Welcome Address for the Opening of the MOW Conference

St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane, 28 November 2024

Dr Elaine Lindsay

MOW members and friends gathered at St John’s Cathedral for the opening of the Conference.  Bishop Sarah Plowman presided at the choral Eucharist and the preacher was The Rev’d Canon Aunty Di Langham.

Following the Processional Hymn, ‘She who would valiant be’, those present were welcomed by MOW’s president, Dr Elaine Lindsay.

On behalf of the Movement for the Ordination of Women, permit me to acknowledge the First Peoples of the land where we are gathered this evening, the Turrbal and Jagera peoples, and pay respect to their Elders past and present.

What a splendid opening hymn!  I hope that John Bunyan is chuffed that his words, slightly amended, have been adopted by MOW as its battle hymn.

Welcome all of you who are joining us in this celebration of the Eucharist and the opening of our conference.

And welcome to that glorious cloud of witnesses, here in spirit …. pioneers including Patricia Brennan, Alison Cotes, Mavis Rose, The Rev’d Val Graydon and The Rev’d Alison Cheek.  Thanks to all, too many to name, who have laboured on behalf of women’s ordained ministry over the decades.

Thank you, too, to Bishop Sarah and the Cathedral team, including the Dean, The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt, and the Girl Choristers, as well as our servers from St Aidan’s Girls’ School.  And, of course, our preacher to come, The Rev’d Canon Aunty Di Langham, from the Diocese of Newcastle.

A few words about the Conference, to give you a taste of what’s to come.…..

Why now, and why this theme, Lead Like a Woman?

The Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) never turns down an opportunity to party – or to remind people that we’re still here and there’s still a need for us.

This year marks our fortieth anniversary as a national organisation.  What better place to celebrate than here in Brisbane, where 40 years ago, MOW Brisbane, initiated by Dr Gwenneth Roberts, was officially launched at St Francis Theological College?

And what better place to celebrate than in this very supportive diocese?  Here, we are encouraged to celebrate the leadership of women in the church, whether lay or ordained.

For 40 years, MOW has been urging the church to make full use of women’s ministries, to recognise the diversity of their callings and theological perspectives, their creativity and their history.

The latest Anglican Directory suggests the church has come a long way since 1992, when the first women priests were ordained.  But then – it’s depressing to see how the percentage of women in active ministry drops when you look at leadership positions.  Here are a few figures:

33% of active deacons are women

23% of active priests are women

15% of active episcopal bishops are women

10% of other active bishops are women.

So you can see, the percentage of women drops the further you progress in the hierarchy.

Currently, across Australia, only around 20% of parish leaders are female.

And don’t forget, there are still three dioceses in Australia that don’t ordain women priests at all.  Imagine living, like I do, in Sydney, where there are 426 active male priests and three licenced women priests.

In July this year, the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn published a report into the experiences of ordained women in that Diocese (Addressing Disparity: listening to the leadership experience of ordained women in Canberra and Goulburn Diocese).  The report pulled no punches.  It provided statistical evidence that levels of leadership among women in parish ministry have gone backwards and it lamented the loss of women’s gifts.

MOW commends the public release of this report and the decision by the Canberra & Goulburn Synod to establish a Women in Leadership Commission, chaired by Bishop Vanessa Bennett, to develop and lead the implementation of a strategic approach to reduce the disparity between women and men in full-time stipendiary roles.

MOW encourages other dioceses, too, to undertake such research, to listen to women’s experiences, and to act on their findings.  As the Canberra & Goulburn Report asks, ‘how can the church reach the whole world with the good news of Christ if half its leadership pool is not only disengaged but discouraged and obstructed by poor organisational practices and/or implicit bias?’

While MOW will never resile from its founding commitment to ‘move all dioceses in the Anglican Church of Australia to admit women to the ordained ministries of the Church’ (Constitution), we realise that our agenda must be broader than that.

Women need to have access to strong support networks and be able to rely on those who are not employees of the church to speak on their behalf when necessary.  That is where MOW comes in.

Lead Like a Woman is providing a safe space for women in lay and ordained leadership to share their experiences – not only the joys of ministry but also the hostility they’ve endured, the overt sexism at clergy conferences, the bullying they’ve been subject to in parishes, the coercive control they’ve suffered under, and the lack of opportunities afforded them to progress in their vocations.

By bringing people together, our conference is helping to establish support networks into the future – not only Anglican but also ecumenical.

MOW is an independent advocate for women in lay and ordained ministries, willing to speak on their behalf and urge dioceses to address systemic problems, such as those bravely identified by Canberra & Goulburn.

And more broadly, MOW is a voice on behalf of comprehensive Anglicanism as most of us understand it today.

I asked Muriel Porter, who has been advocating for women’s ministry since time began, how she saw the future.  I’ll finish with her words.  She was not particularly optimistic, saying:

‘We need to be aware that the Anglican Church of Australia has entered what may well be a very dark place for the leadership of women.  Yes, we now have 12 women bishops, including one archbishop, across the country … and we have a solid number of women deacons and priests.  This is cause for great rejoicing.’

However, she warns, ‘with the rapid and relentless advance of the conservative push from Sydney and its supporters, not to mention GAFCON, the national church is looking decidedly unfriendly to the MOW cause.’

Further, Muriel says, ‘with some small dioceses on very rocky financial ground and in danger of being swallowed up, it might not be long before the House of Bishops, which has been our strongest support base over the decades, will be in danger.’

We might bear in mind our opening hymn when we consider Muriel’s concluding words:

‘I do not say this to cast a mantle of despair over the conference, but rather to call on us all to be alert, even perhaps a little bit alarmed, but mainly to be ready and willing to stand up and continue the fight for the dignity, equality and full leadership of women in our church.’

Welcome to the conference…..

May our voices be heard, as we fight for the right of women and men in partnership to take up the Gospel imperative, shining God’s love into all the world.

Welcome.