Transgender Woman’s Ministry Continued Long After She Left Priesthood
If you have not heard of Nancy Ledins, who passed away in July at age 84, her story is very much worth reading if you are concerned with Catholic LGBT issues.
Prior to her transition, Ledins was an ordained Roman Catholic priest for ten years. A member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, she left the priesthood in 1969 to get married to a former woman religious. Eventually, the couple divorced around the time that Ledins transitioned in 1979.
In news accounts and profiles of Ledins after her transition, the perennial question of whether she was still a Catholic priest arose. Reporter John Dart of the Los Angeles Times explored this question in 1980. He wrote at the time, as reported by the Charlotte Observer this year:
[Ledins] might be the first woman priest in Roman Catholic history in a technical sense….since she never sought to be returned officially to lay status, has never been summarily notified of such by the church and, by the usual understanding of church law, is still a priest—though not a legally functioning one.
Church officials never formally responded to Ledin’s situation, and Ledins never challenged that silence. She told NCR that though technically ordained, “there is probably a canon somewhere that spells my demise as a priest” if she tried to celebrate the sacraments. Still, on the 55th anniversary of her ordination, Ledins prayed:
Lord Father, my special thanks for the gift of ordination and ministry over the years….And thank you for letting me be here. Amen and amen. Alleluia.
Beyond any canonical questions, the spiritual testimony Ledins offered about her journey is what is most impactful. She knew in childhood that she wanted to be like her sister, saying, “I didn’t know what to call it, but I felt it.” The stress led to depression for many years. The Observer reported that after Ledins’ transition, she “was shot at, had her car bombed and was sent dead animals in the mail.”
Nonetheless, she powerfully affirmed the decision to transition. In a 1978 letter to her parents, Ledins wrote:
For the first time in my life, I am running into and not from. What a healthy feeling!…I am now very very glad to be alive….My bucket of tears (and there were many) are over. The sunshine is real.
Years later, Ledins finally returned to pastoral ministry leadership, serving at a North Carolina church that is affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ. Half of the congregation’s members are LGBT people. Ledins’ passing in July led many people to share the pastoral experiences they had with her. Rev. Marsha Tegard said of Ledins:
She was just so welcoming and just kind of embraced me as someone just starting out on my journey….She told me, “It’s OK to be you. God loves you. You have a place in the Kingdom.” I believe Nancy blazed the trail for people like me.
Another member of the congregation, Maddison Wood, said hope was found “in the lines of Nancy’s face” because “she had lived—not just survived, but lived—to old age.”
Regardless of Nancy Ledins’ canonical status in the Roman Catholic church, she was a Christian minister leading people to God until her death. Judging from her fellow congregants’ accounts, it was precisely Ledins’ courage and authenticity that made her such an impactful minister. The comment she made about her transition is a true Resurrection message: “I am now very very glad to be alive….The sunshine is real.”