Wednesday, January 6, 2010

BERMUDA: Church celebrates first female priest


From Episcopal Life Online-

Although the Rev. Joanna Pauline Hollis was ordained to the priesthood in Santa Barbara, California, Anglicans in her native Bermuda have recently seen her ministry showcased in their local media.
Hollis, 34, preached on Jan. 3 at St. James Church in Somerset, Bermuda, where her father is the priest-in-charge and in which she grew up.

"I preached about spiritual blessings," she told the Royal Gazette newspaper for a Jan. 4 article. "Basically I talked about God's love and grace is all around us and if we pay attention to what God is doing around us then we can recognize this love and this grace. I spoke about the spiritual blessing in Ephesians and I kind of compared that to the blessings of my mother."

The article about Hollis in the Hamilton-based newspaper was its second in two days.

Hollis' Dec. 10 ordination at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, where she serves as associate rector, is thought to be the first of a Bermudian woman in the Anglican faith, according to an earlier Gazette report. The Anglican Church of Bermuda only recently voted to ordain women.

"I think at this point, I haven't wrapped my head about it because you know in California, where I am, I'm not thinking about it because there's females all over the place. But I am coming to realize the significance and the importance," Hollis told the newspaper. "It doesn't have anything to do with me personally, but it's important for the women of the Anglican Church in Bermuda and in general. It's pretty significant and I am honored to be the one who's representing this movement."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_118222_ENG_HTM.htm

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