Readers respond to 'Women's ordination: not all consequences were positive'
Episcopal News Service. September 1, 2009 [090109-02]
Episcopal Life Online has received a number of responses to the Opinion article "Women's ordination: not all consequences were positive" by Alda Marsh Morgan. A sampling of letters is included below.
Thurman Hart • Jersey City, New Jersey
I would like to thank Alda Marsh Morgan for speaking up. It is all too easy to forget that each step forward brings its own pains, as well as rewards. Her experience is similar to that faced by middle-class and professional Blacks when racial integration was forced upon society.
Under Jim Crow, a whole class of Black professionals -- lawyers, doctors, teachers, nurses, etc. -- had been forced to be created because white professionals simply did not want to provide services to Blacks. Once integration was pushed, it was these professionals that lost their jobs and businesses. After all, it had been proven that Black doctors of the time had gone to inferior schools. Who would want to accept second-best when they didn't have to? When all-black and all-white schools were closed, it was the black teachers who found themselves without jobs -- not their white contemporaries.
This is not to say that it was wrong to force racial integration upon society. It was, and is, one of the greatest steps forward to recognizing the promise of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, as well as a step towards a community of believers that looks past outward appearance for justification of full communion. But it was not without a price -- neither in the winning, nor in the imposition.
I would suspect that there are some of the costs that continue to accrue, though I lack the data to make such a statement unilaterally. In the long run, the changes were for the better. But, in the long run, we are all dead anyway. It is what we do for each other during that run that matters. Unfortunately, as we are shown here, not enough consideration was taken at the time to matter. Let us move forward all the wiser for this knowledge, and seek to not repeat the sins of the past
Lee Teed • San Diego, California
I really appreciate hearing Alda Morgan's experience regarding the ordination of women, even though it made me very uncomfortable and very sad. I had no idea women's ordination increased the struggle she and other women had as professionals in the church. The Church needs all our gifts and I am grateful she found her niche in theological education and became a part of the training of women seminarians, me included. Thanks for sharing the not-so-wonderful part of our history.
The Rt. Rev. Joel Marcus Johnson • Easton, Maryland
I am under the impression that Ms. Morgan had been a Deaconess in The Episcopal Church, even though she does not use that term in her fine essay. This was the biblical office of ministry for which women were "set apart." Among those in the Scriptures are Phoebe and Prisca, the latter the wife of Aquila, Paul's bishop in Antioch, predecessor of Ignatius. Deaconesses served in enormous numbers during the first millennium as administrators, teachers and hospitaliers, but also significantly in ministries for women. The movement disappeared by the ninth century, given the rising tide of women's monastic orders. The Church of England and The Episcopal Church revived the office in the 19th Century. In the United States, the role of the deaconess was invaluable in both the urban East and Westward expansion of the missionary districts.
Unfortunately, this biblical ministry was abolished at the 1976 General Convention, at which the illegal ordinations of the "Philadelphia Eleven" were regularized and the ordination of women approved. However, the ministry of deaconesses has been quite successfully revived by several of the "Continuing Church" denominations.
Ms. Morgan deserves all of our thanks for her vital ministry in the Church, and that of the hundreds of other deaconesses forced out of service. Let us pray that one day the Church will return to this vital gift of ministry from the Bible.
Those desiring to learn more of this exciting ministry may google "deaconesses," or use the same term in amazon.com's search engine for quite a number of works.
Joel Marcus Johnson is rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Easton.
Judith Gregory • Newark, Delaware
While I sympathize with Ms. Morgan, this has always been the tension between cleric and lay, regardless of gender. Opening equal opportunities in one area can have the affect of diminishing others. As a lay person who has worked for the church for 15 years plus, worked for the ECS in Sudan, facilitated Bible Study, it never ceases to amaze me that people often query about me asking when I will be "ordained." I laugh each time, but wondered why it is that as a lay person expands their roles in ministry the next question centers around "ordination."
