Joyce Bennett

Joyce Mary Bennett OBE (22 April 1923 – 11 July 2015) was the first Englishwoman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion.[1][2]

Bennett was born in London.[1] She was educated at Burlington school, Westminster, which was evacuated during the Second World War, to Milham Ford School in Oxford. She then took a degree in history and a diploma in education at Westfield College.[1][2]

In 1949 she went to Hong Kong for the Church Mission Society.[1] She was ordained a deacon in 1962.[1]

Bishop Gilbert Baker petitioned the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, for permission to ordain women. Hong Kong had already ordained a woman priest, Florence Li Tim-Oi, during the Japanese occupation in the Second World War.[1] Bennett was ordained a priest in December 1971.[1]

She was the founding principal of St Catharine's School for Girls, Kwun Tong.[1]

Bennett served as an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1976 to 1983.[3]

She was made an OBE in 1978,[4] and in 1984 received an honorary doctorate from Hong Kong University.[2][5] In 1994 she was made an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary University of London.[6]

Bennett wrote two books, Hasten Slowly - The first legal ordination of women priests (Little London Associates Publishing, 1991), and her autobiography, This God Business (2003).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Rev Joyce Bennett obituary The Guardian". The Guardian. 26 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Reverend Joyce Bennett, Anglican priest - obituary - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. 24 Jul 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Joyce Mary Bennett". Database on Legislative Council Members. Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "OBE - To be Ordinary Officers of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order". The London Gazette (Suppplement 47723): 17. 29 December 1978.
  5. ↑ Moore, Francis Charles Timothy (1984). "The Rev Joyce Mary BENNETT Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa". Honorary Graduates - 121st Congregation (1984). University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Honorary Fellows". Queen Mary University of London. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
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