Australia elects first woman diocesan bishop

On Nov. 18, the Rev. Sarah Macneil made history when she was unanimously elected the first female diocesan bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia.

Bishop-elect Macneil, who is from Canberra, will become the 11th bishop of the Anglican diocese of Grafton and will be consecrated early next year.

“I am awed by the confidence placed in me by the [Grafton diocese] appointment board and by their willingness to be trailblazers,” Macneil said in a press release issued by the diocese of Canberra and Goulbourn. She said she was “surprised, overwhelmed, humbled” by her election.

A former dean of Adelaide and archdeacon in the diocese of Canberra and Goulbourn, Macneil is currently senior associate priest at Holy Covenant in Jamison, located in a suburb of Canberra. She is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, which assists the global fellowship’s work in advancing their mission worldwide.

“Her election comes almost 20 years to the day since the first ordination of a woman in Grafton diocese, which embraces the North Coast of New South Wales, extending from Port Macquarie to the Queensland border,” the diocese said in its statement. “Her consecration in Christ Church Cathedral, Grafton, early in 2014 is expected to draw a large number of people who have been prominent in the advocacy of women in leadership within the Anglican Church during the last 30 years.”

Her colleagues, the statement added, describe Macneil as “having a servant heart, being prayerful, possessing insight and humour, and delighting in diversity within the church.”