81. Ruth Mathieson - 25 September 2022

Australian Women Preach

Twenty-six Sunday of Ordinary Time - Luke 16: 19-31

Unfinished Business: It’s thirty years since Anglican women were first ordained as priests in Australia. Australian Women Preach celebrates this anniversary, while acknowledging there are still Anglican dioceses and other Christian denominations that limit or refuse to acknowledge women’s ordained ministry.

The Reverend Dr Ruth Mathieson took up the role of Principal of St Francis Theological College in the Anglican Diocese of Southern Queensland in July this year and enjoys living on site in Milton. Prior to this she was the Parish Priest of St Bede’s, Semaphore, in the Diocese of Adelaide, where she would enjoy walking the coastal paths at sunrise. Now she follows the paths along the Brisbane River shared with commuters and cyclists.

Ruth was an adjunct lecturer in New Testament Studies at St Barnabas College in Adelaide for ten years and was awarded a university medal for her PhD entitled Dress Code for Heaven? Exploring the Textures of the Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14).

Born and bred in South Australia (apart from three years overseas as a child in Winchester, UK and Ingolstadt, Germany), Ruth has lived most of her adult life in Adelaide. She was ordained 25 years ago and has served as a priest in both schools and parishes and as archdeacon in both the north and then the west of the Diocese of Adelaide. She is the mother of two young adult children.