Ordained Women in Travail~ Our History
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A Review Approaching the 43rd Anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations of Eleven Women as the First Women in the Priesthood of the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974
On the 43rd
anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations, it's time again to speak to
history and let the speech be overheard. This is a section of my archival
website essay with letters and links created three years ago, on the Fortieth Anniversary of
the Philadelphia Ordinations in which eleven ordained
women in the diaconate broke the barrier against women in the priesthood.
Having to break through institutional intransigence, we proceeded in due process to the full extent of the canonical
requirements, and at the last step we were blocked by the unwillingness of our
individual diocesan Standing Committees to give us their final endorsement for ordination
to the priesthood, because "it had never been done." That position
demonstrated that no Standing Committee as a body had the courage or
imagination to break with custom, a situation all too familiar to women in the history of the human family.
It wasn't a matter of breaking Canon Law as there was none prohibiting women in the priesthood. It simply hadn't happened yet, and people froze with fear at the prospect of what seemed a fundamental change in custom, that women should take a radical step toward sacred equality. I for one didn't view becoming a priest as attaining a position of power, but simply as fulfilling a deep desire to be a Eucharistic celebrant and a priestly minister of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing, which I could not do as a deacon confined to the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage, leaving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Ordination to the bishops.
It wasn't a matter of breaking Canon Law as there was none prohibiting women in the priesthood. It simply hadn't happened yet, and people froze with fear at the prospect of what seemed a fundamental change in custom, that women should take a radical step toward sacred equality. I for one didn't view becoming a priest as attaining a position of power, but simply as fulfilling a deep desire to be a Eucharistic celebrant and a priestly minister of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing, which I could not do as a deacon confined to the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage, leaving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Ordination to the bishops.
We presented ourselves as
having been proven and endorsed as fully prepared and competent candidates for
both the diaconate and
the
priesthood, and we "Philadelphia Eleven" ordained deacons were
ordained to the priesthood by three highly respected and courageous,
retired or
resigned bishops at the Church of the Advocate on July 29, 1974. The
following year, on September 7, 1975, four more women deacons were
ordained to the priesthood at the Church of St. Stephen and the
Incarnation in Washington, D.C.
Here are pictures of the beautiful French Gothic Church of the Advocate at 18th and Diamond Streets in the City of Sisterly and Brotherly Love. Note how contemporary art blends beautifully with traditional. You can click on the first picture and see it enlarged, and see all the rest from the single frame enlargement page for full effect, then click Esc at the top left of your keyboard to return to the text here. For some reason, a few of the pictures appear slightly larger on this page.
Here are pictures of the beautiful French Gothic Church of the Advocate at 18th and Diamond Streets in the City of Sisterly and Brotherly Love. Note how contemporary art blends beautifully with traditional. You can click on the first picture and see it enlarged, and see all the rest from the single frame enlargement page for full effect, then click Esc at the top left of your keyboard to return to the text here. For some reason, a few of the pictures appear slightly larger on this page.
We Eleven present ourselves, kneeling at the altar rail. Bishop Edward Welles stands behind the rail, flanked by Church of the Advocate Senior Warden and cross-bearer for the service, future deacon, priest and bishop, Barbara Harris, and Bishop Tony Ramos who had come from Costa Rica to support his brother bishops as they ordained us. He had also gone to seminary with several of the ordinands and was present to support them as well.
It was while we were standing or kneeling at the altar rail that a loud metallic sound suddenly went through the church. It sounded like a gun shot. There were a few moments of anxious silence. Knowing a person can be shot and not realize it right away, I looked down to check myself for blood, and then the women to my right and left. Our white vestments were not bloodstained. The service resumed. Two thoughts were in my mind. First, that we might have been shot, since we were aware of bomb threats before the service, and the Philadelphia Police had found a stink bomb already planted when they searched earlier that morning. My second thought was dismay that I would think such a thing, but then I realized it wasn't a far-fetched fear since it was less than a month after Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot to death while on the organ bench of her church. Afterward we were told that the alarming noise was made by an NBC camera that had fallen over onto the stone floor of the transept.
It was strengthening (mostly) to know
that St. Joan of Arc was with us!
This is the official church banner of Christ the Advocate,
perfect for the racially integrated parish.
This is the Second Wave ordination of women to the priesthood~ Betty [Rosenberg] Powell, Alison Palmer, Diane Tickell and Lee McGee, and they are known and celebrated as the Washington Four~ September 7, 1975, at the Church of St. Stephen and the Incarnation in Washington, D.C. Their ordaining bishop was George Barrett.
During the Philadelphia service, two male priests who
raised formal protest represented the psychological mindset
of priesthood as power, which was not to be shared with the inferior and
unworthy, meaning women. Decades earlier, Anglican theologian Dorothy Sayers articulated
the obvious and ludicrous question such an attitude raised: "Are women
human?" From the rejection by strangers, friends and family members, from
the obscene and hateful letters, phone calls and physical and verbal attacks in
personal encounters we endured from that day forward, transparent misogyny
shouted the answer to that question in the direction of the Church: No. Women
are not human. What other reason could there be but that absurdly wrong one for
denying us ordination to the priesthood and episcopate?
The real reason was the male refusal to share power, according to a perception of priesthood not as a form of being-in-service, but as having image-building power over others. Those men who objected tried to quote Scripture to justify themselves. One of them shook his fist at our bishops saying, "you break the bond between Adam and Eve by trying to turn stones into bread," then sweeping his hand in our direction to make it clear that we Eleven were the stones in his oddly mixed metaphor. They made it clear that they perceived ordination as advancement up the ranks, and priesthood as entitling them to vertical power over others, whereas we perceived it as a form of power, that is the ability to serve God effectively with and in others, which is the essence of all forms of Christian ministry. How could the Church ever be balanced and whole while allowing only male members to lead by an idea of power that was not even Christian? Exclusionary power over others is exploitation. Exploitation has no place in the teachings and example of Christ. His power was in co-operative community, not domination and oppression. The power of the community is integrative power, and within the circle, leadership is flexible and by consensus.
