In 1976 The Episcopal Church (TEC) General Convention approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate in TEC and stated that such ordinations might begin on Jan. 1, 1977
The Philadelphia Eleven
On July 29, 1974, two years prior to when General Convention authorized the ordination of women, eleven women were ordained priests at the Church of the Advocate, Philadelphia, on the feast of St. Mary and St. Martha – the women became known as “The Philadelphia Eleven”. These ordinations, and the ordinations of four more women in Sept. 1975 in Washington, D.C., were widely criticized as irregular because TEC had not yet authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. In 1976, the House of Bishops affirmed the validity of the ordinations by requiring of the fifteen women only “an act of completion” that would be “a liturgical incorporation of what was done on those two occasions” in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. All of the “Philadelphia Eleven” participated in public events of “completion” within the following year, with the exception of one who left TEC to join the United Methodist Church. The three bishops who ordained the women claimed “obedience to the Spirit” justified their action. The ensuing controversy surrounding these irregular ordinations highlighted divisions evident in the church over this issue. After the 1976 vote, most dioceses accepted the ordination of women, and ordinations of women proceeded at a rapid rate. The 1997 General Convention revised the canons to prevent any diocese from denying access to the ordination process or refusing to license a member of the clergy to officiate, solely on the grounds of gender.
In 1982, the Rev. Katherine Grace Riggs was ordained as first woman priest of the Diocese of West Texas at St. David’s San Antonio. Slowly, more women began to enter the priesthood and in the early 2000 time period, the number of female priests began to steadily rise. Today, women priests compose 25% percent of active priests and seminarians in the diocese.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. David G. Read, Bishop of West Texas, states, “Earlier this year I recalled an occurrence in my seminarian days when I witnessed a group of female students celebrating the election of the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris as the first elected Episcopal Bishop. We’ve come a long way since that time. I’m grateful for the growth in the number of women clergy in our diocese. We still have more work to do that will inspire more women to discern the priesthood. Having the exceptional women priests that we do in the diocese is a way we can model the vocation.”
St. David's, San Antonio and the Diocese of West Texas hosted a special screening of "The Philadelphia Eleven" documentary to mark the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of the first women priests in The Episcopal Church. A panel with the Rev. Canon Ann Normand, the Rev. Beth Knowlton, St. Mark's, San Antonio, and the Rev. Reagan Gonzalez, Episcopal Church of Reconciliation, San Antonio followed the screening.
Read the perspectives of the panelists
Learn more about the documentary
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