Much Beloved Daughter

Educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate a community.

2007 marks the centenary of Li Tim-Oi, the first Anglican woman priest. I didn't know this: we share the same birthday.

She is one of my heroes; I had the good fortune to meet this gentle, humble soul when she came to Houston in the late 1980s.

Tim-Oi's birthday commemoration comes nearly 31 years after the Episcopal Church voted at its 65th General Convention to open all three orders of ordained ministry to women.

Today, the ordination of women is widely -- but not universally -- accepted in the Episcopal Church. An entire generation, both in chronological age and in terms of their membership in the Episcopal Church, has known nothing but a church in which women serve as priests.

Christina Rees writes today about her in the Guardian.

After Li Tim-Oi died in 1992, her sister established a foundation in her honour that gives grants for training Anglican women in the developing world. Over 200 have been trained so far.

The Li Tim-Oi Foundation has been relaunched as It Takes One Woman.

Here's Rees writing about her visit to east Africa, where some of the woman ITOW has helped -

Every woman I met was challenging her own culture about practices that they believed clashed with the Christian gospel. They were also bravely challenging their own churches where they met collusion with harmful practices and colleagues turning a blind eye to behaviour contributing to the spread of HIV/Aids. In addition to their Christian work, many of them were teaching people in their communities ways of becoming economically self-sufficient. I came away convinced that these women hold the key to ending traditions and practices which are damaging to women and that they are uniquely placed to help end the spread of HIV/Aids.