Minster to mark 30 years of women priests

The York Minster service will mark 30 years since the first ordination of women as priests

A service will be held at York Minster later to mark 30 years since the first ordination of women as priests in the Church of England.

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has invited the Diocese of York to attend the service of evensong at the minster at 17:30 BST.

The first ordination took place in May 1994, when 39 women became priests within the diocese.

The archbishop said the Church owed “a great debt of gratitude" to them.

"So many of them kept faith with the calling they knew was theirs, and worked and prayed in their homes, parishes and workplaces sometimes for decades," he added.

In February 1994, the Church of England's General Synod agreed to approve the ordination of women as priests for the first time following many years of debate and campaigning.

The 39 women who were ordained at the minster had previously served as lay workers or deaconesses, which is a non-ordained parish ministry.

Some of those who were ordained in 1994 still serve in the ministry, or in supporting roles in their retirement.

At the service, the preacher will be the Rev Canon Sue Sheriff, who was ordained at the minster in 1994.

She is now priest-in-charge of St Oswald's Church, in Fulford, York, and has also served in Southcoates and Marfleet, both in Hull, and in Tadcaster.

"Together with some incredible godly women I was ordained alongside, I had been interviewed to see if both the Church and we ourselves felt that God has called us to the distinctively different role of priest,” she recalled.

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