I wish that Ms. Morgan had met with enlightened priests and congregations that realized the jobs should have been hers. Why were our leaders not creating more congregations, bringing more into the fold of the ECUSA, so that everyone could realize their ministries. There would be so much growth that we would have a shortage.
Ann Fontaine • Lander, Wyoming
I am sorry to see that the lack of ability to fulfill this laywoman's hoped-for vocation is being blamed on ordained women. It is not women, but clericalism in the church. Blaming other women is a classic case of lateral violence -- one sees it in all oppressed communities. We blame each other when the system is actually the problem.
Bruce Green • Lubbock, Texas
I certainly understand that the ordination of women can be a negative to committed lay women in ministry. The same in true of men, and has led to many ordinations that led to ministries that would work better among lay persons. Perhaps someone will take a serious look at what the church really needs in ordained persons, defining ordination as something more distinctive and not allowing it to be some sort of authentication of ministry. I doubt that the "Princes of the Church" are very well qualified to do such a discernment. Instead, why not ask lay persons what they need to enable their ministry?
Beverly Van Horne • Bonne Terre, Missouri
I think ENS's omission of the Rev. Imelda Pasdasdao from its piece on St. Paul's Church in Honolulu, Hawai'i, practically makes Alda Marsh Morgan's point. Imelda was the first Filipina priest EVER, and why she is not a part of the story told by Episcopal News Service about that congregation is a mystery to me. A sad mystery.
The Rev. Mildred J. Solomon • New Bedford, Massachusetts
Thank you for Ms. Morgan's interesting insight into women's ministry within the Episcopal Church before ordination. I could identify with all that you wrote, as I was a Church Army Sister within the Episcopal Church during the early days when women weren't allowed to be ordained. I served in parish ministry, worked extremely hard for the widow's mite, no pension, and all the reward of serving Jesus Christ. The ministries in which I was privileged to serve were in places that most women and men wouldn't think about going. It was great joy that I served in parishes in urban communities and among Native Americans, and was able to teach Christian formation, along with empowering people with all the gifts and talents that God had given them. The worst part of the ministry was the attitude of many ordained women clergy that didn't want to share ministry with a lay person, and therefore didn't have much respect for my own call to ministry.
The Rev. John Tolley • Chula Vista, California
Thanks to Ms. Morgan for her thoughtful article. I think her observations apply to men as well as women. I have noted that among some clergy and lay persons alike, there is an attitude.
It is sort of a questioning; e.g. if you have this fine theological education, why were you not ordained? It is sort of relegating them to all of the company of those who do not have such educational backgrounds. It is sad, for the Church loses many talented persons because of such discrimination. We are blessed at the parish I serve at now as a retired priest to have a man with an excellent theological education who is the assistant headmaster of our school and parish administrator. He completed Roman Catholic seminary but decided not to be ordained. But I rather think he is an exception.
The Rev. Mary S. Janda • Sandy, Utah
It is so important to hear women's stories in our church, especially the ones about pain. I have been ordained a little over a year and a half and most of my adult life prior to this was as an active lay woman in the church. Having grown up as a "priest's kid," I know the power of the collar and how others are sometimes lost in the shadow of this. Wouldn't it be wonderful to one day be in the church where the only important matter is the heart and its willingness and determination to follow Christ's teachings? This should be the focus and not whether one has a step up on people because of ordination.
I am so sorry that Ms. Morgan was treated in such a dismissive fashion. I hope her story will be received as a reminder that we all have various ministries to do in this life and all are seen by God as good.
