Rev. Liddy Barlow receives UCC award for women's advocacy, leadership

The Rev. Liddy Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, has received the 2019 Antoinette Brown Award at the United Church of Christ’s General Synod in Milwaukee, Wis.

Barlow, an ordained UCC minister, was recognized especially for her leadership role following the Tree of Life Congregation mass shooting in October.

In selecting Barlow, the selection committee noted that she is the first woman to serve as executive minister of Christian Associates, a regional ecumenical organization that represents 28 Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox church bodies in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“Rev. Barlow has shown consistent and outstanding leadership in cultivating and nurturing ecumenical relationships in the Pittsburgh area and beyond,” said the Rev. David Ackerman, conference minister for the UCC’s Penn West Conference, who nominated Barlow for the award. “Her response to the Tree of Life shootings in Squirrel Hill in October stood out for me as a great example of how she has been able to bring the religious community together in ways that promote healing, justice and peace.”

Barlow said the award “is for all of us” and dedicated it to the Tree of Life victims.

“I’m grateful to the United Church of Christ for recognizing the work that our whole community is doing in southwest Pennsylvania,” she said.

The award is named for Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to be ordained a mainline Protestant minister in 1851.

The UCC’s biennial conference is meeting in Milwaukee through Tuesday.