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Three generations of clergywomen serve at Massachusetts parish altar
Joining Sears, a deacon since 1982, were the Rev. Hannah Anderson, 53, St. Stephen's rector, and the Rev. Jenny Gregg, 30, newly ordained as a priest.
"I am pleased that there are three women [at the altar]," Sears said. "Three generations is probably unique in a way, from youth to middle age to the old. We are in a church that struggled with women's ordination at first. A group of pioneers went ahead with what they called irregular ordination. They broke down the doors and made it possible for future comers to proceed."
The large percentage of women in seminaries "has made people realize that the false barrier had no bearings on the ability to serve, to celebrate, to do anything to minister the church," she said. "It is always, for me, a kind of a celebration of women along with celebration of the Eucharist."
The ecclesiastical trio recently reflected on the spiritual journeys that brought them to St. Stephen's — and on the significance
of having three women as the parish's spiritual leaders.
"There is something holy about coming full circle with ordained women in leadership after many years of primarily male leadership in the church," Anderson said.
"For most of my ministry, I've been the only woman up there," she said. "There have been vibes against women, prejudice against women. I almost left seminary because of it. It was initially troubling, but I found that women have particular skills for this vocation. Because it is a difficult path to ordained ministry in the church for women, we bring a level of excellence wrought out of perseverance."
A lifetime of service
Sears followed her path to the diaconate without leaving her home turf. Born in Rhinebeck, New York, she grew up in Dalton, Massachusetts. Church always was part of her life; even as a child, she often trudged alone to Sunday services.
After graduating from a junior college in Virginia and working for a time in a New York City department store, she returned to the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts, married and had four children. Always finding time to volunteer at St. Stephen's, she became director of the parish Christian education program and prepared for a church career in a three-year diocesan training course that led to her ordination.
Along the way, she continued her studies, enrolling in courses at Oxford University and in Durham, England, and St. Deiniol's College in Wales. She also spent three months as a consultant on Christian education at Coventry Cathedral. In the Berkshires, Sears became known as a preacher and a minister to the poor and sick and those with no one to care for them. She has served with five bishops and numerous priests — most recently Anderson — during 50 years in the parish of giving and learning, of baptizing, marrying, burying and setting the altar for Holy Eucharist.
A rector's journey
Now in her third year as rector at St. Stephen's, Anderson was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and first nurtured as a Quaker. She graduated from the University of Washington with a major in Spanish and education. She taught for Head Start in Everett, Washington, and then worked with disabled and bilingual children in Pennsylvania. After marriage and two sons, she became a part-time swimming director. Then, in her early 30s, she took a course that led her to the Episcopal Church. In 1986, she was baptized at age 33.
After four years in seminary, Anderson was ordained a deacon in 1994 in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. A year later, she was ordained a priest, after serving in a yoked parish and as a Hershey Medical Center chaplain. She served as rector at churches in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Briarcliff, New York, and became a chaplain at Ground Zero after the attacks of September 11, 2001. That work led her to a post with the Diocese of New York as a canon for congregational development and as rector of a small church in Mahopac, New York.
Maryland beginnings
Gregg's life in the Episcopal Church began as a child in St. Michael's, Maryland, where she was an active member of Christ Episcopal Church. While studying at Elmira College in New York, she was the summer Christian education director at Camp Wright in the Diocese of Easton.
After graduating from Elmira in 1999, she worked for Head Start and ARC, a social-service agency, in Binghamton, New York. Gregg said she realized that, "instead of teaching letters to 4- and 5-year-olds, I wanted to teach about God."
Her wish was fulfilled when she found work as a youth minister in Philadelphia, where she stayed until she went to divinity school. She was ordained a deacon nearly five years later.
The rector of her church advised her to seek a parish in an urban community that had "an artistic flair" and a vested interest in the larger community. Not knowing where to turn, she consulted a friend who answered: Hannah Anderson. The friend's call to Anderson led to Gregg's arrival at St. Stephen's and her ordination to the priesthood on December 15, 2007.
Gregg plans and develops liturgies and Christian-formation experiences across the generations at St. Stephen's and in the Berkshires. She also makes sure that newcomers feel welcome in the parish, and she wants to help teens develop into "mature Christians," she said.
Gregg works with other parishes in developing a Center for Servant Leadership that is modeled after similar schools, such as The Servant School of Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.
During each Sunday's Eucharist, Gregg said, "I cannot help but think about the history of women's ordination that is embodied around the altar."
"It is a wonderful witness to the church's history and the women, like Gwen, Hannah and countless others, who have paved the way for women like myself," she said. "I do not take for granted the opposition and struggle that women faced so that I can be here at the altar. I am ever grateful. It is a blessing I cherish and am reminded of daily."
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