WOMEN PRIESTS

Southland Times, Issue 22758, 7 December 1935, Page 7

WOMEN PRIESTS

ANGLICAN OPPOSITION OFFICE OF DEACONESS TO BE DEVELOPED FUNCTIONS OUTLINED (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, December 5. Although in view of history and the present conditions the Archbishops’ Commission on the ministry of women was unable to recommend the admission of women to the priesthood, the commission suggests that the office of deaconess"should be developed to the full possibilities, the Church defining its status and work, while the ordination of a deaconess should be included among the ordination services not as the equivalent to the' diaconate of men, but as the existing holy order for women, whose functions, by authorization of a bishop, include:— (1) The reading at services, morning and evening, of prayers and the Litany, except the portions reserved for priests, and also leading in prayer. . (2) Instructing and preaching except in the communion service. (3) Officiating at the churching of women. (4) Baptizing infants in the absence of a priest. (5) Administering the chalice at girls’ schools and women’s colleges. The commission adds that lay women should be eligible for all offices and duties as laymen. It is highly desirable that women should be qualified to lecture in theology. Deaconesses would bear the title of reverend and wear a special dress or emblem. Dr.* Matthews, Canon of St. Paul’s, alone favoured equality of men and women, declaring that when there were women Cabinet Ministers, doctors and professors it was difficult to believe that they were not competent to run a parish. _______