Nancy Ledins (born William F. Griglak; July 27, 1932 – July 18, 2017) was an American

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who came out as a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman. At the time of her transition she was still considered a priest even after having resigned from official church roles, due to her never being returned to lay status. In this capacity, she is considered by some to be the first official woman priest in the history of the Catholic Church and is the first openly transgender Catholic priest.

Early life and ministry

Ledins was born on July 27, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio. Presenting as male, she joined the Catholic

Missionaries of the Precious Blood The Missionaries of the Precious Blood ( la, Congregatio Missionariorum Pretiosissimi Sanguinis) is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. The society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815. The Missionaries of the Precious Blo ...

and became a priest in 1959. She served as a chaplain for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in Vietnam during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and served as a priest in Detroit and in Colorado. She earned a PhD in psychology from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

Gender transition

Ledins resigned from official church duties in 1969, but was still legally recognized by the Catholic Church as a priest, having not been returned to lay status. In 1970 she married a former nun and moved to Indiana, where she worked as a psychologist in the drug treatment section of the state's Commission on Mental Health. The couple later divorced, which was a requirement in order for a surgeon to perform a sex-change operation. She received media attention during her gender transition and was considered by some to be the first official woman priest in the Catholic Church. The media attention surrounding transition lead to Ledins being threatened, harassed, sent dead animals in the mail, shot at, and a victim of a car bombing. On April 12, 1979, she underwent gender reassignment surgery in

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,329 as of the 2020 census. Trinidad lies north of Raton, New Mexico, and s ...

. When interviewed by the '' National Catholic Reporter'', Ledins stated that she was "technically still

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

" but declined offers to publicly celebrate

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

as Nancy Ledins.

Later life

In 1977 and 1978 she served as the coordinator for the

Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair (also known as FanFair) is a week-long conference for cross-dressers, transgender and gender questioning people held every October in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a small Portuguese fishing village and largely gay and lesbian tourist ...

. In 1996 she moved to

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, and joined Wedgewood Church, an LGBT affirming Christian congregation affiliated with

American Baptist Churches USA The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...

and the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

. She served as a minister at Wedgewood, where she preached, sang in the choir, served the Eucharist, and performed baptisms. She also worked as an

electrologist Electrology is the practice of electrical hair removal to permanently remove human hair from the body. Electrolysis is the actual process of removing hair using electricity. In electrolysis, a qualified professional called an electrologist slid ...

and a tax preparer. Ledins died on July 18, 2017, in North Carolina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledins, Nancy 1932 births 2017 deaths American Roman Catholic priests American Roman Catholic missionaries United States Army chaplains Catholic University of America alumni Catholics from Ohio Religious leaders from Cleveland LGBT Roman Catholic priests LGBT people from Ohio American women psychologists American military personnel of the Vietnam War Transgender women