On Saturday, December 9 at 10am, join EDS for a public conversation between the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, the Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool, and the Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This event will mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Heyward and four other women deacons presenting themselves for ordination to the priesthood in the Cathedral in an act of liturgical protest. The event is 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. It is hosted in partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of New York's Taskforce for Commemorating the Ordination of Women.
This event will take place at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, located at 1047 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027. You can also watch the livestream below!
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.