Today is the 50th Anniversary of the first ordination of women into the Episcopal Church, a move not without significant controversy at the time. In an act of civil disobedience, a group of eleven women and their supporters organized their ordination to become priests on July 29, 1974. The Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia welcomed them, but “the women were subsequently harassed, threatened and banned from stepping on church property.”

In May, Candice and I went to the AFI Silver Theatre to see an impressive and thoughtful feature-length documentary about this seismic event in challenging patriarchy in the church and to hear a post-screening discussion with, among others, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington and an everyday reminder of the changes brought by the group that came to be known as the Philadelphia Eleven.

The Director’s statement about the film helps explain why it is important to tell this old story today.

“I am not Episcopalian. I was raised in a Congregational Church, and to me this story is for everyone. It is about how to break down barriers with grace and be true to oneself in the process. And it is about standing up to institutions that do not allow all people to be who they are called to be.

The story of the first Episcopal women priests has been under the radar for decades. Perhaps this is because they disregarded certain institutional edicts, or maybe because their story is inconvenient. After all, they challenged the very core of patriarchal culture. These pioneers have taught me new ways to think about whose history is recorded and remembered, and who does the work of remembering. ​And they provide a vision for what a just and inclusive community looks like in practice. If we are serious about loving every human being as they are, then we must find new ways forward that disrupt the hierarchies we have inherited and replace them with the same kind of radical inclusivity demonstrated by these priests.” 

The official trailer of the movie provides another introduction as to the rancor these women endured in following their call to break down the superiority games of the church that focused on security, status, and control rather than God’s call toward generosity, humility, and cooperation.

It is important to recognize that the Church of the Advocate was undergoing its own transformation even before hosting this ordination service. Here’s how the Episcopal Church website describes that change.

“Although the church was designed to seat more than a thousand worshipers, the congregation began to decline in the 1950s as many of its white members left the inner city. The parish was revitalized under the leadership of Paul Matthews Washington, an African American priest who served as rector from 1962 until 1989. On July 29, 1974, the church was the site of the first ordination of eleven women deacons to the priesthood. This irregular action preceded the approval of women’s ordination by General Convention. Today the Church of the Advocate is one of the premier African American parishes in the Episcopal Church.“

I was not yet a member of the Episcopal Church when these women broke with church hierarchy, teaching, and a 2000-year history of patriarchy to remind us of the wide range of God’s love. But I remember watching the controversy at the time while I was grappling with my own doubts about my faith tradition and its complicity in playing those superiority games which, conveniently, always seem to support white males. It was another important step in my journey.

On this important anniversary, I give thanks for the courage of these eleven women and those who supported them.

More to come . . .

DJB