Eunice Blanchard Poethig

Eunice Blanchard Poethig (January 16, 1930 – March 25, 2018) was an American Presbyterian minister, national leader and educator. She served the Presbyterian Church (USA) as national Director of the Congregational Ministries Division, Executive Presbyter of Western New York, and Associate Executive of the Presbytery of Chicago, and spent fifteen years as an urban mission worker in the Philippines.

Poethig's ministry revolved around progressive issues such as advocacy for women clergy, full inclusion of LGBTQ and other minorities, economic justice, and making churches responsive to contemporary concerns and culture. She served during an era of heightened "culture wars" in the church and the United States generally, and took positions on social issues and sexual and gender inclusion that some groups considered controversial. As a feminist biblical scholar and hymnodist, Poethig produced research, books and articles on topics including the victory song tradition of women in ancient Israel, the ordination of women, and Filipino hymns. She was married to Richard Poethig, also a Presbyterian minister, for sixty-six years and died in Chicago in 2018, at age 88. After his death, her mother, Juliet Stroh Blanchard, traveled extensively and built a career producing filmstrips for the United Nations and UNESCO; she later became a popular writer, lecturer and leader in the League of Women Voters, and in her sixties, joined the Peace Corps.

Poethig graduated from DePauw University in 1951 and earned a master's degree in Christian Education from Union Theological Seminary in 1952. She met Richard Poethig at the seminary and they married following their graduations. They later had two more children, Margaret and Erika. Unlike most Americans in Manila, who sent their children to American private schools, they educated their children at local private and parochial schools, where they learned Tagalog and developed an identification with Filipino culture, history and social perspectives. American Presbyterians signaled this shift by referring to themselves as "fraternal workers" called by national churches to help address relevant needs. She also co-edited the Filipino Family Cookbook (1972) with Eva Villanueva.

Work in the Presbyterian Church (USA) Poethig contributed to the PC(USA) as a feminist advocate for women clergy, full inclusion of LGBTQ and marginalized groups, and bridge-building across different communities. In the 2000s, Poethig served on the boards of the Stony Point Center—one of three major PC(USA) conference centers—and the International Association of Women Ministers, where she was elected president in 2011. She also penned or was quoted in articles and editorials exploring the challenges faced by churches due to public policy, media trivialization of religious life, and nationwide culture-war divisions. and same-sex marriage, Her advocacy for LGBTQ leadership came after a particularly difficult time in the PCUSA regarding support for LGBTQ ordination and was Influenced by her daughter, Kathryn, who came out as a lesbian in the 1980s. It was the first work to identify and study (through the songs of Miriam and Deborah) the discrete, critical role that women played in structuring postwar experience in ancient Israelite life; Poethig extended her research in her booklet, Sing, Shout, and Clap for Joy: a Study of Psalms in Worship (1989) and articles such as "Prayer and Praise in Ancient Israel," which appeared in the journal Liturgy. She wrote articles for The Presbyterian Outlook, Church & Society, and Horizons, among others, on Bible study and the ordination of women, charting its growth from nominal levels at the outset of her career to 30% representation in the PC(USA) by 2006. She also produced research and conference papers on women's historical contributions to mission enterprises and efforts to raise the status of women worldwide, and their struggle for equality.