My Perspective on Women Priests

Some readers and former students are aware that I was a “priest” in the Episcopal Church. I was ordained by Bishop Allen Bartlett in 1989 at Trinity Church in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Over a span of about 18 years, I served in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, the Diocese of Southern Ohio, and the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky.

During those years I began to discern widening cracks in the theological and ecclesial foundations of that body. However, at least 20 years passed before I was able to appreciate how the ordination of women signaled that the foundations of our Anglican heritage were in rubble.

After I left the Episcopal Church, I began to investigate the question of women’s ordination from the perspective of the science of Anthropology. In fact, research on the priesthood has been central to my work in Biblical Anthropology, a field that I have been pioneering for over 30 years.

Before I set forth some of my discoveries in Biblical Anthropology, it would be helpful to explain that I was always a lover of Tradition and a student of Scripture. I was raised in a profoundly Christian home by parents who were sophisticated thinkers, world travelers, and fond of intellectual conversation. My father was an attorney and he challenged his daughters to think critically about social issues, interpretations of the Bible, and even about the boyfriends we brought home. We did this less often as we grew older, as our father had the habit of cross examining the poor fellows!

While in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, I became acquainted with 3 women who would become bishops in the Episcopal Church: Barbara Harris, Geralyn Wolf, and Mary Glasspool. Barbara was the first African American female to pose as a bishop. Geralyn was the first female convert from Judaism to be consecrated, and Mary was the first female bishop to dress like a man. Talk about diversity!

I didn’t foresee that the ordination of women was the proverbial “foot in the door” and that the door would swing open to non-celibate homosexuals and transgender persons. I didn’t realize that such dangerous innovations signaled the collapse of the foundations of our Anglican Faith.