At this fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of the first women to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church, we celebrate the pioneering spirit of the eleven who forged a Spirit-led pathway in Philadelphia on July 29, 1974. We salute their courage to risk the consequences of what was deemed an “irregular” ordination and punitive reactions to it. We give thanks as well for the solidarity of those who joined the women in that risk: the bishops who ordained them; the Church of the Advocate who supported this effort with both space and leadership, particularly from the Reverend Paul Washington and from then-Senior Warden, later first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, the Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris; Vice President of the House of Deputies Charles Willie who preached at the ordination and later resigned his position in solidarity with the women. This anniversary inspires us to recall how the church’s work for racial and economic justice has long intersected with and supported the work for gender justice.
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This solidarity and collectivity, modeled by the women and by all who supported them, was crucial to the moment’s impact, as shown in so many scenes of the documentary The Philadelphia Eleven which is available to watch at home on Kinema this weekend. As a collective ourselves, we in TransEpiscopal know that it takes collaboration, critical analysis, strategic wisdom and friendship to bring about change – together with God’s help. Working together helps push back against isolation and overwhelm. It brings hope, hope that “does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

This week we have also appreciated an article in Episcopal News Service anticipating the anniversary: “Women priests who were caught in ‘conscience clause’ hope the church remembers their stories.” The “conscience clause” refers to a statement passed by the House of Bishops in October of 1977 after General Convention had changed the canons to officially sanction the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate the previous summer (ordination to the diaconate had been canonically affirmed in 1970). As the article explains, “the House of Bishops gave cover to any process gatekeeper who refused to follow the canon because of ‘his or her conscientious objection.’” The article goes on to describe how that conscience clause impacted the ability of women to obtain positions as priests in dioceses or parishes where male bishops or priests did not support the women’s ordained ministries. “The conscience clause had no official standing because it had not been considered, much less approved by both houses of General Convention. It simply was announced during the October 1977 House of Bishops meeting and included in a pastoral letter calling for unity in Christ. However, it took 20 years and an act of General Convention (Resolution A052) to eliminate the loophole.”

As the article’s headline underscores, it is crucial to remember the years-long impact of the conscience clause. 

Because we do remember, we remain concerned, as we wrote for ISSUES on June 26th regarding resolution A092, that the 81st General Convention ultimately passed this resolution in June. A092 added canonical nondiscrimination protections for anyone exercising ministry who has a “conscientiously-held theological belief that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, or that marriage is a covenant between two people.” When the House of Bishops discussed A092 – the very first resolution they considered at this General Convention – no one said a word about the parallels between the proposed language and the language of 1977. The only testimony was from Bishop Bauerschmidt of the Diocese of Tennessee who spoke of A092 as “one of those canonical amendments with purchase in both directions, folks who may feel that they’re in a minority in a diocese, and offer some protection in terms of licensure and canonical residence…. It does provide some support for minorities of whatever sort within a diocese.” (Committee report and testimony can be found at this link starting at 51:00.)

By contrast in the House of Deputies the discussion was robust with several speakers evoking the conscience clause parallels. (Testimony can be found at this link starting at 2:28:44). Deputy Katie Sherrod of the Diocese of Texas noted, “except for its subject matter [A092] is virtually identical to the conscience clause adopted in 1977 by the House of Bishops…. That clause was designed to appease the episcopal opponents of the ordination of women just as section three of [A]092 is designed to appease opponents of same sex marriage.” Because of the 1977 conscience clause, Sherrod explained, it took thirty-three years for the Diocese formerly known as Fort Worth to ordain a woman to the priesthood. “I believe we have outgrown the need for conscience clauses,” she continued. A092 “enshrine[es] our differences in a form that has the potential for harming those it purports to protect.” Likewise Deputy Jennifer Adams of Western Michigan (now the Diocese of the Great Lakes) expressed concern that the canon changes in A092 have the effect of protecting those who are against same sex marriage while “making those who seek such a blessing – LGBTQ+ people called to ordination, LGBTQ+ people who have recently found a home in our pews, it makes them, it makes us, more vulnerable.” Adams continued, “There are better ways to protect those with privilege than by putting those who are already vulnerable at higher risk.”

Those who acknowledged the conscience clause parallels and voted for A092 anyway have tended to cite our different contexts. Women’s ordination was not as widely accepted in 1977 as LGBTQIA+ people are in our church now, they have argued. “We’re not going back,” they have said. 

We appreciate that the historical contexts are different, and we don’t believe TEC is reversing course now. Our concern is that trans, nonbinary, and two spirit clergy, as well as cisgender lesbian, gay, bi and queer clergy – especially those who are partnered but not called to marriage – are having difficulty gaining access to jobs, licensure, or canonical residence because of their lived realities, who they are first and foremost, not their “conscientiously-held theological beliefs.” Opponents of women’s ordination did not need protection in 1977. Women did. Those who disagree with LGBTQIA+ ordained ministries and relationships (whether marriages or not) are not in need of canonical nondiscrimination protection today. LGBTQIA+ people – especially queer and trans women, and nonbinary folks – are.