Edward L. Lee, Jr. • Merion Station, Pennsylvania
I want to thank Alda Marsh Morgan for her accurate and uncomfortable article. Through the prism of the Baptismal Covenant she is right on target. For the record, I had the privilege of being a campus ministry colleague of Alda's in the Diocese of Pennsylvania in the 1960s. We served on different campuses. She was skilled and effective and held her own with all sorts of campus ministers, both lay and ordained, Episcopal and ecumenical, women and men. Profound changes and shifts in the ordered life of any institution always have their trade-offs. This was and is true with the ordination of women. Certainly it was right and long overdue. But the trade-off was that it aided and abetted a clericalism that continues to this day, a clericalism that at its worst assumes vocational privilege and hierarchical entitlement. The daily baptismal ministries of the laity are far from being recognized and supported as the first order of ministry in the church even though our canons and the Book of Common Prayer define them as such. To be sure, baptism has moved to center stage in our common life in the same period that women have been ordained. It could even be argued that there is a correlation between them. But the full ministerial solemnity of baptism is far from being realized. Alda Marsh has reminded us of that and I am grateful.
Edward L. Lee, Jr. is retired Bishop of Western Michigan and assisting Bishop, Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Bruce Garner • Atlanta, Georgia
I guess this opinion baffles me. How can the ordination of one person really have a negative impact on the ordination or lack thereof of another person? It's difficult to see how one ministry can denigrate or reduce another ministry. We employed lay professionals in my parish in a variety of roles. Sometimes we hire ordained folks for those roles. It's not always an issue of ordained vs. lay as much as it is the qualifications of the individual measured against what we are seeking in hiring someone.
One also has to wonder if in a similar story related to the inclusion of people of color if the "negative" impact on those who opposed such integration should have been included. As a worst case scenario that might actually mean that a Klan member's statement of negative impact would be included.
I guess I have learned things differently. I rejoice in the inclusion of all in the church's attempts to carry out God's mission among us. If our goal really is to contribute to God's mission among us, what does it say when we look for ways to include those things which impact that work in a negative way solely to note their existence? It would seem apparent to most of us that there are always some who will see negativity in any movement toward the work of carrying out God's mission if we are more interested in who gets the work done than in getting the work done.
The Rev. Jessica A Hatch • Salt Lake City, Utah
Thanks to Dr. Morgan for sharing a truth that must be painful to recall and continue to live. I suppose it is easy to say that ordained women, myself included, owe our own acceptance to the work of lay professional church women, and historically to the precedents set by the Women's Auxiliary, to deaconesses and to Episcopal Church Women. I can only apologize for my own lack of awareness and sensitivity, for my failure to insist on the recognition and embrace of all women in ministry in our church. Her story has helped me re-value and appreciate all those professionals but even more, those who became so by virtue of the fact they were spouses of male clergy -- women who worked tirelessly to play the organ, teach the parish's children, support other women in the parish and support their husband's vocation in countless ways. How cruel it must have seemed to them that their work often was taken for granted, or even exploited. Thank you for sharing a truth which has not been shared as broadly as it needs to be.
Titus Presler • White Plains, New York
Thanks to Alda for her candid and courageous sharing of the pain that attended the ordination of women for lay women church workers. It reminds me of how careless and unkind our church can be precisely at the points when it feels best about itself because it is righting a historic wrong. As Desmond Tutu said about missionaries, "It helps a lot if we who come with the gospel of grace can ourselves be gracious" (not an exact quote, but close). Alda's service to the church has been deep and persevering, and I thank her for it.
Steve Weston • Buena Vista, Colorado
Forty years of ordination have repeatedly taught me that, paraphrasing Bonhoeffer in "The Cost of Discipleship," when Christ calls a man or woman to ordination, he is summoning that person to die. I suppose one become aware of this paradox and irony when the institution itself kills the spirits of its own people, especially women who aspire for ordination or professional members of the laity who wish to live out their lives fulfilling their baptismal vows.
I have worked closely on the staffs of three bishops. Two were servants to the core, and the third was a tyrant. We continue to elect people as priests and bishops whose main goal is self-serving narcissism. Perhaps this informs Jesus's injunction about the need for serpent slyness and dove innocence. The Spirit does blow where it will, and we know the sound of it because it has converted us many times. But the killer instinct in those we assume to be the best people is always alive and well.
So we live on, joyously, in the face of death. Always there is resurrection on the other side of the mirror, in the darkness, especially for those whom we seem to nail, and for some reason need to nail again and again.