Rev. Mary Michael Simpson, one of the pioneers of women's ordination in the Episcopal Church, died on Wednesday in Augusta GA at the age of 85.
Rev. Simpson was the first Episcopal nun to be ordained a priest, and was also the first ordained woman to preach a sermon at Westminster Abbey.
Rev. Simpson was ordained a priest on Jan. 9, 1977, 8 days after the first "regular" ordination of women to the priesthood after General Convention in 1976 (the earlier "irregular" ordinations in 1974 and 1975 were regularized at that time). She served as Canon Residentiary at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, with responsibility for all counseling services. I was unable to find when she retired from her service as a Canon; perhaps someone else can fill in this detail?
In her contribution to the book Yes to Women Priests (delightfully available in its entirety online), Rev. Simpson writes of what it felt like to finally have one's vocation recognized and be ordained:
Becoming a priest is indescribably wonderful. Perhaps it is particularly true of a long-delayed vocation that there is a sense of ‘coming home’, of ‘this is where I should be’, of having found my seat in life. Since it is a spiritual home, it brings with it a security that comes with having one’s treasures where ‘neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves cannot break through and steal’. God’s grace and bounty is suddenly showered forth, and I had a sense that never before had I known such joy and fulfilment. Though it is difficult to communicate feelings of this sort, I would assume that something like this is more or less universal in regard to being ordained priest, and not just true of women.
It's still hard to believe that as recent as 35 years ago, women were just starting to be ordained, and the controversy that surrounded such issues. In fact, there are still places in the Communion where the service of women at God's altar is restricted to just the traditional Altar Guild. (Wikipedia has a decent breakdown as to which parts of the Communion ordain women, and which ones elevate women priests to bishop status.) Even here in the Episcopal Church, there are dioceses that refuse to ordain women or sponsor them for seminary attendance; my own parish sponsored a woman who came with her husband from the Diocese of San Joaquin, one of those more conservative (I'm trying to be charitable and not call them backward) dioceses.
In her sermon at Westminster in 1978, just over a year after her ordination, Rev. Simpson addressed the issue head-on, asserting that the restrictions on women's ordination essentially made women "second-class Christians."
“Christian creativity for the present age must not depend on male leaders,” she told a gathering of about 700 people. “Woman’s contribution — from women properly trained and authorized — is essential.”
We see the struggles of women in the 1960s and 70s echoed even now, in the efforts of our GLBT brothers and sisters to be allowed full exercise of their gifts at God's altar as priests and bishops. I have had the pleasure and honor of worshipping under the leadership and guidance of several women priests, as well as gay and lesbian priests; all have added to my understanding of the greatness of God as He has created us: male and female, straight and gay.
Father of all, we pray to you for Mary, and for all those whom
we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let
light perpetual shine upon them. May her soul and the souls
of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.