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.

Sydney Anglican, Haydn Sennitt, admits that he was not faithful to his wife after marrying her...but judges others who have grappled with religious beliefs and same-sex attraction!

 

Haydn says that his story is his ...and he is not like other sexually conflicted Christian men who have battled homosexuality.  Haydn criticises Anthony Venn - Brown for separating from his wife, and refers to Anthony as a "so-called" Christian!  Haydn's story is similar to Anthony's... but Haydn stresses that his story is not like others because...  no two things that look the same necessarily are, in much the same way that simply because a table has 4 legs and a turtle has 4 legs that therefore a turtle is a table... but that individuality only apples to Haydn... and not other same-sex attracted individuals who he classifies as sexually broken promiscuous sinners! Haydn goes onto admit  ...It is very true that I was not always faithful to my wife after we got married and we are working through those things in individual and marriage counselling. A lot of my unresolved brokenness has affected our marriage and I am responsible for it. But we’re working at it and our relationship is getting stronger because GOD is with us and very much been the instigator and sustainer of our marriage...   if I was ‘born gay’ how could it be that I would have the biological ‘equipment’ to sire two children and enjoy sexual intimacy with a woman?

Well at least my husband remained faithful until our children were raised and we decided to separate. 

YES Missy...only  Sydney Anglicans would employ someone  :

1. with an extremely promiscuous past, who implies that all gay people behave as he did 

2. sought out a friend to introduce him to his non-English speaking sister, so he could marry her

3. who has been married only a short time and cheats on his wife...but then criticises other gay and lesbian Christians who accept their sexual orientation and don't embroil heterosexuals into their sexual/religious conflict! 

. 

Shouldn't religious leaders who preach hatred and prejudice against gay and lesbians be held responsible for the lives they destroy in the name of God?

 

A desperate woman tries to make Sydney Anglicans understand the way female submission vows can lead to domestic violence and abuse

I hear that the definition of misogyny is being changed from a pathological hatred of women to entrenched prejudice against women.

From Fighting Father Dave's website...

The following letter was passed on to me in good faith by a woman who was deeply concerned by the proposal of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney to re-introduce the word ‘submit’ into the marriage vows, such that the wife promises to ‘submit’ to her husband.

The Archbishop and others who support the amendment to the current marriage liturgy argue that they are simply reproducing the language of the old liturgy. That may be correct, but it fails to take into account the ways that such words can be used to justify abuse!

Father Dave

I am writing from Vancouver, Canada. I was under the ministry of clergy from the diocese of Sydney, (who were working in Vancouver) for 15 years. I was already married when we began to attend a church with a minister from Sydney. When I was married I had vowed to obey my husband. He was violent and punished every infraction of mine if I was not totally submissive. He hit me and said as he was hitting me that it was my fault since I had vowed to obey. I lived with this violence for 20 years. After a neighbour called the police, he stopped hitting me but often restrained me in my room, threatening to hit me, and yelling at me for hours.

In all the time that we attended this church, the minister preached that wives must submit. There was no mention ever of domestic violence, and no mention of help for abused wives. I never did go to the minister for help, but once I asked the minister’s wife for a book for a “friend” who was in an abusive relationship. She did not offer any resources at all. She said that she didn’t have any books on that topic and didn’t need them because there were no abused wives in our congregation.

In one sermon the minister said that God had put the husband in charge and the wife must submit. Then he said that for women with a good husband this was good, and for women with lousy husbands, they could have therapy after the sermon. As he said this he laughed, and of course, it was just a joke, no therapy was actually offered. I felt that he was laughing at women who lived with abuse.

My ex husband would cite the minister in support of his demand that I be obedient. I am very upset that the diocese now wants to use a vow to submit in the marriage vows. I would like my story of criminal assault by my husband made public. I was assaulted in my complementarian marriage and clergy from Sydney had no training whatsoever to deal with this.

I have written to my former minister, no reply, and I have written to the professional standards office of the diocese of Sydney. Someone there wrote that he would get in touch with me. However, I want to share my story before the synod ratifies the vow to submit, since I was taunted with this vow for 30 years, and for 20 of those years, I was hit every two weeks routinely, in sessions lasting several hours, berating me for noncompliance with the vow to obey. Of course, I have to pay for my own therapy, as well as therapy for my children. The diocese of Sydney has not helped me in any way.

Thank you for listening to my story.

Bill...Father Dave might listen... but this poor lady's plea will fall on deaf ears within the Sydney Diocese. Nobody advocates for women...complementarianism is about the behavioural modification and female responsiveness of women to men. Bill..if a complementarian woman marries a bad man ...or a control freak...then she modifies her behaviour so she doesn't make him angry.
Yeah Calam...sounds like Sydney Anglican misogyny has spread far and wide...it's really disgusting that the diocese has not taken responsibility for its misogyny and apologised to women!

Sydney Anglican, Nigel Fortescue writes about Sydney's offensive clergy!

Well I have to say that Nigel has a lot to write about!

 

Nigel Fortescue explains that he has always found it very easy to offend people...and that seems a prerequisite to ministry within the Sydney Anglican diocese. Nigel sniggers at orange afro hairstyles and God only knows what he said about the Boxing Day tsunami...but one could only guess!

 

Sydney Anglican, Dominic Steele condemns gay clergy and tolerant Anglicans

And how many times have I told you that I created Adam and Eve ...not Adam and Steve...and come to think of it...stop eating the shell fish and who freed the slaves?

Ex radio presenter, Dominic Steele, has moved a motion in Synod, expressing concerns about the actions of the Bishop of Gippsland because he appointed an openly gay clergyman. The Bishop of Gippsland should have appointed a gay clergyman who is married to a woman! Russell Powell writes...  the Synod expressed its dismay at the appointment, made in December last year...and that's  because Sydney Anglicans just can't tolerate a departure from the teaching of Scripture.

Say Bill ... are those Synod people the same ones who agreed with Glen Davies' motion to boycott Lambeth...you know when the Sydney diocese aligned itself with extreme bigotry which  condemned GBTI people to persecution, the death penalty or imprisionment?

Yeah Calam... it makes you proud  to be a member of a Christian lynch mob... I can't wait to hear  their Lambeth ‘listening process’ on homosexuality...you know the one where homosexuality is a by product of sexual abuse and poor parenting...and there is no other point of view!

 

Listen Calam...those Sydney Anglicans seem like a real bad influence ...spreading hate and bigotry...and they're always writing about how bad Sydney is and all...how about I get a posse and run them recalcitrants out of town ...and onto the first boat headed for Nigeria or Uganda?

Peter Jensen recommends that the Sydney Anglican diocese continue his mission strategy until 2060...because he couldn't do enough damage in 10 years!

Sandy Grant, the senior minister at St Michael's Cathedral, Wollongong, said about archbishop Peter Jensen's last synod speech … he wasn't calling us really to analyse our success or our failures at this point but to thank God for blessings, they weren't success as much as blessings...more like they weren't success but but failures ...and when you don't want to take responsibility for the loss of more than one hundred and sixty million in stock market gambling losses, the purging of tolerant and compassionate Anglicans from the Sydney diocese, and the spread of homophobia throughout the world... then the best thing to do is blame it on God!

Anthony Venn- Brown has a multiple choice question for Peter Jensen

Anthony ...you forgot D...that's where Peter Jensen runs for cover and remains silent ...so he can refer you to world renoun  scientific research experts in SSA and 'praying away the gay'...or was  that the answer to C?

Albert...I know the answer...it's D...which is all of the above!