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Justice O'Connor speaks at conference for women in ministry
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-066-3
Posted: Tuesday, March 25, 2003
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Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke on the subjects of women in power and leadership at the Conference for Women in Ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), infusing her speech with stories of her own personal struggles in working her way to the top of the judicial system.
Some of the conference participants and leaders were pioneers in the struggle for ordination of women in the church--including the Rev. Alison Cheek and the Rev. Nancy Hatch Wittig who were among the 11 women 'irregularly' ordained in Philadelphia in 1974, setting in motion a chain of events that led to a General Convention decision in 1976 opening all orders of ministry to women. Also, Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, recently retired suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Washington and the second woman elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church, led a workshop on 'Women in the Episcopate.'
In her welcome, VTS Dean and President Martha J. Horne, the first woman to head an Episcopal seminary, acknowledged Cheek and Hatch, both graduates of the school, for their 'persistent efforts on behalf of the ordination of women [who] broke open the doors that had been tightly bolted…doors through which the rest of us have been able to walk.'
O'Connor, who knows something about breaking open doors, ended her speech with some advice to the audience. 'It's all well and good to be the first, but just don't be the last,' she said.
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| © 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS. |
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