Thursday, February 26, 2015

Florence Li Tim-Oi, 1992

The Florence Li Tim-Oi Memorial Reading Room and archives are housed at Renison University College in Waterloo where I have the privilege of working. Sometimes, although not often enough, I sit in the reading area honouring her, catch my breath, and give thanks for her remarkable life.

Li Tim-Oi was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion. 

"For All the Saints" tells us that:

"She was made deacon in 1941, and was given charge of the Anglican congregation in the Portuguese colony of Macao, thronged with refugees from war-torn China. When a priest could no longer travel from Japanese-occupied territory to preside for her at the eucharist, the Bishop of Hong Kong asked her to meet him in Free China, where on January 25, 1944 he ordained her “a priest in the Church of God.” To defuse controversy, in 1946 she surrendered her priest’s license, but not her Holy Orders, the knowledge of which carried her through Maoist persecution. For the next 39 years, she served faithfully under very difficult circumstances, particularly after the Communists took over mainland China. In 1983, arrangements were made for her to come to Canada, where she was appointed as an honorary assistant at St. John’s Chinese congregation and St. Matthew’s parish in Toronto. The Anglican Church of Canada had by this time approved the ordination of women to the priesthood, and in 1984, the 40th anniversary of her ordination, Ms. Li was, with great joy and thanksgiving, reinstated as a priest".  

To learn more about her remarkable story, and ongoing legacy, see It Takes One Woman.

I invite you to pause, catch your breath, and pray the collect for her memorial day: 

Loving God, giver of all good gifts, 

fill us with your grace, that we, like your servant Li Tim-Oi, 

first woman to be ordained an Anglican priest, may entrust you with our destiny. 

May we, with her same forbearance in the face of adversity, witness to you in all things; through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, now and forever. Amen.  

Quote and Prayer from For All the Saints: Prayers and Readings for Saints’ Days According to the Calendar of the Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada

Marilyn Malton