Female Minister Ordained at Harvard

The first female minister ordained at Harvard since the University was founded to educate Puritan ministers in 1636 was received into the Lutheran ministry yesterday in a ceremony at Memorial Church.

The two-hour ceremony for Constance F. Parvey was also the first ordination service held at Memorial Church since its founding in 1814.

Parvey, a 1963 graduate of the Divinity School, said yesterday that she feels she is a pioneer in the male-dominated Christian church.

"The most important drama in the world is the one between men and women," the 41-year old Parvey said. "And since the church has been male-dominated, I feel that I am playing an important role in a new frontier."

Parvey acknowledged that students today are moving away from all institutional forms. She added that where students are uninvolved in the church, the lack of interest reflects on the church and not on the students.

Parvey said she thought the atmosphere today is more congenial to the study of religion than it was ten years ago during what she called "the Sputnik Generation." She said students are more interested today in basic questions of human values, and "that's what religion is all about."

Rev. Drister Stendahl, dean of the Divinity School, said yesterday he thought Parvey was strong enough to handle the difficulties of being a pioneer. Stendahl called her "a catalyst." "She gets the best out of people," he said.

Stendahl said the number of female ministers in the Protestant church is growing. "It is late in coming, but when it happens, all denominations open up," he added. Parvey is the fifth female minister in the Lutheran Church.

Parvey was an editor of the Divinity School Bulletin and a staff member in the 1968 McCarthy for President campaign. She belongs to the University Lutheran Church in Cambridge.

She will be installed as the first female chaplain at MIT December 10.