The real reason was the male refusal to share power, according to a perception of priesthood not as a form of being-in-service, but as having image-building power over others. Those men who objected tried to quote Scripture to justify themselves. One of them shook his fist at our bishops saying, "you break the bond between Adam and Eve by trying to turn stones into bread," then sweeping his hand in our direction to make it clear that we Eleven were the stones in his oddly mixed metaphor. They made it clear that they perceived ordination as advancement up the ranks, and priesthood as entitling them to vertical power over others, whereas we perceived it as a form of power, that is the ability to serve God effectively with and in others, which is the essence of all forms of Christian ministry. How could the Church ever be balanced and whole while allowing only male members to lead by an idea of power that was not even Christian? Exclusionary power over others is exploitation. Exploitation has no place in the teachings and example of Christ. His power was in co-operative community, not domination and oppression. The power of the community is integrative power, and within the circle, leadership is flexible and by consensus.
The excerpts below in the section, "Our Words," contain the most important part of the essay collage to me, the importance of accurately honoring those past heroes who suffered and sacrificed themselves through many generations as ordained women in the diaconate who were treated ambiguously and disrespectfully by the Church between 1855 and 1970, many of them living with a strong sense of vocation to the priesthood which could not be fulfilled in their lifetimes, before the door to the priesthood was finally opened to women deacons in 1974 by the Philadelphia Eleven with a strong second push in 1975 by the Washington Four.
(Click Control and F to open a search box in the lower left corner and type in "There was a section here" to lead into and explain the beginning of that section called "Our Words" which is most important to me~ if you don't have time or energy to read more. Thank you.)
After two years of enforcing a strategy of trying to make us invisible while persecuting those male priests who recognized and opened their doors to us, the voice of the institution made its declaration. In 1976, the governing body of the Episcopal Church, its trienniel General Convention, gathered in Minneapolis where my husband and I lived at the time. That year, General Convention effectively recognized the first fifteen women priests by formally endorsing women in all three Holy Orders as deacons, priests and bishops, as well as in the first order of Christian service, the lay ministry shared by our common baptismal commitment to Christ's continuing service to the needs of the world, spiritual and temporal.
It should be noted here that while American women achieved the secular vote in 1920, it took another half century for Episcopal women's ecclesiastical suffrage to be realized. The bicameral General Convention of the Episcopal Church with the then all-male House of Bishops on one side and the House of Deputies on the other, consisting of male priests and laymen, had refused admission to women as Deputies elected by their individual diocesan conventions. Only in 1970 did the House of Deputies finally open its doors after decades of women's presence on the outside, and women were seated at last with full voice and vote. It was they who first had called for a vote on women priests, after successfully eliminating the discriminatory Canon Law on deacon"esses" and legislating one canon for all deacons to end many oppressive discriminatory practices against women in the diaconate, including a requirement that they remain celibate and wear special garb resembling a nun's habit, which created all sorts of confusion about their role in the Church.
The presence of many laywomen in the House of Deputies at the 1976 General Convention strengthened the movement forward toward full integration. The Holy Spirit was perceptible during the September vote to endorse women in all Orders of ministry.
I had been called back to the voting room after attempting to leave early to prepare dinner for the Philadelphia and Washington priests and their spouses and our bishops and their spouses and a few special supporters who'd been invited earlier in the day, and also because I didn't believe the vote would go in women's favor if the "Vote by Orders" was called for, which had defeated us in the two prior conventions, and I couldn't bear to experience the third great loss. But Sam Ford who had previously been a reporter for a Minneapolis television station had taken a job with a national news network, CBS I believe, had sent Phil after me. Phil caught up with me in the hallway, keys in my hand, before I reached the door. He said I had to come back. Sam wanted to film me live on national news during the vote.
The room was very quiet as deputies were already voting after the President of the House had led a short prayer for guidance. Sam asked me what I thought was happening. A great calm had come over me and I heard myself say, "We have prayed together, and I believe that the vote will be guided by the Holy Spirit. It will be Yes." I took in what I heard as if someone else had said it. It was said with quiet, steady conviction, which did not conform with my fears, and I marveled at that. Perhaps that was how some kinds of prophecy happened. We tell the truth beyond our knowing of it and before our feeling of it.
I had given up trying to leave again and took my seat beside my husband in the Visitor's Gallery, where our local supporters in the Minnesota Committee for Women's Ordination to the Priesthood were gathered together. When the votes were called for and counted and the numbers read out, Yes, No and Divided, I wrote down the numbers. The outcome was Yes. I was stunned. I kept looking at what I had written and just stared at the paper, amazed and unable to move while everyone else around me was standing, cheering, applauding, crying, and laughing. Finally, my husband pulled me to my feet. I still couldn't clap or vocalize, but I trembled in silent thanksgiving.
Then I did have to rush out to the parking lot with Diane Tickell, one of the Washington Four who had offered to help me. At the grocery store, I tore my shopping list in half and we took off with two shopping carts. I hadn't planned to go to Convention at all that day. I dressed in our day-off clothes and expected we'd go to a movie as usual, then go shopping and be home in time to cook. I'd called Katrina Swanson and told her to pass the invitation along. Then the phone rang and Katrina called back and told Phil that the Vote was scheduled that day, and for right after lunch, and we had to come downtown Right Now. I was shocked when Phil told me, but he insisted that I change my clothes and put on my best formal black clericals and white clergy collar. That's why I had no food in the house and Diane and I had to take care of that before everyone showed up hungry.
We arrived at Wisdom House on Raleigh Avenue to find my husband, Phil Bozarth-Campbell, and Bishop Bob DeWitt playing two of Phil's guitars and singing. They saw us come in and put away the guitars to help. As we unpacked food, Bishop DeWitt asked what he could do in the kitchen. Phil had started to vacuum for some reason, and Bob took over the vacuuming and worked deftly around the cooks. Phil got out plates, napkins, silverware, glasses, and prepared ice water in pitchers. We got the pasta and sauce on the stove and Diane made salad and prepared garlic bread.
