On Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 10 am, EDS hosted a public conversation at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The event featured Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, the Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool, and Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, marking the 50th anniversary of Dr. Heyward and four other women deacons' significant act of liturgical protest at the Cathedral, where they presented themselves for ordination to the priesthood.
This conversation was part of a larger series of commemorations leading up to the 50th anniversary of the ordinations of the Philadelphia Eleven—the first women ordained priests in The Episcopal Church—in July 2024. The event was held in partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of New York's Taskforce for Commemorating the Ordination of Women at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Click here for a guide to the program
Historical Resources
- Digitized audio recording from the 1973 service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
- Statement of Episcopal Women's Caucus distributed at the end of the Dec 15, 1973 Ordination Service
- Letter from Pauli Murray to Bp. Paul Moore, December 16, 1973
- Letter from Pauli Murray to Bp. Paul Moore, December 26, 1973
- Women Deacons Ask for Priesthood (1973), Episcopal New Yorker
EDS thanks the Diocese of New York—particularly its archivist Wayne Kempton—for these resources and permission to share them with the public.