Preachers, Prophets & Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry... has been published to mark the 20th anniversary in 2012 of the ordination of women as priests in the Anglican Church in Australia

The Honorable Elizabeth Evatt AC will launch Preachers, Prophets & Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry, edited by Elaine Lindsay and Janet Scarfe (UNSW Press, 2012) at an event to be hosted by St James' Church, King St, Sydney, on Saturday 17 November. Several Sydney-based contributors will also speak.

This book has been published to mark the 20th anniversary in 2012 of the ordination of women as priests in the Anglican Church in Australia. In it, key supporters of women's ordination and astute observers analyse and reflect on the controversy, its context and some of its consequences from their particular stand-points. The eighteen contributors include lawyer Keith Mason, Bishops Keith Rayner and Peter Carnley, MOW president Janet Scarfe, campaigner Muriel Porter, priests Elizabeth Smith and Peta Sherlock, intercessor Janet Nelson, academic Heather Thomson, and historians Peter Sherlock, David Hilliard and Anne O'Brien.
2-5pm, Saturday 17 November
St James' Hall, Level 1, 169-171 Phillip St, Sydney
Cost is $30 or $15 concession/Centrelink pensioners. Includes refreshments.

Media Release: 20th Anniversary of Women Priests in the Anglican Church of Australia
As the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney begins its Annual Meeting where it will discuss such topics as whether women should promise to submit to their husbands the rest of the Anglican Church of Australia continues to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the ordination of the first women priests in Australia - the 92 in 92. There are now 3 female Bishops, 462 female Priests and 178 female Deacons in the Anglican Church of Australia and the Church is celebrating the wonderful gifts and ministries of these women. Sydney MOW rejoices in this anniversary year but we also mourn the fact that we are still not able to experience the full and equal ministry of women and men in the Sydney Diocese. Sydney is one of only 4 Australian Dioceses which still do not ordain women as priests. As a result, Sydney Diocese has lost a wealth of talent over the past 20 years as women have left Sydney to be ordained elsewhere. Sydney MOW has identified at least 25 gifted women who are now serving in other Dioceses in Australia, including 2 of the 3 female Bishops. These women have brought diverse perspectives and great gifts to their ministries and the Church is richer for them. Other faithful and committed lay women and men have quietly left the church or moved to other Dioceses because of the intransigence of the Sydney opposition to the full and equal ministry of women. At least two women priests who were ordained elsewhere reside in Sydney and are unable to function as priests and exercise their full ministry in this diocese.