died August 24, 1986, at a retirement community in Alexandria, Virginia. At her death, general secretary of the World Council of Churches Emilio Castro described her as "the first lady of ecumenism," and Bishop John H. Burt said Wedel was "one of the brightest spirits in the ecumenical church of our time".