And so this weekend, we give thanks for the Philadelphia Eleven and all those who stood with them. We give thanks for their courage and persistence on July 29, 1974 as well as the everyday ministries they engaged after that momentous day. We know, as The Philadelphia Eleven documentary dramatically shows, that they faced major obstacles for years. Through it all, they changed the church. In so many ways, they made our ministries possible. We pray that in the years to come we will continue to learn from them, that in community and friendship, with strategic wisdom and courage, with the Spirit’s inspiration, we will join them in continuing to transform the church.

As the 81st General Convention approaches, TransEpiscopal is supporting C010 “Access to Prison Ministries.” This resolution affirms the power of ministries with people who are incarcerated and calls for such ministries to align with our nondiscrimination canons and not exclude people who are openly trans, non-binary, and/or queer. If a non-affirming prison ministry is unwilling to change its policies to be open to people of all sexualities and genders, then Episcopal congregations or dioceses should develop and share alternate programs that align with our church’s current teaching on gender and sexuality as expressed by our nondiscrimination canons.

Resolution C010 originated in the Diocese of California, where people from across the diocese have participated in Kairos Prison Ministry at San Quentin since the program’s founding in 1989. As this timeline shared by the Very Rev. Deborah White indicates, late in the summer of 2023 local volunteers discovered that Kairos International’s ethics code, which volunteers are required to sign, “uses sex assigned at birth for volunteers and for Kairos Outside Guests” (p. 9). The policy prohibits trans and non-binary volunteer participation, requiring them to literally cosign a denial of who they are. The policy also puts any clergy signing on behalf of parishioners in conflict with the Episcopal Church’s non-discrimination canons (I.17.5 and III.1.2).

Last Wednesday evening, as this Episcopal News Service story has also reported, C010 received a public hearing in Legislative Committee 17 on Accessibility and Inclusion. Four people testified in support, with none against. All four were from the Diocese of California, with two also serving on the diocese’s General Convention deputation. Two of the four are additionally part of TransEpiscopal’s steering committee – the Rev. Mees Tielens and the Rev. Cameron Partridge.

The Rev. Tielens testified,

We need queer folks, trans folks ministering to people in prison. As a trans person, I know what it is like to be considered not-quite-human, not quite deserving the same rights, dignity, bodily autonomy or privacy that other people get, to have people judge you before they even know you. Prisons are parallel worlds that society likes to tuck out of sight and surround with shame. Well, if there’s anything queer folks know, it’s the destructive power of shame.  

He continued:

I write with a condemned trans woman at San Quentin, and visited her recently to take her confession. She had been taught, as had I, that God couldn’t love us the way we were. I don’t know if I can convey the damage that did to us. And so it was incredibly healing to both of us that I could offer her absolution as a trans priest, living proof of there being churches that don’t just tolerate but celebrate trans people and their gifts for ministry.

I’m here today asking the Episcopal Church to stand behind its principles not for my own sake. Because the real issue is that Kairos doesn’t just deprive me of the opportunity for mutual ministry–it deprives queer and trans folks on the inside, a particularly cruel reality for people already so deprived of connection and authenticity.

Christina Reich, a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Martinez, California, spoke of how meaningful this ministry has been to her and her son who was formerly incarcerated: “I devoted fourteen years of my life to Kairos Prison Ministry because it literally saved my life and that of my son.” It was devastating for Reich to discover the discriminatory policy. “I LOVE THIS MINISTRY and want to continue, but I cannot and will not sign my name to any such discriminatory policy. Our queer siblings are beloved children of God and have endured so much pain from people that call themselves Christian.” Continuing these ministries unchanged in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” mode is also not acceptable, Reich argued. Instead, “Let’s work together for change and continued reconciliation as an interfaith community. Let’s ensure this beautiful ministry is available to ALL of God’s children, not just SOME.”

The Very Rev. White spoke of her experience as a forensic psychologist prior to her ordination, providing counseling to trans people incarcerated in the California prison system. “Prison is a hard and unforgiving place, but no group of individuals is more brutally abused than transgender inmates. These individuals are punished unmercifully for simply being who they are. They are the people of whom Jesus spoke when he asked his followers to care for those that society considers least because what we do for them we do for him.”

The Rev. Partridge connected the resolution to the idea of “communion across difference,” a theme in the Episcopal Church and wider Anglican Communion’s continuing reflection on sexuality and gender (and represented in several resolutions coming before this General Convention, as this ENS article reports). Multi-faith and ecumenical ministries with people who are incarcerated “are important forms of communion across difference, which are crucial in this moment when our country, our wider world, and our church are all too often divided. But we cannot allow such engagement to include signing onto policies that conflict with, and in fact violate, our own hard-won non-discrimination canons.”

As the Rev. Tielens concluded, “Trans people work across differences every day. It’s time for the Church to take some of that burden off our shoulders and stand for what it believes: seeking and serving Christ in all persons.”

The Committee voted unanimously to recommend to their respective houses to adopt the resolution. Stay tuned for further news on its journey through Convention next month.

