The Rev. Susan Bowman discusses how she persevered in a profession only recently opened to women
A local woman is turning her unique story about breaking ground in the theological world into what she hopes will be a secular hit.
Susan Bowman’s Lady Father is the tale of the Delmar resident’s more than 20 years as a priest in the Episcopal Church and the difficulties she faced being one of that denomination’s first ordained female clergy.
Bowman was born and raised in the Diocese of Southern Virginia. When she was a child, women were still barred from the priesthood, but she remembers wanting to be able to walk down the aisle of her church holding a cross.
That path was opened in 1976, when the ordination of women was approved, but like many women in the following years, Bowman found reality takes time to catch up with policy when she joined the seminary.
`There were a lot of angry people, a lot of surprised people,` she said.
Part of that surprise was that her Bishop, the Rev. C. Charles VachE, a staunch opponent of women in the clergy, signed off on her being the first woman to enter the diocese’s ordination process in 1981.
`Most people who were against women ordination didn’t have anything against the woman herself,` Bowman said. `He just could not picture himself laying his hands on a woman’s head and saying those words.`
His approval came from Bowman’s involvement in the church community, and her deep dedication to youth programming. On top of working for the City of Petersberg, Bowman knew she wanted to devote herself full time to the church, but despite her faith, character and devotion, many told her not to pursue priesthood.
But others encouraged her and in the end, though it was a difficult decision, she said she was `inexorably pulled` to the seminary. She decided to quit her day job and pursue her passion.
`I felt there was something that God wanted me to do other than work for a city for the rest of my life,` she said.
Though `Lady Father` deals with the Episcopal Church and its structure, Bowman said she thinks the book can be applied to secular life as well. Today, a woman is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, but women still have a long road to equality in many walks of life.
`I think her story is interesting, it’s compelling and it’s well written,` said Ross Murphy, of Aberdeen Publishing, who is releasing the book. `I’m very confident and hopeful that Susan’s book is going to be successful and her launch is going to be success.`
For Bowman, she hopes her story will be inspiring to other women who are facing their own trials. Her advice to them: Don’t take naysayers too seriously.
`I don’t know where the person in the pew has been. I don’t know what their experience as a priest has been. Let people be who they are in this world, and understand that everybody’s coming from somewhere,` she said. `There were times when it hurt, and times that I wanted to scream and times I wanted to walk away. But I didn’t have the time or the energy to do that.`
Even after Bowman graduated from seminary, becoming ordained was a process during which she had to fight the system tooth and nail, with the help of the Rev. VachE. Her first posting was at a home for girls in Virginia, and since that institution held services Sunday night, she was often called upon to travel to other parishes in the morning to fill in for absent priests. In this role, she found rejection and even hostility from those uncomfortable seeing a woman administer the Eucharist.
`It happened a couple of times that I got there and people stormed off,` she said.
When she relocated to the Capital District, the same kind of things happened, and she had to build up a reputation all over again. Some might wonder why Bowman continued to fight in the face of rejection, hostility and barriers thrown up by the very institution she adored. That’s a complicated question, she said.
`At the beginning, I think it was stubbornness, that the national church had said we could do this,` she said. `As time went on, I think it was knowing in my heart and in my spirit that I was doing what God wanted me to do.`
Today, Bowman resides in Delmar, where her son and grandchildren also live. She’s retired from the full-time ministry, but she still serves as a part-time pastor for Jermain United Methodist Church in White Creek, near the Vermont border.
She enjoys the small size of the church, and also being able to focus on preaching and tending to the congregation, instead of dealing with administrative duties.
`It’s the finest thing for any pastor to live to become,` she said.
`Lady Father` is still being finalized and is on track from a spring release. Bowman plans to hold book signings throughout the area. For more on her work and her blog, visit ladyfather.com. “