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The Very Reverend Peta Sherlock | |
|---|---|
| Dean, Anglican Diocese of Bendigo | |
| In office 2006–2011 | |
| Preceded by | John W. Stewart |
| Succeeded by | John Roundhill |
| Archdeacon of LaTrobe | |
| In office 2001–2005 | |
| Area Dean Melbourne City | |
| In office 2000–2001 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | Peta Robin Sproule |
| Religion | Christian |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Spouse | Charles Sherlock |
| Denomination | Anglican Church of Australia |
| Notable work(s) | Inside the Sunday Gospels:Years A,B,C |
| Church | St Paul's Cathedral,Bendigo |
| Senior posting | |
| Ordination | Deacon 1986,Priest 1992 |
Peta Sherlock (born Peta Robin Sproule) (1946-) is an Australian Anglican priest who was formerly Dean of the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo at St Paul's Anglican Cathedral,Bendigo. She was one of the first women ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1986 then as an Anglican priest in 1992 and the first woman Dean of an Anglican diocese in Australia. [1]
Peta Sproule married Charles Henry Sherlock in 1970. [2] Charles calls her his "co-theologian". [3] [4] They have two sons,one of whom is Peter Sherlock. [5] [6]
Sherlock began her career as a school teacher, [7] after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University in 1968 and a Diploma of Education from the University of New South Wales in 1969. [8] She began studying theology at Ridley College,Melbourne in the 1970s and graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in 1980. [8] She began speaking publicly about the ordination of women in the Anglican church while at Ridley. [9] In 1976,she was interviewed for a newspaper with fellow student Narelle Mitchell and tutor Barbara Darling. [9] In 1977,the Doctrine Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia submitted a report to be debated at the General Synod which,among other recommendations,stated that "There are no theological objections to the admission of women to the diaconate and to the priesthood,or the consecration of women to the episcopate." There were letters for and against the report in church media including Australian Church Record . Sherlock wrote two letters,one responding to a letter from Fred Nile and one responding to an editorial column,saying that both had misrepresented the majority report and the arguments of people who called for the ordination of women,and in the case of the editorial,pointed out it had argued against the historic creeds of the church. [10] [11] [12]
Sherlock met Patricia Brennan,future President/Co Convenor of Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW),at the National Evangelical Anglican Congress in 1981. [13] The ordination of women was discussed in workshops at that conference and a suggestion was put to the Congress to debate the motion "Anglican Evangelicals believe that there are no fundamental theological objections to the ordination of women to the priesthood." [14] [15] Sherlock became National Secretary of MOW 1992–1994. [16] [17]
Sherlock was ordained deacon on Ascension Day,30 May 1986 [18] in the first group of women ordained deacons Australia-wide,and the second group of women to be ordained deacons in Melbourne. [7] [8] She served as a school chaplain at Firbank Grammar School 1986–88,Assistant Curate at Ridley 1988-89 and Chaplain at Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School 1990–91. [7] [19]
In 1992,Sherlock was ordained as a priest by Keith Rayner (then Anglican Primate of Australia) in St Paul's Cathedral,Melbourne and granted permission to officiate 1991–92. [20] Sherlock was one of the ninety-three women ordained or licensed as priests for the first time in the Anglican Church in Australia. [21]
Subsequently,Sherlock was appointed Priest-in-Charge,St Andrew's,Clifton Hill with St Luke's,North Fitzroy 1992-01 during which time she was also Area Dean Melbourne City 2000–01. [8] She published three commentaries on the lectionary,Inside The Sunday Gospels (1994–96) to accompany the new A Prayer Book for Australia. She had written papers for the General Synod Liturgical Commission which revised the prayer book for the Australian Anglican Church in 1994 (adopted by General Synod and published in 1995). [22]
From 2001 to 2003,Sherlock was Incumbent of St John's,Heidelberg and Incumbent Banyule parish 2003. [7] In this period,she was also Archdeacon of La Trobe 2001–05. [20] [23] She was awarded a Doctor of Ministry Studies by the Melbourne College of Divinity (now the University of Divinity) in 2004. [8]
In 2005,Sherlock said this about the Bible and women:"If we truly believe 2 Timothy 3:16,'All Scripture is useful',then we will not make prejudgments about which parts of Scripture are more useful than others. We will read the lot. I have read the lot at least once in my life and can testify that reading everything the Bible had to say about women set me free." [24]
In 2003,and again in 2006,there was media discussion about the possibility of Sherlock (along with other women) being appointed the first woman bishop in the Anglican Church in Australia. [25] None of the women were made bishop at that time. Subsequently,in 2008 Kay Goldsworthy became the first female bishop (Assistant Bishop consecrated in Perth on 22 May) then Barbara Darling,Bishop for Diocesan Ministries in Melbourne on 31 May. [25] [20]
Sherlock became Dean of the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo and Incumbent of St Paul's Cathedral in 2006 until her retirement in 2011. [26] [8] From 2009,because of potential for the roof to collapse and the stained glass windows to break,she had to supervise the closure of the cathedral and reconstruction of the roof and hold services in the church hall. [7] [27] Sherlock said that the outcome of meeting in the hall was that the clergy were closer to the people in the congregation and people in the congregation also became closer to each other. [28]
After retirement,Sherlock moved to Trentham,Victoria where she became a local historian. [29] Having received permission to officiate again in the Diocese of Bendigo,in 2012 and 2013 she was locum rector for Kyneton Anglican church and St Mary's Anglican church,Woodend. [7] [30]
