News / religion
New plaque to commemorate first women priests ordained at Bristol Cathedral
In 1994, a plaque was unveiled at Bristol Cathedral commemorating the first 32 women priests who were ordained in the cathedral earlier that year.
There was only one problem. The plaque did not mention any of the women’s names, but it did name the male bishop who ordained them as well as the cathedral’s male dean and male precentor.
That will soon be corrected when a new plaque is unveiled featuring the names of the pioneering women who became the first female vicars in the Church of England.
is needed now More than ever
The new plaque made of Welsh slate has been designed by Robyn Golden-Hann, an artist, stone-carver and letter-cutter who is also a Church of England ordinand.
It will be unveiled on Saturday at a special Eucharist service conducted by current bishop of Bristol, Vivienne Faull, who said that there is “a certain irony that it has taken us 28 years to unveil a plaque that mentions the names of those pioneering women ordained in Bristol Cathedral all those years ago”.
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Bishop Viv said: “I hope and pray that the progress that this represents will be a mark of wider progress in the standing of women in the church and indeed our reaching out to all marginalised or under-represented groups.”
The 32 women ordained in Bristol Cathedral in 1994 became the first women priests in the Church of England – photo: Diocese of Bristol
One of the first women to be ordained in 1994 was the reverend Angela Berners-Wilson who is currently rector of the Quantock Towers Benefice near Taunton.
She said: “I am very much looking forward to being back in Bristol Cathedral in March, 28 years to the day after our ordination as the first group of women to be priested in the Church of England.
“It will be very special to have all our 32 names included on a new plaque to be put up in the cathedral as the original one only included the Bishop and Dean!”
The plaque commemorating the first women ordained at Bristol cathedral did not contain any of the names of the women ordained – photo: Diocese of Bristol
The celebration service at 11am on Saturday is open to the public with invites sent to all surviving women from the 1994 ordination, as well as all women clergy in the Diocese of Bristol.
The new plaque was commissioned in 2019 by the Dean of Bristol, Dr Mandy Ford, but delayed due to the pandemic.
Main photo: Diocese of Bristol
Read more: 15 Bristol plaques you might not have seen
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