Fifty years ago this July, a brave group of women shattered the stained-glass ceiling by challenging the very core patriarchal culture to seek ordination as priests in the Episcopal Church. St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton will host a public screening of The Philadelphia Eleven, a compelling new documentary film about these women on Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m. Despite resistance, disrespect, and exclusion, these women defined the norms and transformed an age-old institution.
The film sheds light on their lives, exploring the personal risks they undertook for the sake of their beliefs and their love for the church. St. Matthew’s organizers call the film “a powerful story of faith and conviction. It is a story for all of us, regardless of faith tradition, that doesn’t just recount history but reflects the continuing struggles faced by women today,” a press states.
“We’re in a space where women’s rights are starting to get rolled back, and to understand the stories of the women who come before us and the shoulders we stand on is the only way we move forward,” Margo Guernsey, the film’s director and producer said. An independent, Massachusetts-based filmmaker, Guernsey said she never heard about the Philadelphia 11 until she had a phone conversation with one of its leaders, the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, and came away wanting to know more.
Following the showing of the film in Wilton, Heyward will speak and answer questions about her experience. In the early 1970s she and Suzanne Hiatt, another “member of the 11,” were studying at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. “It was not until the [General] convention in Louisville in 1973 rejected women’s ordination … that we realized something needed to be done to sort of crack this thing open,” Heyward, now 79, told Religion News Service.
Guernsey, who is not an Episcopalian, emphasizes that this is a story for everyone. “It is about how to break down barriers with grace and be true to oneself in the process. This story reveals ways in which voices that are inconvenient are often buried. It also provides a vision for what a just and inclusive community looks like in practice,” she said
The screening is free and open to all, and refreshments will be served. Dr. Heyward will also preach at the 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist that day and all are also welcome to attend worship. St. Matthew’s (35 New Canaan Rd.) is an open, welcome, and affirming community.