Rev. Mary M. Simpson, 85, Dies; Pioneer in Episcopal Clergy

From The New York Times-

The Rev. Mary Michael Simpson, the first Episcopal nun to be ordained a priest and the first ordained woman to preach a sermon in Westminster Abbey, died Wednesday in Augusta, Ga. She was 85.

The cause was kidney failure, said Sister Carol Andrew of the Order of Saint Helena, of which Canon Simpson was a member.

Canon Simpson was ordained a priest on Jan. 9, 1977, and installed as a canon of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan later that year, when the role of women in the Episcopal Church was a matter of heated debate.

Even though the Church of England said it had no official objection to women joining the priesthood in the Anglican Communion — which includes the Episcopal Church — lay opinion and the private views of the clergy were often more conservative. By 1978, women had become priests in Anglican Communion churches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, but not yet in the United Kingdom.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/us/23simpson.html