Women’s Oral History Project

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of women to the Episcopal priesthood, the Diocese of Rhode Island undertook an oral history project that features interviews with five history-making women with deep connections to the diocese.

The women interviewed were:

  • The Rev. Jo-Ann Drake, the first woman from the diocese to be ordained to the priesthood. (Her ordination, by Bishop Frederick Belden, the tenth bishop of Rhode Island took place in the Pennsylvania parish where she was serving as a deacon.) Read the interview.
  • The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz, canon to the ordinary from 2013 to 2019, who was present at both the ordination of the Philadelphia 11 on July 29, 1974 and the 1976 General Convention where the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women to the priesthood. Read and watch the interview.
  • The Rev. Elizabeth Habecker, former member of the diocesan Standing Committee, who was the first woman ordained in the Diocese of Maine. Read and watch the interview.
  • The Rev. Elizabeth (Libby) Nestor, priest and emergency room physician, who was the first woman ordained within the diocese. Read and watch the interview.
  • The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, the diocese’s first female bishop. Read and watch the interview.

“One of the gifts we will leave the future generations of the Episcopal Church is an account of the experience of pioneering women who pushed us to recognize their call to ordained ministry in spite of fierce opposition in the wider Church,” says Bishop Nicholas Knisely. “And it’s important that we allow them to tell their own story, giving the gift of their voice and experience to the generations to come.

“That, in a nutshell, is the idea behind this Oral History project, particularly for the people of the Diocese of Rhode Island. It will give us a way to reflect on how these women responded to the Holy Spirit in moving us to a new place where all people could respond to the Spirit’s stirring in their hearts. I hope people take time to reflect on these stories. And, perhaps, even consider a similar oral history project with the elders in your own congregation.”

The interviews were conducted by the Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg.

A note on the transcripts: In 1974, Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts merged with Philadelphia Divinity School to create Episcopal Divinity School, which, until 2018 had its campus in Cambridge. The names EDS and ETS are used sometimes interchangeably in these interviews.

image: The Resurrected Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene, St. Paul’s, Pawtucket