In 1974, 11 women gathered in Philadelphia to defy generations of religious tradition: they wanted to become Episcopal priests.
The Episcopal Church is the American offshoot of the Church of England, emerging as a separate branch around the time of independence, and it was massively influential in early American life.
Nearly a quarter of American presidents have been Episcopalians, stretching from George Washington to George H.W. Bush.
And three-quarters of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence belonged to the Anglican faith.
For much of its history, the Episcopal Church did not ordain women as priests. This practice wasn’t inscribed in church doctrine, but was observed nonetheless. That is, until the mid-20th century, when debate bubbled up within the sect.
Following a failed effort to change church doctrine, a group of 11 women and three male bishops took matters into their own hands. In 1974, they gathered at the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia and held their own ordination service.
Although the women themselves were not from Philadelphia, the church was a logical choice for this defiant act. The rector at the Church of the Advocate was Paul Washington, a prominent community activist known for his support of the Black Power movement.
About 2,000 people packed into Washington’s church on a July day in 1974 to watch history as three bishops ordained the 11 women as priests.
Beyond their common desire to be ordained, the women were a diverse bunch.
High-altitude balloonist Jeannette Piccard, 79, was the first woman to enter the stratosphere. Emily Hewitt was a future lawyer and federal judge. Alla Bozarth, 27, was a poet from Oregon.
These women — along with Alison Cheek, Merrill Bittner, Carter Heyward, Suzanne Hiatt, Marie Moorefield, Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Swanson, and Nancy Wittig — become known as the “Philadelphia Eleven.”
At the ordination ceremony, one male priest called the proceedings “schismatic” and another said it “offer[ed] up the sound and sight and smell of perversion.” But overall, the audience was overwhelmingly supportive.
The official pushback, however, was swift and strong.
Within weeks, the Episcopal House of Bishops convened an emergency meeting in Chicago. There, they overwhelmingly voted to invalidate the 11 ordinations. The presiding bishop also warned the women they could be disciplined if they attempted to carry out priestly duties.
Despite those warnings, the Philadelphia Eleven did not back down. Our headline details plans for two of the women — Allison Cheek and Carter Hayward — to lead an Episcopal service in Oberlin, Ohio.
And soon, such a simple act would no longer generate controversy. Two years later, in 1976, church leaders clarified Episcopal doctrine to say that women *could* become priests and bishops.
200 years after a group of mostly Anglican men declared America’s independence from England, their religion declared that women could hold an equal place in the faith.
In 2006 — thirty years after allowing women into the priesthood — the Episcopal Church elected Katharine Jefferts Schori as its leader. She became the first woman to serve as presiding bishop.
The Espiscopal Church had come a long way from that hot summer day in 1974. The Philadelphia Eleven may not have broken down the door for women in the priesthood. But they’d clearly cracked it open — never to be closed again.
Originally posted by Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) on Dec. 7 2023
