FW FEMALE PRIEST

Darla Miles reports

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FORT WORTH — Women cannot be priests. That has long been the stance of the Episcopal Diocese in Fort Worth.

It's a stand that hasn't changed, even though women have been ordained into the priesthood elsewhere in the U.S. for more than 30 years.

All of that changed on Sunday.

A procession of white robed priests, mostly men, filed into St. Luke's in the Meadow Episcopal Church Sunday afternoon.

"Is it your will that Susan Slaughter be ordained into the ministry?" a priest asked.

"It is," the congregation answered.

Slaughter is the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. It is a story that has made national headlines.

"To be able to say 'I will,' it was wonderful," she said. "I felt so free to be able to say that."

Slaughter had been a deacon for the past seven years, but Fort Worth was one of the last dioceses in the country that didn't ordain women to be priests.

The National Episcopal Church started ordaining women in 1977, which is one reason the church split last year.

"Emotionally, I'm overjoyed and deeply humbled," Slaughter said. "And I feel so in awe of all of the men and women, the lay people, the clergy who have been supporting me and are here to help celebrate."

More than a dozen women left the Episcopal Diocese years ago because they weren't allowed to be priests. Some of them returned for Sunday's ceremony.

"I didn't even try to apply because there was no need; there was no reason," said Lauren Gough, New York Lutheran pastor. "I didn't even bother about being turned down."

Gough left the Diocese 29 years ago. She returned home for the historic ordination from Upstate New York.

"I retire in September and I'm looking to move back to the area," she said. "Hopefully, I can be of some service as a retired priest in the Diocese."

It's a sign that Mother Susan is already making an impact.

 E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com