WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29942, 2 October 1962, Page 17

WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY

Greater Scope Seen “If we are to make the most of bur opportunities it is not only the training of our clergy which should concern us; it is our use or employment of women in the service of the Church,” the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) said in his address yesterday to the Synod of the Diocese of Christchurch. “Now that women have entered all the other professions, the place of women in the ministry is necessarily before us. This year is the centenary of the revival of the Order of Deaconesses in England. "After New Testament times there was a recognised ministry ' of deaconesses which disappeared during the Middle Ages: and for centuries women's vocations were catered for by the various religious . orders. In the Church of England these were dissolved at the Reformation, but revived in 1843, and there are now 70 women's religious orders within the Anglican Communion. three of which are in Australia and one here in New Zealand. There are two training houses for the Order of Deaconesses in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, but none here in New Zealand,” he said. “I hope that the next session of general synod will take steps to make canonical the position of deaconesses in the Church of this province. I am sure that here in New Zealand, as in other countries, they could play a most valuable part in being the spearhead of the Church in new housing areas,” said Bishop Warren.