First Pakistani woman priest ordained
Episcopal News Service. November 9, 2009 [110909-09]
Pat McCaughan
The Rev. Dr. Khushnud Mussarat Azariah shattered another barrier on Nov. 8 when, by way of the Diocese of Los Angeles, she became the first Pakistani woman ordained to the priesthood.
Azariah hoped her "miraculous" day sent a powerful message to women back home.
"Ever since I was a young child, I have felt God had a special calling for me but I was told there was no place for me in the church," said Azariah, 60. "This day is a miracle. I never knew this day would ever come. I always prayed to God that one day the Church of Pakistan would ordain women," she added tearfully.
The great-granddaughter and granddaughter of ministers, her father was a priest and a bishop, and Azariah was also the first Pakistani woman ever to attend seminary, though she could not do so in Pakistan. She also is married to Presiding Bishop Samuel Robert Azariah of the Church of Pakistan.
"This is an historic day for our family, a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving," said Samuel Robert Azariah, who is also Bishop of Raiwind and served as a presenter during the ordination at St. James Episcopal Church in South Pasadena, California, in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
"As the Church of Pakistan, this is one step forward in our further understanding of the Body of Christ as one family," he said Sunday. "Khushnud's ordination to the priesthood, which would not have been possible in Pakistan at the moment, affirms the significance of 'where I am weak, you can be my strength' … and how the Body of Christ can support one another in their strengths and weaknesses."
He also asked for prayers for his country and the church. "Pakistan as a nation is at a crossroads and the challenge of the church becomes heavier as to what it means to share the grace of Jesus Christ. And please pray for the Church of Pakistan, because it faces difficulties of persecution," he said.
The United Church of Pakistan was formed in 1970 by uniting the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and other Protestant groups in Pakistan. Christians number about 2 percent of Pakistan's 140 million people; 97 percent are Muslim.
Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles, who ordained Khushnud Mussarat Azariah on Sunday, echoed the theme of family, telling an overflow congregation that "We're doing this because we're one. This is a family event and this is our family."
Bruno also told the crowded gathering that he intends to visit Pakistan within the next year.
No stranger to barriers, Khushnud Mussarat Azariah became the first Pakistani woman to attend seminary. "I could not get admission to seminary in Pakistan, so I went to Singapore," she said. There, she attended Trinity Theological Seminary from 1974-1977 and was the first Pakistani woman to receive a bachelor of divinity degree.
"But when I finished my theological education, the bishop said there is no place for women's ministry in the church," she recalled.
That was 32 years ago. In the meantime, she established three schools for the mentally disabled in Pakistan, taught Sunday school, led youth groups, was a Christian educator and was active in the Mother's Union.
She has served as a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and founded the Women Development and Service Program in 1989, a women's educational and empowerment ministry in Pakistan.
"I've always felt attracted to people who were marginalized," she said.
When Samuel Robert Azariah ordained her and another woman to the diaconate in 2000, a group from a breakaway Methodist church went to civil court to try and block the ordinations, saying they were contrary to Scripture. The courts declined to get involved and eventually, the matter was dropped.
There are four women deacons in the Church of Pakistan currently, but the path to priesthood remained closed, Khushnud Mussarat Azariah said.
"The established church did not accept me as an ordained minister, but people always embraced me and accepted me," she said.
Khushnud Mussarat moved to southern California eight years ago to be closer to the couple's three children, while her husband remained in Pakistan to serve the church. She completed doctoral studies at the Claremont School of Theology in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Now, she is awaiting God's invitation and said she is willing to serve wherever God needs her—Los Angeles or Pakistan.
But, she added that: "One day I hope I can go to Pakistan. It will be good for them to see a woman priest, one of their own," she said, the tears erupting again.
"Though I could not be ordained in Pakistan I hope and pray that many Pakistani women will come forward and offer themselves, and the church will open for them because we have a lot to contribute. The church is not complete without women's participation, these are the people who are the hope of the church."
She added: "I am sure in my lifetime I will be able to see that."