Lusitanian Church in Portugal Ordains Women Deacons
Episcopal News Service. November 13, 1997 [97-2004K]
(ENS) For the first time in the history of the Lusitanian Church in Portugal, three women were recently ordained as deacons. The Lusitanian church, which is part of the Anglican Communion, approved the ordination of women as deacons in 1991. The church was organized in 1880. At that time, the church consisted of Roman Catholic priests and lay people who left the Roman Catholic church because of doctrinal problems and formed congregations near Lisbon, using a Portuguese translation of the 1662 English Prayer Book.