Robert DeWitt, 87; Censured for Ordaining Female Priests in 1974

The Rt. Rev. Robert L. DeWitt, who was censured for ordaining women into the priesthood two years before the Episcopal Church authorized it in the 1970s, has died. He was 87.

DeWitt died Nov. 21 of congestive heart failure at his home here, 30 miles north of Albany, the Episcopal Church reported on its Web site. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania from 1964 to 1974 and was active in demonstrations for racial equality and against the Vietnam War.

On July 29, 1974, DeWitt and two other bishops presided over a ceremony at Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia that ordained 11 women into the priesthood. After two years of debate, the church declared the ordinations valid at its 1976 national convention.

DeWitt had resigned as bishop by the day of the ceremony but was censured by the church’s House of Bishops. At a 1999 commemoration of the event, DeWitt said: “It is ironic that what happened 25 years ago here at the Advocate was for a time seen more as an issue of three misbehaving bishops than as a breakthrough created by 11 pioneering women.

“Make no mistake, the event was a creative action of, by and for women. The bishops were only accessories.”

After his tenure as bishop, DeWitt became editor of the Witness magazine and president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Co.; he retired from those posts in 1981. He also wrote a book about his wife’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease and another of short essays, songs and poems.

A Boston native, DeWitt graduated from Amherst College and was ordained a priest in 1940. At 48, he became the youngest bishop the Diocese of Pennsylvania had ever elected, according to the church.

DeWitt is survived by his wife, Barbara; five children; 14 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.