We hugged people just coming, visited, feasted and debriefed. We were all more or less in shock, but deeply grateful to God, relieved, happy, and wondering what would come next for us. Our diocesan bishops had planned a meeting the following day to figure out how to recognize our priestly ordinations retroactively and officially, and they decided that each bishop should come up with his own plan. One by one, we 15 were "regularized," which was extraordinarily strange, but we submitted to it for the sake of our local supporters who were unaware of the insulting implications of the word and its enactment.
In the Diocese of Minnesota, Jeannette Piccard and I were required by our diocesan bishop to sign the Oath of Conformity ("I promise to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church," etc.) for the third time while standing in the choir on the outside of a closed communion rail, which the bishop then opened to us after we signed, so we could enter the sanctuary and concelebrate Holy Eucharist with him.
I bent over the communion rail on which the document was balanced, took the bishop's pen and signed with my right hand, while my left hand was behind my back for the congregation to see that my fingers were crossed. While I had gone past the notion of conformity during the 31 months since our ordinations when we'd been ignored by the institutional authorities and kept in limbo, I had thought through how I could sign the Oath before the Philadelphia Ordinations with integrity. It was by understanding that while I was not conforming with the Church's past unjust discipline (practice) or tradition (habit) of excluding and denigrating women, I was conforming with the spirit of justice that Christ preached and lived by, as did the Church most of the time. Upholding an imbalanced ministry was not in conformity with the Mind of Christ.
I vowed to conform to the justice that was in the Mind of Christ and motivated the Church in its best imitation of Christ. I repeated that understanding privately as I signed the document, though strictly speaking it was in itself a punitive and unjust act to require us to do it.
Afterward, I rhetorically asked Bishop McNairy if our three-times-signed oath made us bishops, since only bishops signed it for the third time. We'd already signed ours twice, prior to our diaconal and priestly ordinations. He looked at me but had no answer.
Here's a lovely picture a friend took of the three of us at the altar. I'm in the colorful chasuble on the right, Jeannette Piccard is on the left, Bishop Philip McNairy is in the center. The Very Rev. Douglas Fontaine, Dean of the Cathedral, is on the far right. That looks like my Phil kneeling on the right, but I don't remember for sure. St. Mark's had been his home church growing up, and was still the spiritual hub of his family. He'd received a grant for his living expenses while in seminary from the congregation. He was also ordained to the diaconate there in June of 1973. It very likely was Phil. He knew that Jeannette and I would need moral support, so I'm sure he would have cleared his schedule for our sakes.
This picture below was taken just before or after the service. Chester Talton, Jeannette's rector at the Parish of St. Philip in St. Paul where she served as assistant priest, stands next to her. He later went on to become the Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, which made us proud. The looks exchanged between Jeannette and Bishop McNairy usually inspire a giggle. Click on the image to enlarge for a better view.
My seminarian husband Phil beside me after my ordination to the diaconate at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, in my home Diocese of Oregon, September 8, 1971, four days before our wedding. St. Stephen's, built in 1890, was the cathedral until that function was transferred to the new and larger church of St. John the Baptist on the campus of Oregon Episcopal Schools in 1973, and then to its more centrally located current home at Trinity Cathedral in Northwest Portland in 1993.
Since January of 1977 when other women deacons were officially freed to do what we had done as a front guard mission, thousands of women priests have entered and enriched sacerdotal service in the Episcopal Church.
Thanks be to God!
Women in ministry are no more near perfection than men or women in the human family generally, but at least they now have an equal chance of striving for excellence of service in their ministries, and of proving themselves worthy, or of bearing the consequences that failed men have borne for wrongdoing in Church or Society. We are, after all, honest-to-God real live human beings.
Here are a few more pictures and stories about the people involved.
Photo by William F. Steinmetz for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ordinations to the Priesthood of the Episcopal Church at the Church of the Advocate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1974, the Feast of Saints Mary and Martha. Left to right: Alison Cheek, Suzanne [Sue] Hiatt, Marie Moorefield [Fleischer], Alla Bozarth[-Campbell], Betty Bone Schiess, Jeannette Piccard, Merrill Bitner, Emily Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Katrina Welles Swanson and Nancy Wittig. Our ordaining bishops are Bishop Robert DeWitt (standing and facing us in profile in the foreground), who had resigned his position as Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania to free himself for this prophetic action for justice, retired Bishop Edward Welles of Western Missouri wearing the mitre (tall hat), who was the father of Katrina van Alstyne Welles Swanson, one of the ordinands, and retired Bishop Daniel Corrigan, known and respected as a great Civil Rights activist and long-time champion of justice. Bishop Corrigan is seated in front of the other two bishops, asking us to affirm our faith and calling according to the form in the Ordination Rite of The Book of Common Prayer. Standing next to Bishop Welles and wearing dark-rimmed glasses is Bishop Antonio (Tony) Ramos of Costa Rica, who had been a seminary classmate of several of the ordinands and came to support them and his brother bishops whom he knew would receive attacks from many of the other bishops for taking this prophetic action, as did we women.
Time Magazine, August 12, 1974
The text on the frontal cloth over the altar is Galatians 3:28~
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
On the 25th anniversary we entered the nave from the narthex at the rear as is customary, instead of from the transept up front because of the death threats the church had received before the service.
Bishop Barbara Harris follows the Church of the Advocate Banner and is honored by the congregation as she walks down the nave in the procession. She preached a galvanizing sermon on the same theme as her regular column in The Witness Magazine before her call to be ordained and consecrated a bishop~ entitled, "A Luta Continua~ The Struggle Continues." The tall gentleman to the right of the banner is Newland Smith, long-time librarian at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary from which my husband Phil Bozarth-Campbell graduated in 1973. With Newland's gentle and knowledgeable help I used the seminary library in preparation for my ordinations and also for my doctoral degree research.

