Resolutions of the Lambeth Conference of 1978

Resolution 21, “Women in the Priesthood”, was passed by 316 votes to 37 with 17 abstentions. It notes that since 1968 the Diocese of Hong Kong, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Church of the Province of New Zealand had admitted women to the presbyterate. It recognises the right of each member church to decide for itself, acknowledges the distress the ordinations had caused, and says that the conference’s acceptance of this variety may disappoint the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Old Catholic churches. See the First Woman Is Ordained an Anglican Priest.