Episcopal Press and News

79-year-old Woman Is Among Australia's Newest Priests

Episcopal News Service. January 15, 1993 [93010F]

The Rev. Elizabeth Alfred, 79, a hospital chaplain, was the first woman ordained a priest in the Diocese of Melbourne in the Anglican Church of Australia. Alfred, ordained a deaconess in 1944 and a deacon in 1986, was one of 12 women ordained to the priesthood in St. Paul's Cathedral by Archbishop Keith Rayner on December 13, 1992. Officials in the Australian Church reported that 92 women in 10 of 24 dioceses were ordained to the priesthood before the end of 1992.