Questions about the Anglican/Episcopalian Priesthood

[PaladinGirl]

Hey everyone! I have a couple of questions about the Anglican or Episcopalian priesthood. First, can Anglican/Episcopalian priests be married? And second, can they be women? :confused: Thanks in advance! :)

[Naomi4Christ]

Yes and yes

[PaladinGirl]

Yes and yes

Thought so but wasn't sure. Thanks Dogsbody! :thumbsup:

[SirTimothy]

Yes to both, although my parish priest is neither. :)

Timothy

[TomUK]

Yes to both questions, but with reservations. First of all there are a couple of societies around which if you are a Priest and want to be a member of then you must remain unmarried and chaste, the most notable of these being the SSC. Also in regards to the question of women Priests, many parishes pass a resolution saying that they will not accept a women Priest within that Parish. Also there still remain a couple of theological colleges which will only accept men. In more global sense many provinces do not accept women Priests and refuse to accept them for training etc, so i guess it depends on where you are in the world to how that question can be answered.

[PaladinValer]

You've asked this at least three times before, but here goes:

All our clergy may be married.

And officially according to Lambeth, women may be ordained as clergy to at least the Order of Deacons, but individual provinces have discression on whether to ordaine women to any other Order (or even to the Order of Deacons)

In practically every single province, women can be deacons.
In most provinces, women can be priests
In fourteen provinces, women can be bishops, and in 4 of those fourteen, there exists women bishops.

[ebia]

You've asked this at least three times before, but here goes:

All our clergy may be married.

And officially according to Lambeth, women may be ordained as clergy to at least the Order of Deacons, but individual provinces have discression on whether to ordaine women to any other Order (or even to the Order of Deacons)

In practically every single province, women can be deacons.
In most provinces, women can be priests
In fourteen provinces, women can be bishops, and in 4 of those fourteen, there exists women bishops.
To clarify (or muddy the waters) a bit further, some dioceses do not allow women priests - e.g. Sydney. I believe Sydney even restricts female deacons to teaching women and children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Armadale and North West Australia also don't allow women priests, and I'm guessing Murray (South Australia between the Murray River and Adelaide) is similar.

[TomUK]

To clarify (or muddy the waters) a bit further, some dioceses do not allow women priests - e.g. Sydney. I believe Sydney even restricts female deacons to teaching women and children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Armadale and North West Australia also don't allow women priests, and I'm guessing Murray (South Australia between the Murray River and Adelaide) is similar.

Really?!

From what i understood, Australia is the most liberal of all Anglican provinces,

[ebia]

Really?!

From what i understood, Australia is the most liberal of all Anglican provinces,
Nah. Australian dioceses tend to be quite polarised. Sydney, N.W. Australia and Armadale are very conservative evangelical. Murray is very FiF (and has a Forward in Faith bishop). Newcastle is very AffCaff. Perth is very liberal. Canberra-Goulburn is very middle of the road. Etc. Put together they contain the full range of Anglican diversity, but most of them are sadly lacking in diversity individually.

[PaladinGirl]

Thanks guys! :) And sorry if I have asked this question before. I honestly don't recall doing so.

[ContraMundum]

Hey everyone! I have a couple of questions about the Anglican or Episcopalian priesthood. First, can Anglican/Episcopalian priests be married? And second, can they be women? :confused: Thanks in advance! :)

Adding to the comments earlier, there are also around 500,000+ Anglicans belonging to "Continuing" communions that do not allow females to be part of the ordained clergy, but allow the ancient order of deaconesses (who are laypersons) to fulfill ministries. This is similar to the Orthodox, and as far as I know these are the only communions allowing females into this valid ancient ministry in the West. These "continuing" bodies are not in full communion with Canterbury and the largest of these, the Traditional Anglican Communion, is currently in ongoing inter-communion talks with Rome.