Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy AO awarded Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa)

University of Divinity awards highest academic honour to The Most Reverend Kay Goldsworthy AO

In December 2023, the Council of the University of Divinity resolved to award the degree of Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) to the Most Reverend Kay Goldsworthy AO, Archbishop of Perth and Metropolitan of Western Australia. The Chancellor of the University, Dr Graeme L Blackman AO, will confer the award on Archbishop Kay at the University’s graduation ceremony in Perth on Sunday 14 April 2024, during a service of Choral Evensong at St George’s Cathedral.

The Doctor of Divinity is the oldest award of the University, created in 1910 and first awarded in 1913. It is the highest academic honour that the University bestows. The award is made in recognition of Archbishop Kay’s sustained and distinguished contribution to the Church and community in Australia and internationally over many years, as a groundbreaking leader and supporter for women in ministry, as a vocal advocate for many social and economic issues, and as a champion of theological education.

The citation for the award reads:

The Most Reverend Kay Goldsworthy has made a sustained and distinguished contribution to the mission and ministry of the Church. As one of the first women ordained to the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate in the Anglican Church of Australia, and as the first female Archbishop in the Anglican Communion, she has been a groundbreaking leader and mentor for people in ministry for over three decades, at times in the face of significant opposition.

She has made vital contributions within the international forums of the Anglican Communion to debate around women’s ministry and religious leadership, economic justice, modern-day slavery and Indigenous reconciliation. She is a keen advocate for theological education, scholarship and research, providing both encouragement and practical opportunities for clergy and laypeople under her care to broaden their understanding of God and humanity’s relationship to God. Throughout her ministry, Archbishop Kay’s spiritual leadership and preaching have supported the flourishing of the whole people of God through change and renewal.

About the Archbishop

Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy AO was born and called to ministry in the Diocese of Melbourne. She is a graduate of the University of Divinity, having studied a Bachelor of Theology at Trinity College and the United Faculty of Theology.

She became a Deaconess in 1984 and was ordained Deacon in 1986, where she worked in the parishes of Thomastown and Deer Park in Melbourne. In 1988, she was appointed Chaplain to Perth College in the Diocese of Perth and was among the first women in Australia to be ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Peter Carnley on 7 March 1992.

She has also served the Diocese of Perth as Rector of the Parish of Applecross, as Canon of St George’s Cathedral, Archdeacon of Fremantle, Archdeacon of Perth, Diocesan Registrar and Diocesan Administrator. Archbishop Kay was appointed Assistant Bishop and was the first woman ordained to the episcopate in Australia on 22 May 2008.

On the international scene, Archbishop Kay is the Anglican Church of Australia’s Episcopal member of the Anglican Consultative Council, a member of the Lambeth Conference Phase 3 Working Group and Chair of the Anglican Communion Schools’ Network (ACSN).

In the Australian 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to religion through the Anglican Church of Australia, as a pioneer and role model for women, to church administration, and to pastoral care and equality”.