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Monday, July 31, 2006 - Bangor Daily News
Mass held for priest who made history - Episcopal pioneer Swanson laid to rest (full text)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 9, 2006

Pioneer Women Priests to Bury Katrina Swanson

As the worldwide Anglican Communion threatens to expel the American Episcopal Church for ordaining women and gays and for choosing a woman as Presiding Bishop, five of the first eleven irregularly ordained women priests are coming to Bar Harbor to bury their sister, Katrina Swanson, at 10 a.m. on July 30, 2006, in the principal Sunday service at St. Saviour’s Parish, 41 Mt. Desert Street.

Swanson died last August at the age of 70 after a 16 months bout with colonic cancer. Her family and friends have scheduled a four–day political weekend in her memory starting on July 27 and ending with her funeral on July 30. Everyone of any or no religious faith is invited to the weekend.

Swanson was one of the “Philadelphia Eleven,” the first women priests ordained irregularly and irregularly in 1974, breaking the gender bar in the Episcopal Church and in a few parts of the Anglican Communion.

The Presiding Bishop Elect of the Episcopal Church, The Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, wrote to Swanson’s husband: “Dear George, Oh, how I wish I could be with you to celebrate the life of one of the church's pioneers! It sounds like you have put together a remarkable tribute to her life’s work, work that is ongoing and will continue to flourish. My prayers will be with you that weekend. I am very much aware that I never could have embarked on my journey toward ordination in this church without the witness and the blood, sweat, and tears of Katrina and her sisters and brothers. May each of us be able to come to the judgment seat knowing that others are following behind us in the path of God. Shalom, Katharine Jefferts Schori.”

The Episcopal Bishop of Maine will join five of the irregular women priests in conducting the funeral.

The Rev. Merrill Bittner, the Rev. Alison Cheek, the Rev. Marie M. Fleisher, the Hon. Rev. Emily Hewitt, the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward and the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen will honor Swanson’s wish that her sister priests and the bishop will stand together as equals at God’s altar. This may be the first time priests and a bishop have celebrated mass in this way.

Swanson’ Godson, Jonathan Dubay, has built a Website in her honor at www.katrinasdream.org. After America rejected the Equal Rights Amendment, Swanson would to say the Pledge of Allegiance, “With Liberty and Justice for Some.” Her dream was liberty and justice for women, children, and men. Remembering that Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead,” the weekend will focus on the living. Katrina’s story and a complete schedule are on the Website.

Swanson’s family has issued the following statement: “Women are getting the short end of the stick in America and everywhere else. Smart women & men are working to change that – at the UN and all over. People don’t want their daughters, sisters, mothers and lovers to be short changed by life. Problem is most people don’t see how bad things really are. With God’s help Katrina’s Dream will gather real women’s stories, feed them to the media, create links to every feminist site and anywhere that supports liberty and justice for women, and arm wrestle with each other to find ways to show America how women are really treated. When people see the truth, they will put Liberty’s torch to our judges and legislators so they will finally ‘remember the ladies. ’”

The public is invited to speak out on a blog and a forum on the web site: How can America achieve full liberty and justice for all? Ideas put on the web site will be considered at the Open Congress of July 29. “Standing beside Thomas Jefferson’s desk last month in Monticello, I realized that ideas can change the world,” said George Swanson, Katrina’s husband of 47 years.

A variety of musicians, from classical to string band, will perform. The readings will include excerpts from the eight books that influenced Katrina’s life, concluding with Jesus’ promise of paradise to the dying thief.

The weekend will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, with an art show opening followed at 7 p.m. by an open mic for poems, songs, and memories of Katrina. At 7 p.m. on Friday, July 28th some of Philadelphia Eleven will speak in a Symposium on Liberty and Justice. Saturday, July 29th, is the 32nd anniversary of the Philadelphia Ordination. There will be an Open Congress on Liberty and Justice for Women from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Everyone is invited to suggest ideas and form action groups to move America and the world toward complete justice for women. “Sure, it’s pretty ambitious,” said George Swanson, “but if not now, when? And if not here, where?” At 5 p.m. there will be a Mass on the Feast of Sts. Mary and Martha. At 6 p.m. the public is invited to a Pot Luck Buffet. At 7 p.m. everyone is invited to sing-a-long in a rehearsal for the music at Sunday’s funeral. At 8 p.m. there will be a concert and open mic where people may share a song and a memory of Katrina.

Jonathan Dubay created the web site for his Godmother, Katrina. A violinist with the Oregon Symphony, Dubay holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale. He has been awarded a fellowship with the Julliard String Quartet and performed across the country with the Essex Quartet, including performances at Alice Tully Hall and the Aspen Music Festival. Dubay is also the Webmaster for the Oregon Symphony Players Association Website, www.concertgoersguide.org. He will perform at the funeral mass.

Photo of Katrina Swanson.
Photo of Jonathan Dubay.