These little children the colors of the human family led us through the nave, following the music and drummers ahead of them. This is my favorite photograph in the series. It was taken by Carolyn Prescott.
At the beginning of the first part of the Eucharistic Rite, the Liturgy of the Word, most of us members of the Philadelphia Eleven and Washington Four who were present stood facing the congregation as from left to right we each read an assigned passage from the tenth anniversary commemorative poem commissioned by The Witness Magazine, "Passover Remembered." Washington Four priest Betty Powell was present and in the front row of the congregation. Eldest of us at the time, Betty Bone Schiess, had come but left when the humid heat of summertime Philadelphia approached 100 degrees.
Left to right, Lee McGee of the Washington Four, Sue Hiatt, Katrina Swanson, Marie Moorefield Fleischer (whose husband, Robert Fleischer, was a renowned Harvard University astronomer), Merrill Bittner, Carter Heyward, Alison Cheek, Nancy Wittig, Emily Hewett and Alla Renée Bozarth [at the time known as Alla Bozarth-Campbell].
The eleventh chair at the end which appears empty on my left was draped with Jeannette Piccard's bright red hot air balloon stole in honor of her first career as a scientist, who with her Swiss husband Jean Piccard, invented a hot air balloon that could ascend into the stratosphere. As pilot of the balloon on its initial flight, Jeannette officially became the first woman in space in 1934, and was a frequent lecturer at NASA. While Jeannette piloted, Jean navigated while he stayed down in the gondola of the balloon with their pet turtle, Fleur de Lys, who officially became the first non-human animal in space that day. It was October 23, 1934, and they ascended 57,579 feet. Of the Philadelphia Ordinations, comparing them to the space flight 40 years earlier, Jeannette would say, "That day I flew higher." You can see pictures of Jeanette and Jean Piccard in their balloon on this page, which is also linked at the end of this site and the Fortieth Anniversary site. You can click on it here or later. "Passover Remembered" is also on this site. http://allabozarthwordsandimages.blogspot.com/p/the-philadelphia-ordinations-and-what.html
Feeling called to the priesthood since she was eleven years old, Jeannette Piccard was first among us to be ordained to the priesthood at 79, by Bishop Corrigan, who was at one time a parish priest in the Diocese of Minnesota, and who also ordained me and, if my memory is correct, Sue Hiatt, because all four of us had Minnesota connections. Though raised and a young adult in Minnesota, Sue Hiatt had lived and worked on the East Coast for years, but Jeannette and I were still canonically resident in the Diocese of Minnesota, though we lived on different sides of the Mississippi River. We were the farthest west of the Eleven, and we were the two with Ph.D. degrees who were the bookends of the Eleven as the eldest and the youngest. Dr. Piccard left us for Paradise in May of 1981 at the age of 86 after serving 7 years as a parish priest. The chair with her stole beside me represents her presence among us as honored elder in the Great Communion, already transcended into the Larger Realms but remembered and among us in spirit. Sue Hiatt followed her in 2002 and Katrina Swanson in 2005. Eight of the Eleven remain, Betty Bone Schiess now the eldest at 93, and I still the youngest at 70, and three of the Four remain. Diane Tickell of the Diocese of Alaska priest, who was the farthest west of the 15, completed her Earth journey in 2002.
At the Kiss of Peace in the liturgy, Emily Hewitt, the tallest of us, embraced me, the smallest, and I said to her, "I'm so proud of you Emily." She returned the compliment, but I truly am in awe of my sister Eleven plus Washington Four priests for their extraordinary human valor, intelligence and rich, well-rounded lives.
Emily Hewitt made good use of her time waiting for the Church to decide what to do about our priestly ordinations. She attended Harvard Law School to serve as a bivocational priest, making most use of her talents, skills and interests. She graduated with honors and served as a legal aid lawyer, but her reputation for brilliance led to advancement in Washington D.C. as General Counsel of the United States General Services Administration from 1993 to 1998. She served as in-house White House counsel, and later was appointed by two presidents as Judge and then Chief Judge of the Court of Federal Claims. She had already spent some years as a seminary professor with an advanced degree in religion and education, and a Chicago Theological Seminary doctor of ministry degree focusing on liberty of conscience. Emily Hewitt married an Assistant Attorney General of the United States. In addition, her Wikipedia page has this entry: "Hewitt is an accomplished long distance race walker. She won a U.S. national race walking medal in 1987 and has won many national masters medals. She has walked more than a dozen marathons including the Boston, New York and United States Marine Corps Marathons. She is also an avid hiker of the National Park trails of the American West."
Among the 15 of us Philadelphia and Washington priests, there were four seminary professors, seven parish priests, a Canon to the Ordinary [bishop in charge] of her diocese, and three psychotherapist pastoral counselor priests. One of the parish priests, Alison Palmer, is also a retired diplomat with the United States State Department who served on dangerous missions in Africa and Vietnam and has actively fought for justice and equity for women in government as well as the Church. Among her reflections on being one of the Washington Four priests, Alison wrote, “I was a Foreign Service Officer in the Congo and Vietnam during the war, but I never felt more danger than when I kneeled to be ordained [to the priesthood.]” That day began for her when she received a 4am threatening phone call (there were bomb threats at both the Philadelphia and Washington Ordinations). She didn't invite her family members to attend because she feared for their safety.
One of the psychotherapist priests is also a poet and prose writer and founder of an ecumenical feminist spirituality, arts and healing center where she serves as priest. That would be me, and what a joy it has been and is. Many of us are writers with published books, and some of us have lectured internationally. In her retirement as a seminary professor, Carter Heyward, who had her horses Red and Red's daughter Feather stabled nearby in Cambridge through her teaching years, has created a new ministry by founding an equine therapy ranch in her home state of North Carolina called the Free Rein Center.
