Last year the Church of England voted for the momentous decision that women should legally be allowed to be ordained as bishops.
It is an issue that has been rife with controversy for decades and, although no change has been made official, it seems more women are being appointed to higher profile roles within the church every year.
One of the first women ever to be ordained, in 1994, was Canon Jane Brooke, who has just celebrated her first year anniversary as Chester Cathedral’s canon chancellor.
Responsible for the education work of the cathedral, Jane is also canon librarian, and regularly leads services and preaches sermons.
Having lived in Poynton for 20 years, Jane, who now lives in Chester, was teaching RE to secondary school pupils when she first experienced a calling to join the Church.
“My three children were very young when I first felt I was being called,” she said.
“I thought God might have made a mistake and I resisted the feeling initially, but then, after attending the selection panels, I found myself on an ordination course while still in full-time teaching.
“It did change my life. I feel privileged to preach in the cathedral and to be able to help other people in ways I couldn’t before ordination.”
As a woman in a male-dominated Church hierarchy, Jane counts herself as ‘fortunate’ not to have faced many decider challenges in her work, though she admits it has happened occasionally.
She said: “I have met people who do not recognise my ministry and that is very difficult to manage. However, I know that they, too, are just trying to be sincere and discern God’s will.
“I have been fortunate to work in environments that accept me for who and what I am.
“In the early days some people were negative when they saw that I was taking a wedding, but I am glad to say they were always positive afterwards.”
Married to George, a university professor, Jane is a doting grandmother these days, and education remains, as it always has, at the forefront of her work through her role at Chester Cathedral, and she couldn’t be happier.
She added: “My whole life has been in education. It is a far larger community to work in and I enjoy overseeing the education work.
“I still work for most of the week in paid employment at schools, either supporting headteachers as a school improvement partner or supporting RE and it is always a delight to see more young people visit the cathedral.”
