Three stories on Women's ordination marks 30-year milestone in Episcopal Church

1. Debate changed face of church

 

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

 

[ENS} Thirty years ago this spring the Episcopal Church approached the 65th General Convention with much trepidation -- and some wondering what the church would look like when the gathering adjourned.

 

As the church heads toward the 75th General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, June 13-21, the ordination of women is widely -- but not universally -- accepted. Yet predictions of a church torn apart did not fully materialize. 

 

Although some left the Episcopal Church over the issue, many observers feel that others joined because of the inclusion of women in all orders of ministry.

 

Full story: here

2. Toward Columbus: Movement for full inclusion of women's ministries has long history

 

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

 

[ENS] While the decision on women's ordination that faced the 1976 General Convention seemed innovative to some, the debate, in fact, took place 87 years after the Episcopal Church began ordaining women as deaconesses and 42 years after the first woman was made a priest in the Anglican Communion.

 

Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained a priest in 1944 in Hong Kong by Bishop R. O. Hall. To protect him from censure while awaiting the Anglican Communion's acknowledgement of her ordination, she decided not to function as a priest.

 

She was forced by the Communist government of the Peoples' Republic of China to work on a farm and then in a factory from 1958 to 1974. Deemed a counter-revolutionary, she had to undergo political re-education. Her orders were recognized in absentia in 1971. As China emerged from the Cultural Revolution, she resumed priestly ministry in the nationalized Chinese church. In 1981 she was allowed to visit family in Canada. She was licensed in the dioceses of Montreal and Toronto, where she later came to live until her death in 1992.

 

Full story: here

3. Toward Columbus: Women's Wall Timeline will trace history

 

[ENS] The history of women in the Episcopal Church will be featured on a timeline that is to stand in the nave of Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus during the General Convention.

 

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood, the Committee on the Status of Women decided it was important not only to recognize women who have been ordained priests and bishops, but other women who have contributed to the rich history of the Episcopal Church. The project is sponsored by the Episcopal Women's History Project, the Episcopal Women's Caucus, and the Committee on the Status of Women.

 

Full story: here