Kay Goldsworthy

Kay Maree Goldsworthy (born 1956) is an Australian bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia. She is the current archbishop of Perth in the Province of Western Australia. Upon her installation as archbishop, on 10 February 2018, she became the first female archbishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. Previously, she served as diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Gippsland in the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria. and served as curate at parishes in Thomastown/Epping and Deer Park/St. Albans before moving to Western Australia to become school chaplain at Perth College in Mount Lawley. In 1992 she was ordained as one of a group of Australia's first female priests by the then archbishop, Peter Carnley. She served as rector of St David's parish, Applecross from 1995 to 2006. During this time she was appointed a canon of St George's Cathedral and subsequently Archdeacon of Fremantle. In 2007 she was appointed Archdeacon of Perth and the registrar of the Diocese of Perth.

Ministry as bishop In April 2008, Goldsworthy was chosen to become an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Perth by the archbishop, Roger Herft. In 2013 she became the first woman already consecrated as a bishop, and the second Anglican woman, to be on a nomination list for election as a diocesan bishop in Australia (the Bishop of Newcastle election being the first). On 11 December 2014 she was elected to become the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Gippsland and was installed on 21 March 2015.

In the Australian 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Goldsworthy 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".

In 2017 Goldsworthy was elected Archbishop of Perth and installed on 10 February 2018 as the archbishop and metropolitan of Western Australia.

She gave as her first priorities: properly responding to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, ensuring those who had been abused were cared for, rebuilding trust in the church as a place of grace and healing, addressing violence against women and children in the community, supporting women in leadership positions and listening to the views of Anglicans in the Perth diocese.

Views of other Anglicans

Women bishops Women have served as Anglican bishops in a number of countries, including the United States, Canada and New Zealand, since 1989. A subsequent bishops' conference, in Newcastle, New South Wales, in April 2008, cleared the way for the first consecration of a woman as a bishop in Australia. The Sydney diocese indicated that if Goldsworthy visited in an official capacity she would be unable to perform any duties as a bishop and could only act as a deacon. and on 16 September published an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the Sydney diocese views on the ordination of women as priests and its refusal to recognise Goldsworthy as a bishop in its diocese.

Same-sex relationships Criticism of Goldsworthy's acceptance of people in same-sex relationships in the church has mainly come from the Diocese of Sydney. She has said that she supports an "inclusive" approach to same-sex marriage In Perth she appointed two men to clerical positions who were in (separate) same-sex civil partnerships, both of whom committed to the Faithfulness in Service code (maintaining chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage). In 2022, during the Lambeth Conference, she signed a statement in support of LGBT+ people within the Anglican Communion.

Family Goldsworthy is married to Jeri James, and they have twin sons.