Ex-Priest Doesn't Regret Her Pioneer Role

About 8 o'clock the evening of Feb. 3, 1977, the Rt. Rev. Robert Cochrane, bishop of the Episcopal Church for Western Washington, laid his hands upon the head of the Rev. Laura Cameron Fraser and ordained her the first woman priest in the Diocese of Olympia.

The ordination came three years after 11 women were ordained in Philadelphia in defiance of church authorities, and several months after the Episcopal Church officially approved the ordination of women as priests at its national convention.

As Fraser was being ordained in the Church of the Epiphany in Seattle's Madrona neighborhood, controversy swirled beyond the church's stone walls. At St. Paul's Church at the foot of Queen Anne Hill, priests and lay persons who could not accept women as priests were celebrating their own Eucharist of Reparation.

But Cochrane led the diocese into a new era, even though he personally had voted against the ordination of women priests.

Some 50 priests gathered around Fraser at the altar as Cochrane passed on to her the power of the priest to celebrate the Holy Eucharist.

The Diocese of Olympia, which covers Western Washington from the Canadian to the Oregon borders, now has 22 women priests, 8 of whom are in the Seattle area.

Fraser, who lives in Issaquah, is no longer an Episcopal priest. She resigned as rector of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Issaquah in 1986 following a furor over a group under her direction using "channeled" materials in an inquirers' class.

A Whidbey Island man who said he channeled an entity named Jonah related different information from Jonah about Jesus' life than was in the Bible. Fraser had used a tape of those teachings in the class.

"What was important to them and me was that we have the freedom to inquire," said Fraser.

But one member of the church, who felt it was important to adhere to the Bible, complained to Cochrane. "The bishop and I didn't see eye to eye on this," said Fraser. Rather than engage in a destructive fight, Fraser decided to leave.

For seven years she ran the Foundation for Inner Enlightenment and Spiritual Freedom. She now is planning to finish a book on her personal journey. She is a private therapist and holds classes, workshops and retreats on self-transformation and self-healing.

Fraser, 63, said the priesthood was a "very significant development in my life and I don't regret any of it.'

She urged future generations of women priests to bring to the priesthood "their own gender, their own unique gifts," rather than merely trying to fit into a mold of the priesthood created by men.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women priests in the Episcopal Church, St. Mark's Cathedral and the Diocesan School of Theology are putting on a festival Eucharist at the cathedral at 11 a.m. today, followed by a luncheon and the showing of a documentary film, Womanpriest, in Bloedel Hall. The cathedral is at 1245 10th Ave. E.

Meanwhile, two congregations in this area - Old Peter's Church in Tacoma and King of Glory Church in SeaTac - are among several dozen across the country that have broken away from the Episcopal Church to form a new denomination, the Episcopal Missionary Church.

The new denomination opposes the ordination of women priests on Scriptural and historical grounds, according to the Rev. Jon Lindenauer, rector of the King of Glory parish.