Dorchester Abbey was full yesterday for an Epiphany service to celebrate the contribution of women to the Church of England.
More than 500 people turned up for the service led by the Archdeacon of Buckinghamshire, the Venerable Karen Gorham, reports the Diocese of Oxford Reporter.
Archdeacon Gorham told stories of women like Florence Nightingale and Catherine Booth of The Salvation Army as she spoke of the unique role of women.
"With each woman here today there is a unique story, some of us have worked in the church for many years as lay workers, deacons, deaconesses," she said.
"Some entered the ordained ministry at the end of the long campaign by the Movement for the Ordination of Women, while others have found their vocation more recently and are experiencing a church where men and women are now largely selected and trained as equals."
