It was great to be with the Primus, the Most Rev Mark Strange this morning in St Mary’s in which he talked about authority and what he’s been discovering since being elected as Primus.
Here’s his sermon:
Here’s the forum conversation we had after the service in which we talked about he Anglican Communion, the Scottish Episcopal Church, how we relate to the Church of Scotland and other churches in Scotland and lots more:
Here’s the Q and A with questions from the congregation:
Alas, I can’t remember exactly when it became possible for women to be come priests in the
Episcopal Church of the United States of America, but I remember very well the first ones in our parish church in Los Gatos, California and, later, in Santa Rosa. It was a very triumphant time!
The Canon in the American Episcopal Church passed in 1976 and went into effect on January 1st 1977.
Sr Alison Joy OSB
Thanks! I hope to remember those dates now.
In Canada women began to be ordained as deacons in 1969 and as priests in 1976.
Heartfelt testament concerning the importance/necessity of inclusion as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded!
I remember the day so
well !
I was at Salisbury and Wells Theological College, preparing to leave to be Ordained in Hereford Cathedral, preparing for the closure of the College and praying with passion and fear that the vote in Synod would be YES 🙏🙏
All three things happened as we know, joy and sadness mingled down.
Yes, all of this, especially “There were cruelties along the way. There was a great deal of abuse along the way”
And, sadly, there still is.
The first women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church were the “Philadelphia Eleven,” ordained on July 29, 1974, by three bishops who claimed that “obedience to the Spirit” justified their action. After a second ordination of women, all their ordinations were deemed by the national church to be “irregular but valid.” As a previous correspondent noted, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church officially authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood, a decision that went into effect on the first of January in 1977.
Back to Glossary
On the opposite side to the still continuing antipathies in some (diminishing) quarters to women priests : my wife, who is a priest, was driving today when we got stuck waiting our turn to join the main flow of cars. A driver in the main queue – eastern European, almost certainly – spotted my wife’s collar, crossed himself; and when we didn’t get the message, grinned broadly, crossed himself again, and waved us energetically into the traffic flow in front of him.
I preached this a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post it here too. So, there I was, walking down Whitehall on holiday a few days ago. I had a ticket for the theatre in my pocket and I was in a hurry to get to the show. And I was thinking those happy…
Today is Lammas Day – Scotland’s traditional first fruits of the harvest day. Here’s a Lammas Sermon from a couple of years ago.
Here’s what the Pope said today according to the BBC: Pope Francis said gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well,” Pope Francis said in a wide-ranging 80-minute long interview with Vatican journalists. “It says they should not be marginalised because of this but…
Liturgists and People Who Know What They Are Talking About have worked very hard to persuade people that we should be trying dissuade people from talking about Christenings and instead talk about the sacrament of baptism. Today the Church of England appears to have let the cat out of the bag with a post that…
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