The Philadelphia Eleven
A film by Margo Guernsey and Nikki Bramley
Time Travel Productions Ltd.
The Philadelphia Eleven recounts the story of the first 11 women ordained as priests of the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974. The film has debuted several months before the church celebrates the 50th anniversary of these ordinations, reminding us just how recently the ordination of women as priests was strongly opposed by both male clergy and laity.
Using archival footage and contemporary interviews, the 90-minute film traces the history of the 11 women: Merrill Bitner, Alla Renee Bozarth-Campbell, Alison Cheek, Marie Moorefield Fleischer, Emily Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne Hiatt, Jeannette Piccard, Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Swanson, and Nancy Wittig. The film offers firsthand accounts by Heyward, Bozarth-Campbell, Bitner and Wittig — along with Cheek, who has since died. Also appearing in the documentary are the late Pauli Murray, the first Black woman to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church on January 8, 1977, and the late Bishop Barbara Harris, the first woman (and first Black woman) to be ordained and consecrated a bishop on September 24, 1988.
The documentary invites viewers into these women’s journeys— through roadblocks, threats of violence and death, and the admonition of priests, bishops, and a presiding bishop — along the path to ordination. Although the 11 women were diverse in background and age, they shared a sense or calling to the work of priests — and the film reveals the depth of their commitment to the belief in their calling and their willingness to suffer the consequences of that commitment. The documentary moves deftly between footage of more recent interviews with the women, recalling their determination on the road to the 1974 ordinations, and archival footage showing the women’s struggles leading up to their ordinations.
The year 1970 brought two events that began a sea change in the Episcopal Church: The first women were ordained as deacons, and the first women were seated as voting deputies at the church’s General Convention. Bitner made an impassioned plea for the ordination of women as priests. Although the measure gained traction, it was voted down. Three years later, when the measure was brought back before the next General Convention, it fell again.
Merrill Bitner states in the film that “the oppressor cannot be the instrument of the liberation of the oppressed.”
Bitner’s observation is duly noted: Persons who vehemently opposed the ordination of women were unlikely to become supporters in any way. But the ordination of women would necessarily require the support of male bishops and priests. The documentary introduces viewers to male clergy — bishops and priests — who stood in support of the ordination of women, even as other clergy and laypersons intensely disagreed, on theological and ideological bases.
By 1974, 11 women who believed they were called to the priesthood had been identified as deacons in good standing, with recognizable accomplishments in ministry — women who could otherwise be qualified to be ordained as priests but for their sex. Three retired bishops agreed to ordain the women: Daniel Corrigan, retired Bishop Suffragan of Colorado; Robert L. DeWitt, retired Bishop of Pennsylvania; and Edward R. Welles II, retired Bishop of West Missouri. The three retired bishops were joined by Bishop Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica.
The film shows another kind of courage and solidarity. The women’s ordination was held in Philadelphia — the same city in which Absalom Jones became the first Black man to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1802, by Bishop William White. The Church of the Advocate —a Black parish in Philadelphia — was the site of the women’s ordination.
Although no Black women deacons were identified as being ready to be ordained as priests at the time, the documentary shows how the Church of the Advocate was willing to stand in solidarity with the women, just a decade after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and in the midst of nationwide conversation regarding the Equal Rights Amendment. The mixed-race crowd gathered at the ordination and shown in archival videos showed support for the women. The archival footage also revealed condemnation of the ordination.
After their ordinations, the 11 women initially were unable to serve churches or celebrate the Eucharist. Alison Cheek made history at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church in Washington, D.C., when she became the first woman to celebrate the Eucharist in an Episcopal church on November 10, 1974, having been welcomed there by the Rev. William Wendt. Cheek had been a married mother of four children before being ordained at age 46.
St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church made news again when four more women — Lee McGee Street, Alison Palmer, Betty Powell Rosenberg, and Diane Tickell —were ordained there on September 7, 1975. Bishop George W. Barrett, retired Bishop of Rochester, presided at that ordination.
Bishops Corrigan, DeWitt, Welles and Barrett were all censured by the House of Bishops for their part in the ordination of the first 15 women. Both Wendt and Peter Beebe, who invited Alison Cheek to celebrate the Eucharist at Christ Church, Oberlin, Ohio, on December 7, 1974, faced charges for having violated church canons by allowing Cheek to serve as celebrant.
Beebe was convicted, and although his conviction was overturned, he left the priesthood. If there is an honest critique of the film, it is that it doesn’t seem to give sufficient acknowledgment to the courage of the men who stood with the women, liberators of the oppressed and without whose support their ordinations and public ministry would have been impossible. The story of Peter Beebe’s conviction — and the attorney who represented him, John Rea, is especially worth noting.
Deputies to General Convention in 1976 voted to allow the ordination of women and to approve the ordinations of the women from 1974 and 1975.”As of 2022, 6,180 women have been ordained as Episcopal priests,” the film says. “Of those, it is estimated that 10% or 600 are women of color.” It adds, “As of 2022, 30% of all active Episcopal bishops are women and 40% of all active Episcopal priests are women.” The documentary celebrates the story of women priests, as it challenges viewers to consider other ways in which the Church may not be perceived as welcoming for all of God’s people.
Information about streaming rights for The Philadelphia Eleven, and showings in various locations, is available at philadelphiaelevenfilm.com. The first online screening is scheduled for March 8 on Kimema.
