Carter

It's not often you come face to face with someone whose life has changed your own.

One of the benefits of having a longer lens is the chance to be reminded of the forks in the road that led you to where you are. The older you become, the more complicated the tapestry, including all the intersections where someone else has altered your trajectory.

In 1974, while I was still in middle school and dreaming of becoming the next Chris Evert, Carter Heyward and ten other women took an audacious leap of faith and were "irregularly" ordained in the Episcopal Church, USA. The "Philadelphia Eleven," as they would later come to be known, were the first women to become priests in my church. In 1976 this act was officially condoned by the institutional powers that be during General Convention, to the chagrin and annoyance of many. 

Last month I had the chance to hear Carter, now 79 years old, talk about her renegade youth. And while I was enormously grateful to listen to her reflections firsthand, I couldn't help but think what she did that July day, some 50 years ago, changed my life as well.

As 2025 peeks over the horizon, perhaps it's a good time to remember the impact of our own words and actions. Whose life might we have transformed today?

"Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good." - from Wicked, written by Stephen Schwartz