TransEpiscopal joins our friends in the Diocese of Massachusetts, the wider Episcopal Church and especially our coalitional partners in the Consultation in mourning the loss and celebrating the extraordinary life of the Reverend Canon Edward W. Rodman. Canon Rodman was a lifelong advocate for racial and social justice, a pioneering advocate, mentor, and encourager who had a foundational impact upon our ongoing work. 
 
Beginning in his teen years when he became an organizer in the civil rights movement, Canon Rodman was deeply influenced by Ella Baker’s conviction, “what we need are movement-centered leaders, not leader-centered movements,” as this Boston Globe obituary recounted.  “It’s not about me, it’s about the people… It’s not about me, it’s about the work.” 
 
As a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts recently reflected, “Ed Rodman was known churchwide as a strategist, advocate and activist for social and racial justice, and as an educator and mentor across generations in The Episcopal Church.” His strategic advice, solidarity, and encouragement were instrumental in TransEpiscopal’s early years as we sought to bring our voices and witness to the wider Episcopal Church. In the wake of the 2006 General Convention, when our early efforts to change the church’s nondiscrimination canons fell short, Canon Rodman offered compassionate encouragement and sage counsel: join the Consultation.
 
The Consultation is a coalition of progressive organizations within the Episcopal Church that since 1985 has worked intersectionally to support the justice-oriented goals of its groups at the Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention. Thanks to Canon Rodman’s counsel, TransEpiscopal applied and was accepted into this consortium in 2007. (In fact, a press release about this acceptance constituted the first post we made to our blog.) The gift of his mentorship and solidarity opened a door for TransEpiscopal to organize ourselves more effectively and to join in the crucial coalitional advocacy that the Consultation had been doing for decades. Racial and economic justice, the ministry of all the baptized, commitment to peace, gender and sexuality justice – TransEpiscopal has been working side by side with our partners around this intersectional table since 2007, thanks Canon Rodman’s wisdom and support.
 
We also want to lift up and appreciate how Canon Rodman’s outreach to us highlights a powerful, long-standing pattern of Black leaders and communities within the Episcopal Church opening up liberating, life-giving spaces of solidarity across racial, economic, gender, and sexuality lines. The Honorable Byron Rushing – former Vice President of the House of Deputies, retired former Massachusetts state legislator, and long-time Consultation leader – is another powerful example of such solidarity: several times over he co-sponsored legislation in Massachusetts protecting transgender people against discrimination as well as one of the first resolutions to pass General Convention in support of our community (D012). This pattern of support is also dramatically showcased in the recently released documentary The Philadelphia Eleven, in which we witness the historically Black parish, the Church of the Advocate, opening its doors in 1974 to the first women to be ordained priests in the Episcopal Church. The late Bishop Barbara C. Harris, who was the Senior Warden of Church of the Advocate and served as the crucifer at the Philadelphia ordinations; who was a founder of the Consultation; and who became the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion in 1989; was also a crucial early supporter of TransEpiscopal’s work. 
 
We are so grateful for the inspiration, solidarity, and liberating energy that Canon Rodman and so many others have unleashed in our beloved Episcopal Church. As we give thanks for Canon Rodman’s life, may we honor it by continuing the coalitional work he invited us to step further into. May we do this work together, in community, welcoming others as he welcomed us. 

Today the Presiding Bishop’s office and the Diocese of Florida announced that a majority of both standing committees and bishops of The Episcopal Church have voted not to consent to the bishop election in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. We believe this result was a necessary response to an election that was shaped within a diocesan context with a documented pattern and practice of systemic discrimination against LGBTQIA+ clergy. With this vote the wider Church has said that our nondiscrimination canons do in fact matter in the breach. We note as well the significance of both groups – standing committees and bishops – discerning this response as a sign of clarity and care for the Diocese of Florida and for all of us connected to one another across the Church. 
 
We lift up that spirit of care, clarity, and connection in prayer for the Diocese of Florida, knowing that they have a long road ahead. We pray for everyone impacted by decision: for the lay and ordained leadership of the diocese; for the Rev. Charlie Holt and his family; and especially for the LGBTQIA+ people of the diocese who took significant personal risks in sharing their experiences and calling for an intervention for justice and healing. 
 
As we wrote in our statement about the consent process on March 21, “We know as well as anyone in the Church that we are all still on a journey in this Church to overcome discrimination across many dimensions.” We continue to believe this strongly, as our own recent testimonies in this blog space have underscored (here and here, for example). All of us in our various diocesan contexts must continue intentionally and urgently on this journey together. This journey is not about the “chaotic nature of church politics and clashes of personal interest,” and it is most certainly not born of “wicked motives.” ​ It is of the Spirit of truth who leads us into all truth (John 16:13). 
 
We take no joy in this outcome – indeed, we observe the pain out of which this decision has emerged – but we do take hope. Hope in Christ who has said “I will be with you always” (Mt 28:20). Hope in the nearness of God’s just reign. Hope in the collective body of Christ, knit together in baptism, journeying together in solidarity toward the mystery of resurrection life.