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Thursday 11 July 2019

Women priests

In the early Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for an abbess (the female superior of a community of nuns) to rule "double" communities of both men and women. One who did so was Hilda of Whitby (614-680), the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which became famous for its learning and libraries. Five future bishops were trained in her community, and kings and rulers sought her advice.

Antoinette Brown Blackwell became the first woman minister in an established Protestant denomination when she she was appointed in 1853 pastor by the First Congregational Church in South Butler, New York. She served the members of the Congregational Church of South Butler until June 1854, when due to theological disagreements she resigned.

Florence Li Tim Di (May 1907 - February 26, 1992) of the neutral Portuguese colony of Macau near Hong Kong was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion on January 25, 1944. This was because the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and of parts of China had made it impossible for Anglican priests to get to neutral Macau, where there was no resident Anglican priest. However, there was an explosion of outrage and to avoid further controversy she resigned her licence (though not her priest's orders) after the end of the war. Li Tim Di continued to serve a small congregation in a Chinese church as an unlicensed priest.

Florence Li Tim Di  Wikipedia

On July 29, 1974, three bishops in the American Episcopal Church, claiming that "obedience to the Spirit" justified their action, ordained eleven women deacons to the priesthood. The ensuing controversy surrounding these irregular ordinations highlighted divisions evident in the church over this issue. As a result, the American Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women as priests and bishops in 1976.

In 1978 Episcopal Canon Mary Simpson of New York spoke from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey in London. She was the first ordained woman to preach there in the 913 years since 1065, when the Abbey was first consecrated.

Afro-American Barbara Harris becomes the first female Anglican bishop, when she was ordained suffragan bishop of Massachusetts. The American Episcopal Church approved women's ordination to the priesthood in 1976.

In 1992 The Church of England Synod voted in favour of women priests. Two years later, the first 32 Anglican women priests were ordained at Bristol Cathedral by Bishop Barry Rogerson. However in response, 700 Anglican clergymen threatened to leave the Anglican Church for the Roman Catholic Church.


Source Christianhistory

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