RIP: Fran Toy, first Asian American woman priest, remembered for breaking many barriers

In 1985, the Rev. Fran Toy became the first Asian American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Photo: Diocese of California

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Fran Toy, the first Asian American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest, died at her home in Oakland, California, on Dec. 28 at age 90 after a long battle with liver cancer. Her ministry encompassed local, diocesan, provincial and churchwide service.

Toy, a lifelong Episcopalian, was born on Aug. 9, 1934, and grew up in Oakland, where she attended the Church of our Saviour, a Chinese congregation. In 1974, Toy became the church’s first female warden. It was at Church of Our Saviour where she met her future husband, Art Toy. They had two children together.

Following the footsteps of her mother – a third-generation Californian who was the first woman to open a school in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood – Toy began her career as an educator. She taught elementary school for nearly 20 years before she graduated from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in 1984. That same year, she was ordained to the diaconate. She was ordained a priest in the San Francisco-based Diocese of California on June 8, 1985, and served as a longtime priest associate at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland.

“[Toy] was a key advocate for me when I was a seminarian at [Church Divinity School of the Pacific] and continued to support and encourage me as well as other Asian American women who entered discernment for the priesthood,” Western Oregon Bishop Diana Akiyama, The Episcopal Church’s first Asian American woman bishop, wrote in a reflection that was shared by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe. “She will be remembered for her tenacity and wonderful sense of humor as a priest and mentor in this church,” Akiyama said.

Becoming The Episcopal Church’s first Asian American woman priest was the beginning of many “firsts” throughout Toy’s lifetime. In 1988, Toy was elected the Diocese of California’s first female deputy to General Convention. She also served as a deployment officer at Church Divinity School of the Pacific for nine years, as well as on The Episcopal Church’s deployment board between 1994 and 2000.

Toy served several congregations in the Diocese of California as interim rector, including True Sunshine Church in San Francisco from 1984 to 1985, Christ Church in Alameda in 1986, and Church of the Resurrection in Pleasant Hill from 1986 to 1987.

“Fran was not only the first Asian American woman ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church, but a spiritual giant whose witness and ministry touched so many of our lives,” California Bishop Austin Rios said in a Dec. 29 statement posted to the diocese’s website.

Toy was a clergy representative to several provincial synods and had served as a member of Executive Council from 1991 to 1997. She also was elected to the boards of both the Episcopal Women’s History Project and the Episcopal Women’s Caucus.

From 1999 to 2005, Toy served as a spirituality faculty member for CREDO Institute, a church wellness resource that strives to help take care of caretakers, including clergy families, clergy and laity.

She was appointed by Executive Council as a representative to the Seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting at Canberra, Australia in 1991.

Toy was also involved with The Episcopal Church’s Asiamerica Ministries.

In 1996, Church Divinity School of the Pacific awarded Toy a Doctor of Divinity degree.

“During her long career, the Rev. Toy was a fierce advocate for justice and inclusion and a stalwart friend and mentor to other Asian American female clergy,” Rowe said in his Dec. 29 letter to the church. “I give thanks for the life of this trailblazing woman and for her ministry that brought our church closer to becoming the Beloved Community.”

Toy was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2007 and underwent several major surgeries. When she retired, Toy returned to Oakland and St. John’s.

In 2010, more than 300 people gathered at Christ Church in Alameda to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Toy’s ordination. Then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and then-Archbishop Paul Kwong of the Anglican Church of Hong Kong and Macau were among many who extended greetings to Toy. The special worship service incorporated several Asian languages, including Cantonese, which Toy spoke while co-presiding with her close friend, the Rev. Katherine Ward.

“I could never have guessed, first of all, that God would call me to be ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church, and being the first Asian American female, that it has opened so many doors,” Toy told ENS in 2010. “It’s been a really wonderful, wonderful adventure.”

The Diocese of California plans to celebrate Toy’s life on Pentecost, June 8 – the 40th anniversary of her ordination and priesthood – at St. John’s.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.