From The Wall Street Journal-
For three decades, a succession of conservative bishops here barred women from being ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church.
But the conservatives went their own way last fall, forming the Anglican Church in North America. And so on Sunday, exactly one year after that schism, Susan Slaughter will become the first woman in the Episcopal Church's Forth Worth diocese to don a red stole for ordination to the priesthood.
"God works in mysterious ways," Ms. Slaughter said, "and this is one of those."
The national Episcopal Church has been ordaining women priests since 1977, but a handful of holdout bishops around the country, including here in Fort Worth, refused. Bishop Jack Iker viewed women's ordination as a departure from traditional church practices and a break from the Biblical model of male priesthood.
Bishop Iker and the traditional faction of the diocese that he leads have taken little note of Ms. Slaughter's pending ordination. "What they're doing, they're doing," Dean Ryan Reed said. "We're heading down two different paths."
Those aligned with the national church, meanwhile, are rejoicing. "It's like Juneteenth," said Father Vernon Gotcher, referring to a holiday marking the day the last slaves in America were liberated. "You discover that you are free. The new has arrived."
The ceremony at St. Luke's in the Meadow -- where Ms. Slaughter will become rector after her ordination -- is expected to be packed. It will be streamed live online for those who can't find seats.
Ms. Slaughter said she's overwhelmed. "The joy others are feeling humbles me," she said.
More here-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125781264990639943.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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