In 2012,Sherlock published an essay about her time as a deacon,priest and dean,"Twenty years a priest:To desire God". She said that when women were first ordained some chose to stay outside church structures but she decided to remain inside and be an agent of change. [28] In that essay she summed up her leadership in ministry,"...the ministry of a congregation is not determined by its clergy but can be gathered by its constituents...I try to look at who is there and what gifts are available,and that will tell me what our main focus should be...If I had to summarise my ministry,it is to enable others (and whole churches) to get about the ministry God has for them...I am not afraid to take up the authority of being a priest,but there is more to leadership than telling people what to think and what to do. My main task is to do theology...And I teach others to do theology too,to seek God in all things." [28]
The Australian College of Theology (ACT) is an Australian higher education provider based in Sydney, New South Wales. The college delivers awards in ministry and theology. It is now one of two major consortia of theological colleges in Australia, alongside the University of Divinity. Over 23,000 people have graduated since the foundation of the college. On 7 October 2022 it was granted university college status by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Victoria in the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847 and includes the cities of Melbourne and Geelong and also some more rural areas. The cathedral church is St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. The current Archbishop of Melbourne since 2006 is Philip Freier, who was translated from the Anglican Diocese of The Northern Territory, and who was the Anglican Primate of Australia from 2014 to 2020.
Keith Rayner is a retired Australian Anglican bishop and a former Anglican Primate of Australia. He served as Archbishop of Melbourne from 1990 to 1999, Archbishop of Adelaide from 1975 to 1990 and Bishop of Wangaratta from 1969 to 1975.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney is restricted to the diaconate. The diocese rejects the ordination of women as priests and bishops.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
The Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) was the name used by organisations in England and Australia that campaigned for the ordination of women as deacons, priests and bishops in the Anglican Communion.
William David Hair McCall was an Australian Anglican bishop.
Patricia Anne Brennan AM was an Australian medical doctor and a prominent campaigner for the ordination of women in the Anglican Church of Australia. She became a member of the Order of Australia in 1993.
Angela Palacious is a Bahamian minister of religion and author.
Elizabeth Alfred was an Anglican priest in Melbourne, Australia. She was the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, in 1992.
Charles Henry Sherlock is an Australian theologian who previously taught at Ridley College and Trinity College in Melbourne. He is a former registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity. He is author of The Doctrine of Humanity in InterVarsity Press's "Contours of Christian Theology" series, God on the Inside (Acorn), Uncovering Theology: the depth, scope and utility of Australian theological education (ATF), Performing the Gospel on liturgy and lifestyle (Broughton) and more. He was a member of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission for 26 years. He was the last editor of the Anglican newspaper Church Scene, from 1995 to 1997.
Colleen Anne O'Reilly is an Australian Anglican priest. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2021 in recognition of her significant service to the Anglican Church of Australia, and to religious education. O'Reilly has been a strong advocate for women's leadership in the Anglican Church and women's ordination since the 1970s and described by Muriel Porter as "the ‘mother' of the movement that was a key factor in bringing about the ordination of women through many years of determined struggle".
Marie Louise Uhr (1923–2001) was an Australian biochemist and leader in the movement advocating for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.
Elaine Stuart Lindsay is an Australian academic. She was instrumental in the development of the Women-Church journal which provided publishing opportunities in feminist theology for Australian women.
Dianne Dialecti "Di" Nicolios is a retired Australian Anglican priest. She was the first woman appointed Archdeacon for Women's Ministries in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. She held that position from January 1994 to May 2002. She was also one of the first group of 14 women to be ordained a deacon in 1989 in the Sydney diocese.
Janet Scarfe is an Australian academic and historian who was very involved with the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) in Australia.
Susanna Pain is an Australian Anglican priest, former Dean of St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, Sale in Victoria, Australia and spiritual director. She was one of the first women ordained as an Anglican priest in Australia in 1992, one of the five women ordained in Adelaide, and the first female dean of St Paul's, Diocese of Gippsland. The features of her ministry have been pastoral care, leading spiritual retreats and contemplative prayer, and encouraging use of the creative and performance arts for worship.
The Movement for the Ordination of Women was an Australian newsletter published by the Movement for the Ordination of Women. The newsletter, which had multiple title variations over the years, was produced between 1984 and 1997, and provides a record of the history of the movement.
Preachers, Prophets and Heretics is a book published in 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women as priests in the Anglican Church in Australia. It was edited by Elaine Lindsay and Janet Scarfe.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| International | |
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