The Rev. Annwn Hawkins Myers recalls hearing a male clergy colleague remark at her first clergy conference that “the only table she should be serving is the kitchen table.”
The response of the male colleague didn’t really faze her. Myers, the first woman to be ordained a priest in the Diocese of Mississippi, was ordained to the transitional diaconate on June 23, 1984, and to the priesthood on May 24, 1985. Myers was ordained at St. John’s Church, Pascagoula, where she served as a curate.
Myers was equally unfazed after her ordination and appointment at St. John’s when some parishioners chose to leave the church. Acknowledging her call to ordained ministry, Myers reasoned, was her “faithful response to gifts God has given me.” Myers chose to reach out in love, be filled with joy, and greet people with generosity, because “that’s what Jesus would do.” A male clergy colleague reminded her that “for everyone [who objected to her ordination], there are 15 of us who are glad you’re here.”
For the five years that she remained in the Diocese of Mississippi, Myers also served as an interim Chaplain at St. Andrew’s School and as interim Rector at Chapel of the Cross, Madison. Since 1989, she has served at The University of the South (Sewanee). Myers is grateful for the privilege of serving in ordained ministry. “It’s been an awesome vocation,” she says.
One of 11 women in her graduating class at Virginia Theological Seminary, Myers is particularly proud of the fact that her ministry may have helped other women articulate their own call to ordained ministry. She recalls that the Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, Bishop of South Carolina—and a Mississippi native—approached her one day while Woodliff-Stanley was helping at St. Andrew’s Cathedral’s bookstore, telling Myers she thought that she, too, might be called to ordained ministry. Bishop Woodliff-Stanley, who has served in South Carolina since 2021, was ordained in Mississippi as a transitional deacon on June 13, 1990, as a priest on June 28, 1991.
Myers was the first woman ordained in the Diocese of Mississippi, but she was actually the second woman priest to serve here. The Rev. Molly MacWade had been ordained in Boston at All Saints Church, Brookline, on May 16, 1980, and she remained there as a curate. MacWade noted that of the women in her seminary class at Episcopal Divinity School, she was the only one to graduate with a curacy placement.
MacWade followed her then-husband, a Mississippian, back to his home state, where he was ordained the following year and began serving. After she had moved to Mississippi, Bishop Duncan Gray, Jr. asked MacWade if she would be interested in serving in her new state. Gray told her, “we’ll do this together, but I can’t tell you what to expect.” MacWade served at St. Andrew’s Cathedral for nearly 20 years, and recalls that the Cathedral welcomed her lovingly.
MacWade commented that she had experienced a great deal of encouragement through her discernment and ordination, and that her journey to the priesthood had not been a difficult one. She described clergy—male and female—who were openly negative as being few and far between. She also recalled a few negative newspaper articles that she ignored. One male clergy colleague in Mississippi who was particularly beloved in his own parish setting would speak to all of his male colleagues during clergy conferences but would never “look at, talk to or acknowledge” MacWade. But after a number of years, even he softened and began speaking to her.
MacWade reflected that “humility is the number one priority in my ministry and because of that I have remained close to ministry to those who are poor.” She noted that being a part of the founding of Stewpot Community Services, Mississippi Food Network, and Grace House Services “has brought, and continues to bring, the greatest joy, love, and understanding of Jesus and His people. I continue to be blessed by the opportunity to serve God by serving His most precious children.”
MacWade added that her advice to a woman who was discerning a call to ordained ministry today would be to remain open, and be as kind and Jesus-like as possible.
As we celebrate these trail-blazing women in the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, we are reminded that it was not a scriptural accident that the first witnesses to and evangelists of the good news of the Resurrection were women. We give thanks that God values our voices, witness and testimony, as we give thanks for eleven women—Merrill Bitner, Alla Renee Bozarth-Campbell, Alison Cheek, Marie Moorefield Fleischer, Emily Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne Hiatt, Jeannette Piccard, Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Swanson, and Nancy Wittig—whose courage to persevere toward ordination on July 29, 1974 paved the way for women today who serve The Episcopal Church in the many capacities to which God has called us.