Women, priests and the Anglican Church in Southern Africa: reformation of holy hierarchies

Abstract

The Anglican Church in Southern Africa (ACSA) is celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in 2017. The quotation above is a statement made by the South African Council of Churches following the announcement that the Anglican Church in Southern Africa voted in favour of the ordination of women at the church’s September, 1992 Provincial Synod. This was a newsworthy event given the currents of change and rhetoric of freedom in apartheid South Africa. Under the heading “Women priests for SA” the Cape Times (August 15, 1992:2) reports that seventy-nine percent voted in favour of the ordination of women. This result complied with the two-thirds majority required on an issue declared “controversial.”