Bishop Jamieson: Ordination of Women Is a Dead Issue
Episcopal News Service. May 5, 1994 [94098A]
Speaking at a service of thanksgiving in England's Ripon Cathedral, Bishop Penelope Jamieson of New Zealand said that the ordination of women as priests was "now a dead issue, buried to make way for this new life we are so exultant about today." She said that the resurrection of Jesus Christ marked a break with the past and new hope for the future, "a time when we, with Mary, leave the cross of oppression behind to embrace the resurrection of Christ and, quite simply, get on with the job." While women will continue to experience oppression in the church, the Anglican Communion's first woman diocesan bishop said that women should not tolerate abuse because it would mean "that we in turn legitimate the suffering of other women -- and there is far too much of that around." The service was sponsored by the Church of England's Movement for the Ordination of Women.