Ordination of Women

Wait and See

Although he often struggled to suppress or set aside his personal feelings on the issue, Allin made known his belief that women were not suited for priesthood. In addition to his personal opinion that women, by the very fact that they were women, could not be priests, he also emphasized that ordaining women priests before any official resolution change to the Constitutions and Canons had been adopted was a violation of canon law. Allin called for an approach to the issue that followed the proper channels for change rather than bypassing the appropriate processes and procedures. He had hoped to have a natural progression of the issue and stated often that if it were God’s will then it would eventually come to be.

At a press conference held just after his installation service, when asked about ordaining women, he responded, “I’m inclined to think, if just given the time within the fellowship, it’s going to come about.”⁴² Even after the controversial ordinations of the Philadelphia 11, Allin continued to hold this “wait and see” opinion. In September of 1974, expressing to his friend, Edward Welles, one of the ordaining bishops, “Slowly as I grow older I have come to realize that the meaning of this life is revealed in various processes. One course of events frequently initiates another. My prayer is that the course of events which was launched in Philadelphia on July 29^th will in due course come to worthwhile fruition, resulting in stronger and more meaningful relationships.”⁴³