LOS ANGELES (NPR) — On a bright morning in Hermosa Beach, Calif., sunlight enters St. Cross Episcopal Church at a slant, catching a bit of church history in the colored panes of a stained-glass window.
For the Rev. Rachel Nyback, the church’s rector, it is something closer to a record of quiet upheaval.
“What I love about this piece of stained glass is that you see the first woman who was called in the Diocese of Los Angeles to serve as a priest,” said Nyback, “and she was hired here at St. Cross.”
The figure in the glass is of Rev. Canon Victoria Hatch, who was ordained at a moment half a century ago when the presence of a woman at the altar or in a pulpit was an innovation — and an argument.
On Wednesday the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch, will witness another historic moment: the installation of Sarah Mullally as the first woman to lead the global association of churches that trace their roots to Henry VIII’s 16th century break with the Catholic Church.
Mullally’s selection as archbishop of Canterbury comes as a joy and a surprise for many female priests in the Episcopal Church. Fifty years is, as Nyback observes, both a long time i …