Thirty years of female priests 'has enriched church'

The anniversary event was led mainly by women

The Church of England has been "enriched" by the presence of female priests, one of the first to be ordained has said.

Reverend Ruth Jagger was one of 20 women appointed at Portsmouth Cathedral in May 1994.

A service to mark 30 years of female priests in the Church of England was held at the cathedral on Saturday.

Many of the women ordained there three decades ago, including Ms Jagger, reunited for the anniversary event.

Rev Jagger does not feature in a picture taken in 1994 of the women ordained in Portsmouth because of her on-going morning sickness

Rev Jagger, who now lives in Fareham, was pregnant during the 1994 service, and had to leave early due to morning sickness.

Her son Aidan, who was born in the same year as the original service, is thought to be the first to be born to two priests in the Church of England - with Rev Jagger's husband, Ian, already serving as a priest at the time.

She said she had been "really pleased" to be at the ordination service in 1994, even though she was "suffering badly with sickness in that first trimester".

Rev Ruth Jagger (left) helped lead the anniversary event

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.

Rev Jagger said: “We had been ordained as deacons, but then had waited for so long to be ordained as priests that I was determined to be part of the first cohort.

“I can’t quite believe that we’ve had women priests for 30 years but I do feel the church has been enriched by the presence of male and female priests.

"I also wanted women to feel they could be priests without trying to be like men, and I think that’s happened."