Cynthia Clark Wedel

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 would later earn a Ph.D. in psychology from George Washington University in 1957, and would go on to be a lecturer at American University for three years. ==Early career==

After graduating from Northwestern, Clark became the director of the Christian education program at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston. In 1934 she moved to New York City to work at the national headquarters of the Episcopal Church, first as a fieldworker, then as the director of youth work. She married Theodore Otto Wedel in May 1939; they moved to Washington, D.C., together later that year when he was offered a position as warden of the College of Preachers of the Washington National Cathedral. From 1939 to 1949, she taught religion at the National Cathedral School for Girls. She also served in numerous volunteer roles, including for the American Red Cross and as a member of the national executive board of the Episcopal Women's Auxiliary. ==Later career==

Wedel served on the board of the National Council of Churches (NCC) from 1955 to 1969. 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". ==References==