The more I learn about my sister priests, others of the Fifteen and those ordained since then, the more admiration and yes, even awe, I feel toward so many of them. Letting you know some of these details about these women isn't meant as bragging, but because I am so filled with admiration and gratitude for them that it spills out of me. I want to share the celebration of God's gifts to us all. This doesn't mean that we don't have instances of mediocrity or sin among us, because we are human and flawed, but having to prove ourselves more than most aspiring clergy did before women became ordained in the mid-19th century until now, we often feel the pressure to excel, not only in accomplishment, but in integrity. But like everyone else, even among the accomplished, there can be moments of tragic failure.
And still we strive, and dance in thanksgiving.
Here is a spontaneous post-communion dance at the 25th anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations, on July 29, 1999, at the Church of the Advocate~ with the visiting choir of St. Thomas singing, and in response, Alla Bozarth breaks into celebratory dance. First and third photographs below are by Carolyn Prescott of White Stone, Virginia. I was sent the second, the Gospel-dervish picture, by a generous member of the congregation whose name I do not know.
Dancing toward the Promised Land
I, Miriam, took my
tambourine
and finger cymbals
with me
out of the land of
slavery
with its daily
insults and petty
exemptions, and so
remain always
ready to dance on the
long, long journey,
dance at every
victory, beginning with
surviving the
Passover, then the strange
occurrence when the Red Sea dried beneath
our feet as we ran,
safely passing over the narrow
strip onto the Sinai Peninsula, all the way out
from the land of
longing toward the storied memory of Home.
I danced to the song
that spilled out of me,
loud up to Heaven,
rejoicing on hopeful feet,
rejoicing with arms
flying through warm air like wings,
and water followed me
all the way through
the great desert, to
keep the people faithful and alive.
God knows it may take
a long time to return.
It’s been five
hundred years, after all.
A long time gone, but
our stories keep it alive
in our hearts. I
wonder if I’ll live to see it from
the mountains across
River Jordan.
I wonder
if I’ll be an old
woman, and dance down
the side of Mt. Nebo
with arms wide open,
heart fluttering
strong, leading the way
with cymbals and
songs into the Promised Land.
Alla Renée Bozarth
My Blessed Misfortunes, copyright 2011.
For
more about the
background to the Philadelphia Ordinations and what followed, you can
read the
excerpts below and then go to the Fortieth Anniversary website and the various links there, including the original Ordinations site, or go
directly
to my Philadelphia Ordinations web page and see the entire historical and philosophical
documentation. The links will be shown below and at the end also.
The Fortieth Anniversary page shows historical photographs and tells about some of the people deeply involved. At the end, the page flows into the Philadelphia Ordinations site with more details about the deep history of the ordination of women deacons and priests in the Anglican Communion. Links to both sites also appear at the bottom of this page in case you choose to read the excerpts from the anniversary page here, and prefer to visit the documentary sites later.
Excerpt from the Fortieth Anniversary pages.
A Letter to the Planning Committee for the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations
Long Distance Runner poem and reflections for Philadelphia Ordinations 40th anniversary
Originally
sent to the Rev. Beth Hixon and the Rev. Dierdre Whitfield, priests and planners of the Philadelphia
Ordinations 40th anniversary events along with the Very Rev. Dean Katherine Ragsdale at
EDS.
I noticed that a period had been dropped in transmission in the poem, "Long Distance Runner," at the end of "Through graceful teamwork together, we have changed history." I guess the period was dropped to remind us that we're not done yet.
I noticed that a period had been dropped in transmission in the poem, "Long Distance Runner," at the end of "Through graceful teamwork together, we have changed history." I guess the period was dropped to remind us that we're not done yet.
The poem is at the bottom of the letter.
Dear Sisters~
Dear Sisters~
I've
been thinking about all of you and plans for the coming celebrations in
July and October. Since I promised to stay in touch, it seemed to me
that you might enjoy the poem I just wrote, embedded below, "Long
Distance Runner" ~ an unlikely reference to what every woman goes
through in creating new models where only (or mostly) men had been
before. It's more than that, though~ it's the sort of thing that anyone
who's ever been a change
agent can relate to. And certainly, everyone in ministry has her or his
own metaphoric descriptors for it, from short order cook to crisis
manager.
Because of the similar title of my poem to the movie, I've just looked up an analysis of what Tom Courtenay demonstrated in the 1962 Tony Richardson film, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, from a 1959 short story by Alan Sillitoe. {What an apt name for the author of such a title! My poem came from a visit a few years ago to the local podiatrist because I had a silly toe that was trying to distance itself from its neighbor to the right and crowd into its neighbor to the left~ The doc said nothing seemed wrong with the bones. It's since straightened itself out a bit, but what it was doing was widening the front of the foot to give it more strength and balance. Not a bad plan, even if the result was disconcerting. For a while my right foot middle and "ring" toes could give the Vulcan "V" greeting!} The story and movie describe the degradation and frustration of a young man living in poverty amid the pressures of the post-war welfare state created in England to support and raise the lifestyles of the working poor. The boy is sent to a prison reform school for robbing a bakery, and there he discovers how moving his body in long distance running can be an emotional outlet. The institution exploits his emerging talent and puts him in a falsely competitive role in a race with a prestigious upper class public school, turning him into a competitive class commodity. In the end, he refuses to be exploited and maintains his integrity by stopping short of the finish line, allowing others to go through, even though it was obvious to all that he had achieved the goal. In this way he maintains his personal integrity, his freedom and independence, and goes against the artifices of social status and rivalry. His understanding of running evolves into a pathway of dignity and strength that inspires others, though in the end his actions seem contrary, until it becomes clear upon reflection that he chose not to be a puppet of the institution but to retain his independent values and his sense of humanity regarding the rights of others as well as his personal freedom.
The boy represented the social stranglehold that improved life style created while leaving the people as powerless as ever. The Wikipedia page does a good job of analyzing the social impact that institutional powerlessness combined with apparently better conditions can create, as if the working poor would be anesthetized by access to modern appliances into believing that their role in society had risen, when in fact they were forced to live where they lived and their freedoms remained unimproved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loneliness_of_the_Long_Distance_Runner
All of this was tied tightly together by the increased enforcement of gender roles and the keeping down of women lest they pose a threat to the male work force, or worse, to government powers. The Angry Young Men of the era, Sillitoe among them, preserved sharp gender roles and maintained a deeply misogynist point of view. The post-war surface changes sharpened materialism and neglected deeper justice and wellness needs, keeping class barriers firmly in place.
