New in the Library
Last year was the 25th
anniversary of the ordination of the first women priests in the Anglican Church
of Australia. Although the Diocese of Sydney still does not ordain women to the
priesthood, most everywhere else in Australia women priests are now very much
in the landscape, in the church, and in leadership. Only this year one of those
first women priests, Kay Goldsworthy, was appointed Archbishop of Perth, the
first female archbishop not just in Australia but in the Anglican Communion. It
is from this perspective that some of those involved in the movement for change
are now telling the inside story, reflecting on both the defeats and victories
of the ordination debate.
Libby Gilchrist fought the fight in what
was for her familiar territory, the Diocese of Wangaratta and she has written a
sensitive account of her experiences in‘The Tapestry : One Woman’s Journey to
Priesthood’ (Ark House Press, 2018). The resistance to change by those she
calls traditionalists was very strong. The slowness and even obstruction of
consecutive bishops is spelled out with acute detail in her book, though she
strives at all times to understand those who would hinder the progress of her
calling, acknowledging their human vulnerability while not mincing her words.
Her accounts of affirmation from clergy and laity in the Diocese, especially
the women’s support network called Building Bridges, balance the story.
We know the outcome in advance. The Border’s
first female Anglican priest was ordained in 2005, not in Wangaratta but Melbourne.
Yet to read how she got there makes for sometimes tough reading, as Libby comes
up against the complex legalities of the church, the evident misogyny of some,
and the fixed positions of those in Wangaratta unready to countenance change
occurring all around them. One of the most affective elements of the book is
her description of people changing their minds over time, through prayer and
talk, so that a synod that once would have thrown out proposals for women’s
ordination, eventually voted emphatically for it in both houses.
-
Philip Harvey
This book is available from the Library.
It is also available
for sale from the author (0409 848 758),
selected
booksellers, and on-line.
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