In 2024, the Church of England celebrates 30 years of women priests and the Episcopal Church USA celebrates 50 years. On September 5 from 1-2pm ET / 6-7pm BST, hear women clergy on both sides of the pond reflect on the roads they’ve traveled and the journey ahead. Panelists will discuss unique challenges they’ve faced in their contexts and their hopes for women’s leadership across the Anglican Communion. Event hosted by Episcopal Divinity School, Emmanuel Theological College, and St. Luke's Atlanta.
Read more about our panelists below.
Rev. Nikki Mann is an ordained Priest in the Church of England. She currently serves as curate-in-charge across two churches in the North-West of England. She is passionate about discipleship, Biblical literacy, teaching and making church accessible to those on the margins of existing church communities. Alongside parish ministry she has research interests in the person and character of Judas Iscariot and the Bible and Violence. Rev. Nikki is a former student at ETC and received MA in Theology, Ministry and Mission there in 2023.
The Rt. Rev. Smitha Prasadam was consecrated Bishop of Huddersfield in summer 2023. Born into the Church of South India, her family then moved to the Anglican Church in Wales. Bishop Smitha's mother, Canon Jemima, was the first Indian woman ordained in the UK. As a member of the Archbishop's Transformations Steering Group she championed women's vocational pathways for flourishing. Smitha is passionate about liturgy which breathes life into ancient texts so that they can be heard with new meaning and relevance.
The Rev. Canon Jemima Prasadam, MBE is this year celebrating the 30th anniversary of her ordination to the priesthood as a member of the very first cohort of women to be ordained in the UK. In her parish in Birmingham from which she is now retired, Canon Jemima was awarded an MBE— Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—in recognition of her interfaith work. In her retirement, she remains active serving a number of churches in RIchmond and in community service, including regularly serving a community of unhoused people in Richmond’s city center.
The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward is an American feminist theologian and priest in The Episcopal Church. Fifty years ago, she was ordained as one of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first group of women to be ordained priests in the Episcopal Church USA. From 1975-2005, Dr. Heyward served as the Howard Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology at Episcopal Divinity School. She is the author of eleven books, including her most recent, The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call to Action.
The Rt. Rev. Carlye Hughes is the bishop of the Diocese of Newark. Upon her consecration in 2018, she became the first woman and African American to serve as bishop of this diocese. Prior to her election as bishop of Newark in 2018, she became the first woman and the first African American to be rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Worth in 2013.
The Rev. Winnie Varghese (Moderator) is the rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. A national leader in the Episcopal Church, Rev. Varghese is known for her inspired writing, teaching and preaching, and has been a leading voice on issues including mass incarceration; systemic racism; gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ issues; and immigration, among others. Before coming to St. Luke’s, she served as Priest for Ministries and Program Coordination at Trinity Wall Street and rector at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery in New York City.