Though unstated in the story, in reality it was only as women began to take charge of their communities and use political office to create justice and education for all the people that things began to shift to a deeper vision of social justice and the long road toward its achievement. We are all still on that road and nowhere near its goal, given not only the Millennial Development Goals as a model, but keeping the deeper issue of pandemic misogyny ever in mind as cause for the ongoing oppression of women, even in countries that seem to be giving them equality by placing them in high office, yet without radically changing their difficulties in daily life and among their coworkers. Incidents of sexual abuse in the military demonstrate this problem most visibly, but the same is true on local police forces and throughout the work force on all levels, as well as within the secret lives of families.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori set the Millennial Development Goals as guidelines for Christian mission, both at the beginning of her term of office and during Lent of 2012, with emphasis on equality for women and education for everyone as primary. Perhaps now would be a good time to turn to them again in the ecumenical dialogue among women in ministry that the Philadelphia and Cambridge commemorative events will host. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals
I found Chariots of Fire with its historical focus and high caliber of people involved, especially Harold Abrahams and that holy man of China, Eric Liddell (now on our Episcopal Calendar of Saints), to be more directly inspiring and enjoyable, a very different approach to running, and the balance between individual contributors and teamwork. My poem feels more aligned with their story than with the alienation of The Loneliness . . . story, but I think there are important lessons for us to consider in the latter. Not so much has changed on a social-psychological level since the angry young men of post World War II and the contemporary testosterone and drug-driven domestic terrorists who take automatic weapons into schools, malls, churches and movie theaters, or rig a homemade pressure cooker bomb for the Boston Marathon to effect their own versions of Armageddon.
Because of the similar title of my poem to the movie, I've just looked up an analysis of what Tom Courtenay demonstrated in the 1962 Tony Richardson film, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, from a 1959 short story by Alan Sillitoe. {What an apt name for the author of such a title! My poem came from a visit a few years ago to the local podiatrist because I had a silly toe that was trying to distance itself from its neighbor to the right and crowd into its neighbor to the left~ The doc said nothing seemed wrong with the bones. It's since straightened itself out a bit, but what it was doing was widening the front of the foot to give it more strength and balance. Not a bad plan, even if the result was disconcerting. For a while my right foot middle and "ring" toes could give the Vulcan "V" greeting!} The story and movie describe the degradation and frustration of a young man living in poverty amid the pressures of the post-war welfare state created in England to support and raise the lifestyles of the working poor. The boy is sent to a prison reform school for robbing a bakery, and there he discovers how moving his body in long distance running can be an emotional outlet. The institution exploits his emerging talent and puts him in a falsely competitive role in a race with a prestigious upper class public school, turning him into a competitive class commodity. In the end, he refuses to be exploited and maintains his integrity by stopping short of the finish line, allowing others to go through, even though it was obvious to all that he had achieved the goal. In this way he maintains his personal integrity, his freedom and independence, and goes against the artifices of social status and rivalry. His understanding of running evolves into a pathway of dignity and strength that inspires others, though in the end his actions seem contrary, until it becomes clear upon reflection that he chose not to be a puppet of the institution but to retain his independent values and his sense of humanity regarding the rights of others as well as his personal freedom.
The boy represented the social stranglehold that improved life style created while leaving the people as powerless as ever. The Wikipedia page does a good job of analyzing the social impact that institutional powerlessness combined with apparently better conditions can create, as if the working poor would be anesthetized by access to modern appliances into believing that their role in society had risen, when in fact they were forced to live where they lived and their freedoms remained unimproved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loneliness_of_the_Long_Distance_Runner
All of this was tied tightly together by the increased enforcement of gender roles and the keeping down of women lest they pose a threat to the male work force, or worse, to government powers. The Angry Young Men of the era, Sillitoe among them, preserved sharp gender roles and maintained a deeply misogynist point of view. The post-war surface changes sharpened materialism and neglected deeper justice and wellness needs, keeping class barriers firmly in place.
Though unstated in the story, in reality it was only as women began to take charge of their communities and use political office to create justice and education for all the people that things began to shift to a deeper vision of social justice and the long road toward its achievement. We are all still on that road and nowhere near its goal, given not only the Millennial Development Goals as a model, but keeping the deeper issue of pandemic misogyny ever in mind as cause for the ongoing oppression of women, even in countries that seem to be giving them equality by placing them in high office, yet without radically changing their difficulties in daily life and among their coworkers. Incidents of sexual abuse in the military demonstrate this problem most visibly, but the same is true on local police forces and throughout the work force on all levels, as well as within the secret lives of families.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori set the Millennial Development Goals as guidelines for Christian mission, both at the beginning of her term of office and during Lent of 2012, with emphasis on equality for women and education for everyone as primary. Perhaps now would be a good time to turn to them again in the ecumenical dialogue among women in ministry that the Philadelphia and Cambridge commemorative events will host. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals
I found Chariots of Fire with its historical focus and high caliber of people involved, especially Harold Abrahams and that holy man of China, Eric Liddell (now on our Episcopal Calendar of Saints), to be more directly inspiring and enjoyable, a very different approach to running, and the balance between individual contributors and teamwork. My poem feels more aligned with their story than with the alienation of The Loneliness . . . story, but I think there are important lessons for us to consider in the latter. Not so much has changed on a social-psychological level since the angry young men of post World War II and the contemporary testosterone and drug-driven domestic terrorists who take automatic weapons into schools, malls, churches and movie theaters, or rig a homemade pressure cooker bomb for the Boston Marathon to effect their own versions of Armageddon.
