Thirty-five years ago

If I were to hunt around, I could find my journal from 1974 in which I pasted the New York Times article about the ordinations in Philadelphia. Though I was in high school, I was following the progress (or lack thereof) of women's ordination; I was devastated when General Convention in September 1973 (in Louisville, KY I think) narrowly defeated a resolution permitting WO. So when these ordinations took place, I was thrilled.

Fast forward to January 1994 when I was ordained to the priesthood. I wanted to remember women's ordination and the struggle that took place, and recognise those sisters on whose shoulders I stood, those sisters who were spat upon, threatened with death and shunned. Hence, I asked Nancy Wittig, one of the Philadelphia Eleven and a woman priest from New Jersey, the third to be ordained in the diocese in early 1978, to put the stole around my neck. It was my acknowledgment of women's apostolic succession.

These women are stars in heaven too.