First women priests were moment of hope - bishop

The Bishop of Dover, the Right Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin

The Church of England’s first, black female bishop has recalled the moment when women were first ordained as priests, 30 years ago.

The Bishop of Dover, the Right Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, remembers the tension when the vote was passed, but said: “There was also a lot of hope.”

She said she would be celebrating the anniversary at a special service in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday.

Sixteen women were made priests at Canterbury Cathedral on 8 May 1994.

'Church still standing'

In 1985, a vote allowed women to become deacons, and in 1992 women were officially permitted to be ordained in the priesthood, but the first women priests were not announced until two years later.

Bishop Hudson-Wilkin said: “There is still hostility. There are still people in my diocese who will not accept me, because I am a woman, and that is sad.”

She said: “Is it painful? You are damned right it is, but I have to rise above that.”

It took another 20 years before women were made bishops, with the first female bishop announced in 2014.

Bishop Hudson-Wilkin, who was consecrated as Bishop of Dover in 2019, described how there was lengthy debate that was often “begrudging”, but said: “I want to shout from the roof. The church is still standing.”

The debate about women in the church had wider implications, she added.

She said: “Every day we learn that women are being killed, not only in our country, but in other countries, and I want to say to the church, be careful.

“Be careful about the message we are giving out, about women not being equal, not being OK, simply because they are women – because we are allowing women to be killed, day by day, by the message we give, that says women are less.”