I
didn't have any of this in mind when I wrote the poem below. It's the
title of the poem, the words spoken to me in a literal sense that made
no sense, but found immediate metaphoric resonance for me, that today (after I wrote the poem) led me to look up the
earlier film I'd seen years ago. I had found it very disconcerting to
watch, and reading the Wikipedia analysis gives me a better
understanding of context that adds meaning to the actions of the story. I
think that my poem and its unintentional but inevitable association
with the complexities of the post-war story in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
can be interpreted as a reminder to all of us that our personal
ministries are only a small part of the global picture. This means that
we should celebrate them no less vigorously and gratefully, but do so
very seriously as well, with regard to where we are on the spectrum of
transforming the face of the earth into a place of social justice and
health, in keeping with the ethical teachings and living example of
Christ.
Even though the United States and Europe appear to have better social structures than third world countries, even here in the West, domestic abuse, poverty, the suffering of children, dangers and difficulties in education and basic inequities in the workplace still exist. In countries where it is against the law for women to drive or learn to read and write, or where the State appropriates the work lives of women without addressing deeply ingrained misogyny, massive populations of humanity remain unaffected by our efforts toward enlightenment. As Bishop Barbara Harris reminded us from the pulpit of the Church of the Advocate at the 25th anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations [her sermon is in the second half of this page and also here: tributetobishopbarbaraharris.blogspot.com] ~we have to keep our sleeves rolled up and our eyes and ears open, and keep nudging the world to acknowledge its social and psychological injustices and to heal them.
It is deeply important for us to be aware of each other's efforts, and to draw courage and inspiration from our mothers and sisters in history. Here are a few other inspiring women to encourage us onward: http://allabozarthwordsandimages.blogspot.com/p/women-trees-and-sacred-earth15-women.html
Even though the United States and Europe appear to have better social structures than third world countries, even here in the West, domestic abuse, poverty, the suffering of children, dangers and difficulties in education and basic inequities in the workplace still exist. In countries where it is against the law for women to drive or learn to read and write, or where the State appropriates the work lives of women without addressing deeply ingrained misogyny, massive populations of humanity remain unaffected by our efforts toward enlightenment. As Bishop Barbara Harris reminded us from the pulpit of the Church of the Advocate at the 25th anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordinations [her sermon is in the second half of this page and also here: tributetobishopbarbaraharris.blogspot.com] ~we have to keep our sleeves rolled up and our eyes and ears open, and keep nudging the world to acknowledge its social and psychological injustices and to heal them.
It is deeply important for us to be aware of each other's efforts, and to draw courage and inspiration from our mothers and sisters in history. Here are a few other inspiring women to encourage us onward: http://allabozarthwordsandimages.blogspot.com/p/women-trees-and-sacred-earth15-women.html
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Alla Bozarth
Words and Images Welcoming Light in...
Beginning
with the poem, Gynergy~ Tribute Poem for Dr. Wangari Maathai
Celebration of Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi Poem, Circle of Fire Poems, The
Black...
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I must say that I have never felt lonely in ministry or the call to challenge injustice, for there are so many of us running together now. The age of the solo pilot is over. Jeannette Piccard enjoyed the shift from being a solitary target as a hero to a member of a courageous team force. Sue Hiatt loved to remind us that "a moving target is harder to hit," even if it is large, prominent or made of an intelligent and inspired multitude. [To read about my foray into my personal ordinations archives in 2006, and more deeply in 2011, type the first few words of "Digging Down into the Dusty Past" in the Search box.]
Now
back to the subject at hand. While taking pictures of my garden today,
it occurred to me that I should write about what the poem describes, so
here it is. Though very personal, I'm fairly sure you'll be able to
relate to it. It's embedded
below, hot off the soul.
Loving Blessings and ever yours in Christ,
Alla
Long
Distance Runner
"You were running a good race." Galatians 5:7
He
looked at the x-rays. He held my feet in his hands and studied them.
Presently,
he said, “In your life, you have been a long distance runner.”
Though
shocked, I said, “I have.”
What
did he mean, this scientist?
What
did I mean in hearing his words?
I
meant, Yes. I have run hard
for
long distances of space and time.
I
have run hard to achieve personal goals
and
apply them in concert with others through history.
Through
graceful teamwork together, we have changed history.
We
have won our victories, but they are small,
small compared to what remains to be done
in the wide world to create true justice with Earth,
justice for children, justice between men and women,
between the races and nations, justice between the wealthy
and those in need, justice of dignity for everyone and all species,
small compared to what remains to be done
in the wide world to create true justice with Earth,
justice for children, justice between men and women,
between the races and nations, justice between the wealthy
and those in need, justice of dignity for everyone and all species,
justice
for the healing of waters, justice for food distribution,
justice
of respectful and harmonious, enriching diversity
for different visions and versions of faith, and justice for right balance
for different visions and versions of faith, and justice for right balance
in
human thinking, acting, feeling, believing, working,
creating and re-creating, justice for positive relationship
with Creation and all creatures for our mutual well being and joy.
creating and re-creating, justice for positive relationship
with Creation and all creatures for our mutual well being and joy.
In
reality I began to argue with the doctor, dismayed
that he could think that my small feet, though well grounded
with the strong high arches of the dancer, could have
undertaken any form of athletics when that avenue was
closed to me by compromises of stamina, strength and
balance from infant stroke injury, but then I decided
that it would be banal and unwise to argue, and simply accepted
the statement as if he were a prescient prophet after the fact
who saw poetically into the depth and meaning of things,
and not merely a podiatrist.
And I thanked him
for telling me another side of who I am.
that he could think that my small feet, though well grounded
with the strong high arches of the dancer, could have
undertaken any form of athletics when that avenue was
closed to me by compromises of stamina, strength and
balance from infant stroke injury, but then I decided
that it would be banal and unwise to argue, and simply accepted
the statement as if he were a prescient prophet after the fact
who saw poetically into the depth and meaning of things,
and not merely a podiatrist.
And I thanked him
for telling me another side of who I am.
