Here's to All the Clergy Mamas

Here's to all the Clergy Mamas

who not only
planned, preached, and led
Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

but also, more than likely,
planned and prepared
all the holiday celebrations
at home, too:

the Easter dinner and
the Easter outfits and
the Easter egg hunts and
the Easter baskets and
the Easter bunny 'magic'
(like moms usually do)

and,
who likely still did all
the cooking, cleaning and parenting
the laundry and dishes
the shopping and scheduling
and maybe even
tending a sick child or two
(like they usually do)

throughout these long days
of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

it's quite similar,
after all,
no matter the season
or the holiday

It's well known by now
that Clergy Women
can do anything and everything
that Clergy Men can do

even at half their pay
even with half the respect
even when needing
to be their own secretaries
even with the full weight
of the housework at home, too.

The world seems to get a bit better
with each generation
a bit more equitable
and surely some notable exceptions
here and there,
as some will boast;
but on the whole,
we're not there yet...

So here's to the Clergy Mamas
who do all that they do

Christ has died, Christ is risen
once again and every year

And may you, Clergy Mamas,
when the holiday frenzy is over
find a moment
of rest.

(c)2024 Le Anne Clausen de Montes

Rev. Le Anne Clausen de Montes is a pastor, parent, poet, and creator of Clergy Mamas International and Clergy Parents of Children with Special Needs. She has served congregations in the PC(USA), UCC, ELCA and UMC and is active in ecumenical and interfaith cooperation through the Iowa Faith Leadership Network and Center for Faith and Peacemaking. Prior to seminary and parenting, she was an international human rights worker who helped to investigate the Abu Ghraib scandal; trained hundreds of international volunteers for human rights documentation and reporting and nonviolent direct intervention; and was an assistant program developer for the first Arabic-speaking women's crisis center in the Middle East. During seminary, she was a Prisoner of Conscience in a maximum-security federal facility for her nonviolent protest of the use of torture. She continues to be active in multiple efforts to promote equity and inclusion at home in the North Iowa area of the United States.