• Trinity College Theological School

Trinity woman is Australia’s first female bishop

Friday 11 April 2008

The Venerable Kay Goldsworthy – today named as Australia’s first woman bishop – received her theological education at Trinity College, Melbourne.

A resident student at Trinity from 1980 to 1983, Kay Goldsworthy subsequently served as an assistant curate in the parishes of Thomastown/Epping and Deer Park/St Albans before moving to Perth as a school Chaplain. In 1992, she was one of the first women to be ordained a priest and is currently Archdeacon of Perth’s St George’s Cathedral.

Her appointment as bishop was announced by the Archbishop of Perth, the Most Revd Roger Herft, and follows the ruling in October 2007 that the appointment of women bishops was in accord with the constitution of the Anglican Church in Australia.

The Warden of Trinity College, Associate Professor Andrew McGowan, who studied in the Theological School alongside Kay Goldsworthy and is a strong supporter of women’s ordination, was excited to receive news of her appointment. ‘Kay is an engaging, thoughtful, wise person – a fine priest and great company’, he said. ‘She is an ideal choice as Australia’s first woman bishop, since her gifts are eminently recogniseable to all who meet her.’

Kay Goldsworthy joins a significant number of Trinity College Theological School alumni who have donned the bishop’s purple. Among them are the current Primate of the Anglican Church in Australia, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall; Assistant Bishop of Bathurst, the Rt Revd Peter Danaher; the Bishop of Bendigo, the Rt Revd Andrew Curnow; the former Primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley; the former Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Revd Peter Hollingworth; and Bishop James Grant, who is the Bequests Officer at Trinity College.

The Venerable Kay Goldsworthy will be ordained bishop in St George’s Cathedral, Perth, on 22 May.