THE first woman bishop in Australia, the Rt Revd Kay Goldsworthy
(News, 30 May
2008), is to become its second woman diocesan. A regional
bishop in Perth, Bishop Goldsworthy has been elected Bishop of
Gippsland.
The first woman diocesan in Australia, Dr Sarah Macneil, became
Bishop of Grafton, New South Wales, earlier this year (News, 7
March 2014).
Bishop Goldsworthy's election follows the death of the Rt Revd
John McIntyre in June this year. The Archdeacon of Warragul, the
Ven. Philip Muston, who has been Administrator of the diocese of
Gippsland since Bishop McIntyre's death, said: "I think we are
ready for a new bishop, but the signs of grief are still
there."
He expects Bishop Goldsworthy to be enthroned in Sale Cathedral
in March next year.
Bishop Goldsworthy was among the first women to be made deacon
in Australia, in 1986, and in the first group of women ordained to
the priesthood, in 1992. The mother of adult twin sons, Bishop
Goldsworthy has been a canon of Perth Cathedral, an archdeacon, a
member of the General Synod and its Standing Committee, and the
clergy representative for Australia on the Anglican Consultative
Council. She was consecrated in May 2008.
The Archbishop of Perth, the Most Revd Roger Herft, has written
that "Bishop Kay has served the diocese of Perth with fortitude,
perseverance, and panache."
Australia now has four women bishops in active ministry.