Women Deacons Celebrate Eucharist at Riverside Church
Diocesan Press Service. October 28, 1974 [74299]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Three women deacons in the Episcopal Church who underwent a service of ordination to the priesthood in Philadelphia on July 29, celebrated the Eucharist on October 27 at the interdenominational Riverside Church.
The women conducted the service in defiance of their own bishops who had inhibited them from priestly functions. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church last August declared the Philadelphia ceremony invalid for the Episcopal Church.
The three deacons leading the service were the Rev. Allison Cheek of Virginia, the Rev. Carter Heyward of New York, and the Rev. Jeanette Piccard of Minnesota.
Women from other churches helped plan the ecumenical service, called the Service of Celebration of Women in the Ministry.
The sermon was preached by the Rev. Carol Anderson, a deacon on the staff of St. James' Episcopal Church, New York City, who said, "We speak because it is imperative. We act because we must be faithful. If we err in this act we will be judged. Here we stand. We can do no other."
Support for the women was offered by Dr. Charles V. Willie, professor of education and urban studies at Harvard, who resigned recently as vice president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies as a protest over the bishops' August ruling.
"Tonight we take another giant step in cleansing the church of the sins of sexism," Dr. Willie said. "What do church leaders think about this service? It really does not matter. Are these women acceptable to God? That is the agony of this hour. And, if they are, the church shall not prevail against them."