The Anglican Communion

Documents on our website

More will follow.
Please, draw our attention to other important classic texts!

The past

• The First Blast of the Trumpet by John Knox, Geneva, 1558 AD (showing the common Christian prejudice against women of the time.)
• A complete Manual of Canon Law by the Anglican theologian Oswald J. Reichel, Volume I ‘The Sacraments’, John Hodges, London 1896 -- which documents that at the time Anglicans and Catholics shared practically all legal Church restrictions imposed on women.

Ordination dates

In the United States, the General Synod of the Episcopal Church recognised in 1976 as “valid” the priestly ordination by three retired bishops of eleven deaconesses which had taken place “illicitly” in Philadelphia on 29 July 1974. That had been preceded by three ordinations in Hong Kong as far back as 1971. The General Synods of the following churches had declared themselves in principle for the ordination of women: Burma (1972), Indian Ocean (1974), New Zealand (also 1974,) Wales, Canada and England (all 1975). However, in the United States a slight majority had reached a negative decision in 1973. In England the formal decisions were taken for deacons in 1988, for priests in 1993 (for bishops still pending). On 12 February 1989 Barbara Harris was ordained as the first bishop of the Episcopalian church in America.

Archbishop Robert Runcie and the first 15 women to be ordained deacons for the Church of England. Canterbury Cathedral, February 1988

Study and reflection leading up to the ordinations

Read: Chronology of Major Anglican Documents and actions Concerning Women in Holy Orders, 1862 - 1972.

Roman Catholic - Anglican dialogue

• Correspondence between Archbishops of Canterbury and the Pope on the ordination of women, in 1975-1976 and 1984 - 1986.
• Anglican - Roman Catholic Consultation, ‘Pro and Con: On the Ordination of Women’ (in preparation), 1976.

Deacons gathered for their ordination as priests. In total 32 women were ordained on the occasion, the first women to serve the Church of England as priests. Bristol Cathedral, 12 March 1994.

Mavis Rose, Freedom From Sanctified Sexism - Women Transforming the Church, 1996, Anglican Church, Australia.

Read these two vocation stories:

• ‘Priesthood and Womanhood: Questions and Answers’, by Rev. Una Kroll;
• ‘Acceptance and Joy’, by Rev. Emma Percy.

For related online Libraries see: Equality for Women The ORDINATION OF WOMEN in the Catholic Church Catherine of Siena VIRTUAL COLLEGE THE BODY IS SACRED MYSTERY AND BEYOND We hope that you have found this document helpful. It costs our small charity - HOUSETOP CARE - on average £10 / $20 / Euro15 to make such a document freely available to you. This is because we have to identify the best scholarship available, retrieve texts, obtain permissions, scan, edit, link and convert documents to html format and run a small office to make this all possible. Having benefited from the online library, any donation, small or large, that you can make to support our work would be gratefully appreciated. Click here to make a donation now.

On women, natural law and sexual ethics.

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