Alla
Renée Bozarth
Learning
to Dance in Limbo, copyright
2014
Carter Heyward responds and Alla replies:
"I thanked him for telling me another side of who I am." Your words to the podiastrist, dear sister, make me mindful of how your poems often affect me! You (and Janine Lehane [coeditor with Carter of the writings of Sue Hiatt in The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me], I should add!) and all of our great poets like Adrienne Rich and Mary Oliver tell us much about who we are, and quite a bit that we may not have realized until now.
“The
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” is one of my all time favorite
films. I saw it in college, in about 1963 or 64, at least ten years
before our ordination, and it resonated deeply in my 18 or 19 year old
self. I saw it then, and remember it now, as a story of someone who
defied the social pressures to compete and conform. True its context
was postWorldWar II England and its characters, male, male, male. But
my female self in 1960s USA (before the Vietnam War resistance had
really taken off, but right in the midst of the Civil Rights struggle)
evidently made connections with the hero of this powerful film. A
bit like the hero of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the very male
(and very macho!) Jack Nicholson character who appeared at about the
same time, in the early or mid 60’s I believe ….
Interesting
to me how these very male, and often sexist, figures did, in my youth,
touch and inspire me to be an uppity woman — perhaps not so much to
imitate them as to “borrow” their energy and non-conformist ethics in
order to join them in resisting the sexist, racist, greedy
principalities and powers that attempted — and still attempt — to shape
and control all of us.
Thanks, as always, Alla, for giving us voice!
Love,
Carter_____________
Dear Carter,
You
express it eloquently, Carter. I had the same experience with both
those movies, I think primarily because they showed the insanity of the
competitive gain system, the utterly soul-killing traits of narcissistic
materialism and robotic rigidity and conformity, a culture deeply
unfriendly to creativity and the soul ~ and to Christ and Christ-like
values. Both anti-heroes in these movies were wounded yet courageous and
valiant in their ways of resisting soul-death. I think that's why we
were both so inspired by them. God knows that in the Churches there are
people pushed toward hierarchical advancement for deep ego need reasons,
having nothing to do with Christ-like service to others, including the
service of courageous leadership. Narcissism-making families that
deny acceptance to their
children unless they can be used to enhance the prestige of the family~
those are the Petri dishes that grow the cultures of the
ego-and-rule-based and ruthless climb to the top, where alone one finds
acceptance and praise. "You're nothing if you're not best. Now prove
yourself." And yet we have broken bishops who find they are not nurtured
and blessed by power, but pressed into self-destructive rebellion later
in life, too often involving hurtful behavior toward others . . .
because power of this sort is empty victory and defeats the soul's
growth in God.
Dr. Charles Willie's theme from our ordinations sermon stays with me: We are called to practice tender loving defiance. I quote this so often. This is more than adolescent rebellion at any age. It is going against the toxic current in order to begin cleaning up the river, one more time. It is a process that must be repeated over and over again through history, as new areas are identified where integrity is missing.
Describing power simply as the ability to act effectively, Rollo May speaks of five kinds of toxic or life-giving power in his classic Power and Innocence: Exploitation as power over, manipulation as power under, competition as power against, representational power (such as practiced by elected leaders entrusted with the needs and will of the people) or nurturing power (such as parents of young children should practice) as power for~ and finally, integrative power as power with. Christians in service to others need to strive together for integrative power, power with others, who may together sometimes practice power for those who have no access to effective action in their own behalf.
Because we're human and immature, even the best of us will make mistakes, ego will continue to intrude, we'll slip, but we need to stay mindful of those spiritual growth-serving kinds of power as our goals, and continue to ask for forgiveness from God, ourselves and each other if we fall short or miss the mark, and keep on returning to and striving for right relationship within our communities, and between our own egos and souls, our fragile and often unwise surface selves and our core Selves where Spirit and Wisdom live.
Dr. Charles Willie's theme from our ordinations sermon stays with me: We are called to practice tender loving defiance. I quote this so often. This is more than adolescent rebellion at any age. It is going against the toxic current in order to begin cleaning up the river, one more time. It is a process that must be repeated over and over again through history, as new areas are identified where integrity is missing.
Describing power simply as the ability to act effectively, Rollo May speaks of five kinds of toxic or life-giving power in his classic Power and Innocence: Exploitation as power over, manipulation as power under, competition as power against, representational power (such as practiced by elected leaders entrusted with the needs and will of the people) or nurturing power (such as parents of young children should practice) as power for~ and finally, integrative power as power with. Christians in service to others need to strive together for integrative power, power with others, who may together sometimes practice power for those who have no access to effective action in their own behalf.
Because we're human and immature, even the best of us will make mistakes, ego will continue to intrude, we'll slip, but we need to stay mindful of those spiritual growth-serving kinds of power as our goals, and continue to ask for forgiveness from God, ourselves and each other if we fall short or miss the mark, and keep on returning to and striving for right relationship within our communities, and between our own egos and souls, our fragile and often unwise surface selves and our core Selves where Spirit and Wisdom live.
Love again and always,
Alla
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ReplyDeleteThank you for reading this and for your comment, Berthold Hanisch!
DeleteThe preservation of this history is vital to the human community -- to remember where we have been, and to honor those among us with the vision and courage to carry us all one step further into wholeness: a just and compassionate future. Thank you Alla.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this lovely affirmation which I am finding tonight! Comments on my blogs are rare, as they are set up like websites, not really blogs, so I am grateful to find a few positive ones now and then. You've given me the majority of blog post comments, always encouraging! Thank you for all that you do to right the world by your writing, Christin.
DeleteSince I'm not able to figure out how to find an edit button for this page, I'll add that in the photograph of the altar at St. Mark's Cathedral, Minneapolis, during the regularization/recognition ceremony of priests Jeannette Piccard and me, showing us flanking Bishop McNairy, I wrote that I thought the man kneeling nearest us on the right side of the picture was my husband, the Rev. Phil Bozarth-Campbell. I neglected to say that the man kneeling behind him is clearly the Very Rev. Douglas Fontaine, Dean of the Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteVery nice post. I absolutely appreciate this site. Continue the good work!
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