List of ordained Christian women
In many denominations of Christianity the ordination of women is a new phenomenon. This is true enough that those so ordained gain some attention. This list deals with that and will include bishops as well, but due to historical differences deaconesses will not be included. In Presbyterianism, Methodism and a few other denominations the ordination of women predates 1900 and is now common enough to be unremarkable. Hence those denominations are not included.
Contents
Anglicanism
- Joyce Bennett - first English woman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion
- Miriam Byrne - provost in the Scottish Episcopal Church
- Eleanor Clitheroe-Bell - priest and former businesswoman
- Barbara Clementine Harris - first woman consecrated as an Anglican bishop
- Penny Jamieson - first woman to head a diocese
- Li Tim-Oi- first woman ordained as an Anglican priest
- Molly McGreevey - former soap opera actress
- Katharine Jefferts Schori - first woman to become primate of an Anglican church
- Libby Lane - first woman to become a suffragan bishop in Church of England
- Rachel Treweek - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Church of England
- Sarah Mullally - suffragan bishop in Church of England
- Victoria Matthews - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Anglican Church of Canada, first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
- Pat Storey - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Church of Ireland
- Ellinah Wamukoya - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- Sarah Macneil - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Anglican Church of Australia
- Pushpa Lalitha - first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Church of South India
Church of Scotland
- Mary Levison - first woman to become a minister
Lutheranism
- Elizabeth Platz - first woman ordained in American Lutheranism
- Margot Käßmann - bishop in Germany Lutheranism
- Maria Jepsen - first woman to become a Lutheran bishop worldwide Germany[1]
- Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter - bishop in Germany[2]
- Susanne Breit-Keßler - bishop in Germany[3]
- Rosemarie Köhn - bishop in Church of Norway (1993–2006)
- Lise-Lotte Rebel - bishop in Danish National Church (since 1995)
- Christina Odenberg - bishop in Church of Sweden — (since 1996)
- Ilse Junkermann - bishop in Evangelical Church in Central Germany (since 2009)
- Irja Askola - bishop in Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (since 2010)
Baptist
Methodist
- Rosemarie Wenner - bishop in Germany[4]
- Minerva G. Carcaño - bishop in the United States
- Judith Craig - bishop in the United States
- Violet L. Fisher - bishop in the United States
- Carolyn Tyler Guidry - bishop in the United States
- Janice Riggle Huie - bishop in the United States
- Leontine T. Kelly - bishop in the United States
- Marjorie Matthews - bishop in the United States
- Mary Ann Swenson - bishop in the United States
- Mary Virginia Taylor - bishop in the United States
Catholic
Ludmila Javorová made public in 1995 her claim to have been ordained in 1970 during Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. The ordination of Javorová, although attempted by a bishop in communion with the Pope, was declared to be invalid.
Several Catholic groups not in communion with the Pope allow women to be ordained.
- Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger — excommunicated for unlawful ordination
- Sinéad O'Connor — excommunicated for ordination by Independent Catholic Michael Cox
- Mary Ramerman — one of the founders of Spiritus Christi
