Blessing, Forgiving, Preaching: Australian Anglicans Celebrate Thirty Years of Women Priests

In 2022, the Rev’d Dr Lesley McLean, President of MOW, noted that, all over Australia dioceses, parishes, small groups and individual men and women were remembering the tumultuous events of 1992. Celebrations were being organised, photo albums and newspaper articles revisited for, and memories recorded.

So what changed in 1992, she asked? Her answer: “THE most important change was women’s entry into the Holy of Holies. A woman blessed by a bishop to give blessings herself: a woman set apart to pray, to read, to come to know the holy in order to ‘watch over and care for the people in her charge’.

She is a churchy Florence Nightingale, holding the Light of Christ high so to illuminate the Path to Righteousness.

WHAT ISN’T THERE TO CELEBRATE IN THAT?

For the last few months, we’ve been gathering details of celebratory services around the dioceses and asking preachers for copies of their sermons. We’re hoping to post much of this material on the MOW website, but rather than keep you waiting, a list of links to YouTube recordings of services and service booklets that are already online can be downloaded here. Experience the joy!

Elaine Lindsay
President