The Pioneering Deaconesses of Rochester: A Story of Ministry Evolution

1. A story from the Rochester Diocese Deaconess Isabella Gilmore Head Deaconess of Rochester Deaconess House Rt. Revd Anthony Thorold Bishop of Rochester 1877-1891

2. The first Deaconesses in the Church of England • 1862 – The Bishop of London had visited Kaiserwerth Deacon House in Germany. • The Church of England borrowed the idea from German Lutherans and copied the way of working • Mostly Works of Charity not working in churches e.g nursing

3. The First Deaconesses – not clergy but the beginning of the story • From 1841 Religious Sisters in the Anglican Church but not ordained • The first was Deaconess Elizabeth Ferard London Diocese in 1862 Deaconesses Living in Community Sent out to work Returned to deaconess house

4. Bishop Thorold & Isabella see a different way of training Deaconess Isabella Gilmore Head Deaconess of Rochester Deaconess House Rt Revd Anthony Thorold Bishop of Rochester 1877-1891

5. From 1887 onwards in the Rochester Diocese Deaconesses Training in the Deaconess House Sent to work in parishes

6. “ The position the Deaconess holds in this Diocese is the same as a that of a Deacon, she is licensed to the parish, receives her own stipend, and is entirely independent of the Head Deaconess, but is responsible to her Vicar and her Bishop.”

7. From 1887 onwards …… Isabella Gilmore’s training methods were copied and many other Diocesan Houses were set up in the same way and in other countries This led to the women trained in Rochester being more like male deacons because they worked under the authority of the Bishop and a Parish Priest in parishes Different from Religious sisters and community based deaconesses who worked for and belonged to a Community Just as there was Deacon, Priest and Deacon Isabella Gilmore and Bishop Thorold saw the revived Diaconate as an order of Ministry for women Deaconesses where never large in numbers but were much appreciated in parishes. They took increasingly bigger roles in the liturgy. In the absence of a priest they could baptize.

8. 100 years Later! Clerical Ordination • 1987 - It took another 100 years for the Church of England’s General Synod to decide to ordain women – as deacons. • 1994– another 7 years to ordain women as priests • 2015 – and another 21 years to ordain women as Bishops

9. What happened to training and women? From 1970’s Deaconess Houses began to be closed down altogether and women and men trained together. But women were more likely to train on local schemes than residentially Women are more likely to be older at the start of training Women are more likely to be self supporting

10. From - Statistics for Mission:2012. Ministry Archbishops’, Council