Eleanor Rae - Women, Earth, the Divine

Eleanor Rae: 1934- was born and grew up in Meriden, CT, USA, the daughter of Eva Stella Sandj and Jon Pracon. She was named Eleanor in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt in the hope that the family would survive the Great Depression.

Eleanor Rae graduated from the College of New Rochelle with a degree in Mathematics. She earned masters degrees from Southern Connecticut State University in early childhood education and from Fordham University in parish ministry and adult education. She earned her doctoral degree from Fordham University in contemporary systematic theology. She is married to Giles Rae and they have two daughters, a son and eight grandchildren.

After her last child entered school, Eleanor worked in such occupations as day care worker, parent cooperative nursery school director, public school teacher and various church ministries on both the parish and diocesan levels. In her last position as Director of the Office of the Laity for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, CT, an office dedicated to working with lay people to enable them in their various occupations in living their Christian commitment, she developed a model that received national recognition. It was also during this time that her interests in women’s issues, Earth issues and theological issues solidified.

These interests led, among other things, to the co-authoring of the book: Created in Her Image: Models of the Feminine Divine, to her election as president of the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology, where she continues to serve as President Emerita, and to her earning her doctorate in theology. Ultimately, she put the three issues together in her book: Women, the Earth, the Divine and she founded a NGO organization with the same name:

The Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine ( www.cwed.org ). While coming out of her Christian roots, Eleanor was a pioneer through C:WED in interreligious activities, organizing and participating in the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions on a panel: “Women, the Earth and the World’s Religions” and at the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing with a panel on the same topic. Over the years Eleanor has also hosted workshops at her home by women from various religious traditions.

Since 1995, Eleanor, through C:WED, has published a quarterly newsletter “Weaving the Connections” on women’s, environmental, and religious issues.(You will find back issues at CWED Archives )

In 1998, Eleanor Rae obtained consultative status for her organization with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. At the UN, she continues to both present workshops and work with other NGO’s on presentations.

In 2001, she founded and now co-chair the Earth Values Caucus for the purpose of helping to bring awareness to the UN that the Earth is our one and only finite home. One of our projects is the development of a code of conduct based on Earth’s values.

Eleanor has always felt a special affinity for non-human animals. In recent years she has been able to show this special relationship through the volunteer work she has done with pink river dolphins on the Amazon River in Peru and also with nesting leather back turtles in Suriname. When a friend asked her what she would be if she had a large sum of money to devote in environmental issues, her response was that she would like to help to establish environmental corridors

In 2006 the College of New Rochelle awarded her the Ursula Lauris citation in recognition of her outstanding leadership achievements.

Closer to home, in the Bronx, New York, Eleanor Rae is spearheading work on the clean up of the Hutchinson River, river named for Ann M. Hutchinson ( 1591 – 1643) , whom Eleanor speaks and writes about as America’s first feminist