UW to Host Panel Discussion and Film Screening of ‘The Philadelphia Eleven’ Nov. 13

In partnership with the University of Wyoming Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, UW Libraries and Canterbury Fellowship in Laramie, the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research will host a screening of the documentary "The Philadelphia Eleven" Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Agriculture Building auditorium on the UW campus.

The screening will be preceded by a panel discussion at 3 p.m. in Room 506 of Coe Library with clergy from the Episcopal Church. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the director of the film, Margo Guernsey.

All events are free and open to the public.

The documentary explores the lives of 11 women who were ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974 in violation of the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church -- which, at the time, stated that only men were eligible for ordination.

"This is a story for all of us," Guernsey says. "It is about how to break down barriers with grace and be true to oneself in the process. This story reveals ways in which voices that are inconvenient are often buried. It also provides a vision for what a just and inclusive community looks like in practice."

The 3 p.m. panel discussion that will take place before the screening will be streamed via WyoCast. To access the WyoCast link, visit the College of Arts and Sciences calendar at www.uwyo.edu/as/calendar.html as the event gets closer.

The panel will include:

-- The Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, assisting bishop of the Episcopal Church in Wyoming and former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

-- The Rev. Roxanne Friday, Indigenous minister for the Episcopal Church in Wyoming and priest-in-charge at St. David's Shoshone Episcopal Mission in Fort Washakie and Our Father's House in Ethete.

-- The Rev. Bernie Craft, priest at Holy Communion Episcopal Church in Rock Springs.

-- The Rev. Melinda Bobo, rector of St. Andrew's in the Pines Episcopal Church in Pinedale.

-- The Very Rev. Marilyn Engstrom, dean emerita of St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral in Laramie.

-- The Rev. Cannon Bobbe Fitzhugh, canon for mission and innovation for the Episcopal Church in Wyoming (moderator).

For more information, or to request a campus parking pass, email [email protected].