The Philadelphia Eleven

On July 29, 1974, at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, 11 women deacons were ordained to the priesthood by three retired bishops. It was quickly categorized as an irregular ordination, as many across the church and indeed, society at large, strongly objected to women becoming priests, as well as bishops. It is to be noted that the crucifer at that irregular ordination was none other than Barbara Harris, who much later became the first woman bishop in the church (1989).

There was a recent screening of the documentary “The Philadelphia Eleven” (at the site of history being made), ten years in the making, looking closely at not only the event, classified at the time as an act of civil disobedience, but the subsequent firestorm that raged across the church. The eleven women were harassed and received death threats. It was over two years before the General Convention agreed that it was permissible for women to become priests and bishops, and another two years before a woman was ordained under the new canon which had been narrowly approved. It puts us far behind the Methodist Protestant Church, which began ordaining women in 1880. It was not until 1992 that the Church of England voted to ordain women but allowing parishes the right not to accept women in the next year.

I was 29 years old when the Philadelphia Eleven marched into the Church of the Advocate that hot summer day to not just be ordained, but to transform the church, joined by the brave bishops who ordained them but to be participants in changing the world for the better. They accepted the challenge to say yes when called to overcome the obstacles holding them back from standing up and saying, “Here I am, send me.” I remember vividly seeing this on the news and sitting on a stool in front of our small black and white television pondering, in a slight state of shock, what this might mean for the church I loved. “60 Minutes” soon had a segment based on an interview with Carter Heyward, which hooked me completely, and I was able to see the pain and faithfulness as well as the courage in following God’s call despite the barriers. After that there was a meeting with Mr. Burke to schedule our son Joe’s baptism where I raised the topic. I offered that I fully believed a woman could be a faithful and prophetic priest, so where was my discomfort coming from?  He remarked that it was probably because I wanted my children to grow up in a world I could understand.

Later, after Mr. Burke died, Joe Buchanan who was the associate rector and a former priest in Charlotte, NC in the parish Carter Heyward had attended, thought it would be a good thing to invite her to preach at St. Andrew’s. This was before the regularization of the ordination, and she accepted. A week later she called and asked if she was to celebrate the Eucharist as well and Joe told her no. She cancelled and I remember chastising Joe for not having the courage of his convictions, being oblivious to the fact that he would very well have been deposed for allowing her to officiate at the altar.

All of this happened in concert with disputes about the revision of the prayer book, as the 1928 was still being used. Despite what I then was able to see as my resistance to change, I fell in love with the theology of the new version, primarily due to the baptismal covenant, and I was able to lessen my grip on those comfortable words I had grown up with.

St Andrew’s lost some parishioners along the way and St. Matthew’s Anglican Church became a comfortable place for people who held tight to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. We were not on the forefront of women in the priesthood in the early years.

Last Sunday’s service with our brothers and sisters from St. George’s and St Augustine’s was a glorious experience for me, as I looked around at the joy and love that surrounds us in our shared love of Jesus Christ and his church, vibrant with change, but rooted in tradition. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Kathy Gray