ORDINATION OF THE PHILADELPHIA 11 - 39 YEARS AGO TODAY

Pearls

You are pearls.

You began

as irritants.

                                                                    The ocean pushed

                                                                     your small, nearly

                                                                              invisible

                                                                           rough body

                                                                 through an undetected

                                                                      crack in the shell. 

                                                                        You got inside. (Cont.)

                                                          by Alla Renée Bozarth

Read Alla"s post on the occasion of the ordinations.

From Deacon Leilani Nelson at The Daily Office:

Beloveds,

I can tell you where I was 39 years ago today, when 11 women were ordained as Episcopal priests in Philadelphia. It was that kind of historic, cataclysmic event. I’d just turned 23 and was attending the National Institute for Lay Training at the General Theological Seminary in New York.

Read all of Deacon Leilani's eye-witness account at the link above.

The names of the Philadelphia 11:

Merrill Bittner
Alison Cheek
Alla Bozarth (Campell)
Emily C Hewitt
Carter Heyward
Suzanne R. Hiatt (deceased 2002)
Marie Moorefield
Jeanette Piccard (deceased 1981)
Betty Bone Schiess
Katrina Welles Swanson (deceased 2006)
Nancy Hatch Witting


Ordaining Bishops:

Daniel Corrigan
Robert L DeWitt
Edward R Welles
Assisting: Antonio Ramos

H/T to The Lead for the names.