A Eucharist to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women as Priests in the Church of England took place in Leicester Cathedral on the afternoon of Sunday 8 September.
Members of the cathedral clergy led the celebratory service, which was presided over by the Very Revd Karen Rooms, the Dean of Leicester, alongside newly ordained Deacon, the Revd Rachael Brind-Surch.
Many ordained and lay licensed ministers from around the diocese, including members of our Diocesan Women’s Ministry Group, joined the congregation to honour the anniversary and the impact of women’s ministry over three decades.
The service featured poignant liturgy, music and prayers, including a sermon from Bishop Ruth Worsley, Acting Bishop of Coventry, and the anthem, Greta Tomlins’ setting of Herbert’s poem ‘Let all the world in every corner sing’, sung by the Cathedral Choir.
Revd Rachael, who is Curate in the parish of St James the Great, Birstall and Our Lady and St Nicholas, Wanlip, said: “As a newly ordained deacon and someone who has grown up in this diocese, I was very pleased to be asked to deacon in a cathedral that holds a lot of memories for me.
“The example and mentoring from women leaders both lay and ordained in this diocese have been a massive part of my discernment journey. My ordination stole was in fact made out of wedding dresses, baptism gowns and special pieces of clothing belong to many of these women,” she said.
“As a 32-year-old, I can’t remember a time when women couldn’t be priests, but I also have close family who believe women should not lead in church and refused to attend my ordination in June.
“I therefore found the initial prayers of lamentation and then celebration particularly moving. Also, as I stood at the alter during the offertory hymn and waited to lay it, I was hit by a profound gratefulness for the determination and grit of the generations of women who held their ground and demanded that we should be able to preside at God’s table.”
A retiring collection was invited for the Li Tim-Oi Foundation, which supports Christian women in the majority world with grants for training for ordained and lay ministry and other positions of leadership in their churches and communities. The Foundation is named after the Revd Dr Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first Anglican woman to be ordained as a priest 80 years ago in Shui Hing, Free China.