Simpson, Mary Michael (1925–)
Simpson, Mary Michael (1925–)
American priest and psychotherapist. Born Dec 1, 1925, in Evansville, Indiana; dau. of Link Wilson Simpson and Mary Garrett (Price) Simpson; Texas Women's University, BA, BS, 1946; graduate of New York Training School for Deaconesses, 1949, and Westchester Institute Training in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, 1976.
Began career with Episcopal Church as a missionary at Holy Cross Mission in Bolahun, Liberia (1950); returned to US (1952); served as academic head of Margaret Hall School, a girls' school run by the Episcopal Order of St. Anne in Versailles, KY (1958–61); a member of the Order of St. Helena (offshoot of Order of St. Anne), then served as sister in charge of the Convent of St. Helena mission in Liberia (1962–67) and as director of novices there (1968–74); returned to US (1974) to become a pastoral counselor on staff of Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; opened her own private practice as a psychoanalyst (1974), adding on a directorship of the Cathedral Counseling Service (1975); was the 1st American nun to be ordained an Episcopal priest (1977); added to her duties at Cathedral of St. John the Divine by becoming a canon there, the 1st woman canon in American Episcopal Church (1977); was 1st ordained woman invited to preach at Britain's Westminster Abbey (1978); wrote The Ordination of Women in the American Episcopal Church: The Present Situation (1981).
See also Women in World History.