wfn.org | PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT CHURCH ORDAINS FIRST WOMAN

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

April 11, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, U.K

[97.4.2.8]

PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT CHURCH ORDAINS FIRST WOMAN

(ACNS) The Anglican Communion Office has just received the news that the
Philippines Independent Church ordained its first woman priest in
February. The Revd Rosalina Villaruel Rabaria was ordained priest on 9
February at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Providence and Guide in
Albasan, Numancia, Aklan.

The ordination was performed by Bishop Abdais de la Cruz, the former
Supreme Bishop of the Church who had himself once opposed the ordination
of women to the priesthood. The Philippine Independent Church is in full
communion with all the Churches of the Anglican Communion.