For nearly 2,000 years, the priesthood was a vocation for men only.
That changed, for Episcopalians, at least, on July 29, 1974.
That's the day a small group of women were ordained by a handful of renegade bishops during a service at the Church of the Advocate in the City of Brotherly Love.
"The Philadelphia Eleven," a documentary about that groundbreaking chapter in Christian history, will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, 20900 Chenal Parkway in Little Rock.
Mary Vano, the parish's rector, said the film highlights an important chapter in church history.
"I'm excited that the work has been done to tell the story of these women who really stepped out and defied the power structures within the church to be ordained and to serve and to open up pathways for others who would be ordained," she said.
"I'm really enthused that the filmmaker decided to put it together," she said.
St. Margaret's knows a thing or two already about trailblazing women.
Its vicar, from 2001 to 2008, was Peggy Bosmyer, the first woman to be ordained as an Episcopal Church deacon in Arkansas and the first woman within the state to be ordained as an Episcopal Church priest.
The film will be shown on the 15th anniversary of her death.
Elizabeth Fortune, St. Margaret's minister of media, said the public is invited to attend.
"It makes me feel really proud as a woman to be able to show people this film," she said.
In 1973, the Episcopal Church's General Convention had rejected efforts to authorize the ordination of women as priests.
Months later, the Philadelphia Eleven were ordained "irregularly" anyway with the support of a few bishops but without the approval of diocesan standing committees and without the authorization of the denomination's General Convention.
In September 1976, the General Convention reversed its stance and authorized the ordination of women.
Bosmyer was ordained in January 1977. Christoph Keller Jr., the Episcopal Bishop of Arkansas, said the aim was "not to bring unisex but unity" and that it highlighted "not the maleness but the humanity of Jesus Christ."
In February 1989, Episcopal Church leaders consecrated Barbara Clementine Harris as the Anglican communion's first female bishop.
In June 2006, Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop, the first woman to be selected.
Margo Guernsey, the film's director, says the debate over women's ordination was a major news story at the time.
"It was center stage for a number of years," she said.
The ordinations of the Philadelphia Eleven were covered by major newspapers and, more importantly, the three networks' evening newscasts.
The struggle, she maintains, is worthy of remembrance.
"I am not Episcopalian, and I put my life and blood into this film for the past eight years because I feel like it's a story that really speaks to so many of us," she said. "It's a story about breaking down barriers and being who you're called to be, despite what people might tell you you're able or not able to do."
The project languished for awhile due to financial hurdles; crowdfunding helped bring it to fruition.
The filmmakers were able to interview six of the 11.
"They're from all over the United States, from very conservative upbringings and backgrounds to much more liberal or progressive [backgrounds]," she said.
Even after they were ordained, they faced obstacles to ministry, she said.
"It was very hard for them to find work, and so some of them pursued other careers for financial reasons. One of them became a lawyer, a few of them taught in academia and in seminary. ... Some of them did, eventually, find work as parish priests, as they felt called to do, but often in part-time positions for a long time," Guernsey said.
Despite the difficulties, "None of them had regrets," she said.