Episcopal Church ordination of women

The Event Reformulation of canon law to allow women to serve as ordained clergy in the Episcopal Church

Date First regularized in January, 1977

Breaking with nearly two thousand years of tradition, the Episcopal Church was the first denomination among churches that held to male apostolic succession to declare that women and men had an equal right to be ordained deacons, priests, and bishops.

The struggle for women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church had its roots in the 1850’s, when women were “set apart” as deaconesses. Deaconesses, however, were not considered official members of the three-tiered clergy, which was limited to male deacons, priests, and bishops.

During the 1960’s, the rise of the Civil Rights and women’s movements fueled discussion within the church concerning the ordination of women. Proponents of women’s ordination argued that Christ was fully human and that because women shared his humanity, they should also share in his priesthood. Opponents asserted that because Christ chose male apostles, he set a precedent, which became the model for the church. Opponents also feared that accepting women as priests would result in schism, as well as impaired relations with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which did not accept women as ordained clergy.

“Irregular” Ordinations

In 1970, the situation began to change. At the church’s triennial General Convention, women served as deputies for the first time, the deaconess canon was eliminated, and the ordination of women to the diaconate was approved. Authorization for women to be ordained as priests, however, was defeated narrowly by clerical deputies.

The General Convention in 1973 again rejected a resolution favoring women’s ordination to the priesthood, but that did not stop five female deacons from presenting themselves for ordination alongside their male colleagues in the diocese of New York. Bishop Paul Moore refused to proceed with the service, and the women and their supporters walked out in protest.

The controversy came to a head on July 29, 1974, when the “Philadelphia Eleven”—Merrill Bittner, Allison Cheek, Alla Bozarth-Campbell, Emily Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne Hiatt, Marie Moorefield, Jeannette Piccard, Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Welles Swanson, and Nancy Hatch Witting—were ordained at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. A predominantly African American parish, the church figured prominently in the Civil Rights movement during the 1960’s, a fact that resonated with the participants. Two retired bishops and one resigned bishop officiated at the ceremony.

Aftermath and Resolution

The irregular ordinations sparked a firestorm of debate. Many argued against the legitimacy of the act, while others, though sympathetic to the women’s cause, questioned whether the ordinations should have taken place before the 1976 General Convention had a chance to address the issue. The bishops in whose dioceses the women served either asked the women to refrain voluntarily from engaging in priestly ministry or prohibited them from doing so.

On August 15, 1975, John Maury Allin, presiding bishop of the national church, convened an emergency meeting of the House of Bishops in Chicago. The participants censured the three dissident bishops for “violation of collegiality” and declared the ordinations invalid. In defiance of the ban imposed on them by their diocesan bishops, Cheek, Heyward, and Piccard celebrated a public Eucharist at Riverside Church in New York City. In the following months, at the invitation of William Wendt and Peter Beebe, rectors of churches in Washington, D.C., and Oberlin, Ohio, Cheek and Heyward presided at Communion services. In September of the same year, four more female deacons were ordained as priests in Wendt’s Washington, D.C., parish. Both rectors eventually were charged and tried for violating church canons.

Finally, during the 1976 General Convention held in Minneapolis, the House of Deputies, comprising lay and clerical representatives, and the House of Bishops approved a resolution calling for a change in the church canons that would allow women to be ordained to the priesthood and the episcopate. In January, 1977, the ordinations of the Philadelphia Eleven and Washington Four began to be regularized, which opened the door to other ordinations. By the end of the year, more than one hundred women had been ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church.

Impact

Although the church officially accepted women as priests, the controversy did not end with the change in canon law. The decision alienated some conservative laypeople and male clergy. A year after the resolution was adopted, the bishops drafted a “statement of conscience” clause, which said that no bishop would be penalized for supporting or opposing women’s ordination. Allin was one of the bishops who opposed conferring priestly orders on women, and he offered to resign. His fellow bishops affirmed his leadership, and he continued as primate until 1986. While schism did not result from the convention’s decision, a minority of traditionalist Episcopalians broke away from the national church and formed splinter groups, such as the Episcopal Synod of America.

The convention’s decision to accept women as priests and bishops was not confined to the American church. The debate over the ordination of women spread to other member churches in the worldwide Anglican community. Nearly a year after the Philadelphia Eleven received priestly orders, the Anglican churches of Canada and New Zealand approved women’s ordination. The international conference of Anglican clergy held in Lambeth, England, in 1978, accepted women’s ordination in principle but recommended that no province ordain women without the wholehearted support of clergy and laypeople.

The Episcopal Church’s decision to admit women to Holy Orders had an ecumenical impact as well. Many non-Episcopal churches had long ordained women and applauded the Episcopal Church’s action. The Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, however, criticized the Episcopalians’ resolution to ordain women, claiming that the decision was an impediment to Christian unity.

Bibliography

Darling, Pamela. New Wine: The Story of Women Transforming Leadership and Power in the Episcopal Church. Boston: Cowley, 1994. A readable, concise history of the women’s ordination movement.

Heyward, Carter. A Priest Forever: One Woman’s Controversial Ordination in the Episcopal Church. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1999. A memoir by one of the Philadelphia Eleven that tells of her personal struggle to address injustice in the church.

Holmes, David L. A Brief History of the Episcopal Church. Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1993. A fine overview of Episcopal Church history, including a section devoted to the controversy surrounding the ordination of women.

Schiess, Betty Bone. Why Me, Lord? One Woman’s Ordination to the Priesthood, with Commentary and Complaint. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2003. Recounting her own experiences, a member of the Philadelphia Eleven addresses feminist, theological, and equal rights issues within the church.