Australian woman bishop
Australia’s first woman bishop, Kay Goldsworthy, was consecrated in St George’s Cathedral in Perth, in May. Twenty-one Anglican bishops from Australia and New Zealand were among a congregation of more than 800. Opponents of the ordination of women, including the head of the Sydney diocese, Archbishop Peter Jensen, did not attend the ceremony.
Australia’s Anglican bishops have agreed that parishes that cannot in good conscience recognise the ministry of a woman bishop will be offered the services of a male bishop. Therefore Goldsworthy will still not be recognised as a bishop, or even a priest, in the five dioceses opposed to the ordination of women (including Sydney).
