Joyce M. Bennett
Joyce Mary Bennett OBE (Chinese: 班佐時; 22 April 1923 – 11 July 2015) was the first Englishwoman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion.[1][2]
Biography
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 to work at St. Stephen's Girls' College, and was eventually 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] Along with Jane Hwang, 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]
Works
- Bennett, Joyce Mary (1991). Hasten Slowly: The First Legal Ordination of Women Priests. London: Little London Associates. ISBN 978-1-872178-01-1.
- Bennett, Joyce Mary (2003). This God Business. Hong Kong: Religious Education Resource Centre.
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Rev Joyce Bennett obituary The Guardian". The Guardian. 26 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- 1 2 3 "The Reverend Joyce Bennett, Anglican priest - obituary - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Joyce Mary Bennett". Database on Legislative Council Members. Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ↑ "OBE - To be Ordinary Officers of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order". The London Gazette (Suppplement 47723): 17. 29 December 1978.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Honorary Fellows". Queen Mary University of London. Retrieved 12 August 2015.