Peta Sherlock

Peta Sherlock (born Peta Robin Sproule) (1946-) is an Australian Anglican priest who was formerly Dean of the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo at St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, Bendigo. She was one of the first women ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1986 then as an Anglican priest in 1992 and the first woman Dean of an Anglican diocese in Australia.

Personal life Peta Sproule married Charles Henry Sherlock in 1970. Charles calls her his "co-theologian". They have two sons, one of whom is Peter Sherlock.

Ministry and career Sherlock began her career as a school teacher, after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University in 1968 and a Diploma of Education from the University of New South Wales in 1969. She began studying theology at Ridley College, Melbourne in the 1970s and graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in 1980. In 1976, she was interviewed for a newspaper with fellow student Narelle Mitchell and tutor Barbara Darling.

Sherlock met Patricia Brennan, future President/Co Convenor of Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW), at the National Evangelical Anglican Congress in 1981. The ordination of women was discussed in workshops at that conference and a suggestion was put to the Congress to debate the motion "Anglican Evangelicals believe that there are no fundamental theological objections to the ordination of women to the priesthood." Sherlock became National Secretary of MOW 1992–1994.

Ordination Sherlock was ordained deacon on Ascension Day, 30 May 1986 in the first group of women ordained deacons Australia-wide, and the second group of women to be ordained deacons in Melbourne.

In 1992, Sherlock was ordained as a priest by Keith Rayner (then Anglican Primate of Australia) in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne and granted permission to officiate 1991–92. Sherlock was one of the ninety-three women ordained or licensed as priests for the first time in the Anglican Church in Australia.

Later career Subsequently, Sherlock was appointed Priest-in-Charge, St Andrew's, Clifton Hill with St Luke's, North Fitzroy 1992-01 during which time she was also Area Dean Melbourne City 2000–01.

From 2001 to 2003, Sherlock was Incumbent of St John's, Heidelberg and Incumbent Banyule parish 2003. She was awarded a Doctor of Ministry Studies by the Melbourne College of Divinity (now the University of Divinity) in 2004.

In 2003, and again in 2006, there was media discussion about the possibility of Sherlock (along with other women) being appointed the first woman bishop in the Anglican Church in Australia. None of the women were made bishop at that time. Subsequently, in 2008 Kay Goldsworthy became the first female bishop (Assistant Bishop consecrated in Perth on 22 May) then Barbara Darling, Bishop for Diocesan Ministries in Melbourne on 31 May. Sherlock said that the outcome of meeting in the hall was that the clergy were closer to the people in the congregation and people in the congregation also became closer to each other.

In 2012, Sherlock published an essay about her time as a deacon, priest and dean, "Twenty years a priest: To desire God". She said that when women were first ordained some chose to stay outside church structures but she decided to remain inside and be an agent of change. 1990 The God Book: Much More Than A Role Play Game (with Charles Sherlock), Inter-Varsity; Six carol services for churches and schools, Joint Board of Christian Education. 1992 "Voices: a selection of writings mainly from MOW publication, in which women reflect on God, our Scriptures, our power and our Eucharist" in Changing women, changing church: Festschrift to Patricia Brennan. Foundation president of the Movement for the Ordination of Women, Millennium Books; "The other Mary speaks up" in Movement for the Ordination of Women: The national magazine for the Movement for the Ordination of Women incorporating Ebb and Flow, MOW. 1994-1996 Inside The Sunday Gospels:Year C, EJ Dwyer Ltd.; 1996 Inside the Sunday Gospels: New Commentaries for the Year of Mark: Year B, EJ Dwyer Ltd. 1996-97 Feet on the Ground: What Did It Mean for God to Come to Earth? (with John Lane), Scripture Union Australia 1996; 1997 "Reading the Bible through a woman's eyes" in Fabric faith and friendship: Women changing church and society, Desbooks. 2003-04 Sermons at Banyule parish: What a waste, Reflection, Palm Sunday 2003, St John's Heidelberg; Good News Indeed, Easter Day at Rosanna, 2003; Being disciples, February 7–8, 2004, Watsonia and Heidelberg. 2004 All scripture is useful: case studies in the proclamation of the diverse, marginal and whole canon of scripture, Thesis, Report of research project (DMin), Melbourne College of Divinity. 2005 Between the Lines: Reading the Bible for our Time, a talk for [Australian Church Union] ACU 31 August 2005. 2011 "The Dean looks at—Mary Magdalene" in The Spirit (Anglican Diocese of Bendigo), August 2011, Silver Award, Best Theological Reflection, 2012, Australasian Religious Press Association. 2012 "Reading Romans as Anglicans: Romans 1:26-27" in Five uneasy pieces: essays on scripture and sexuality, ATF Press; "Twenty years a priest: to desire God" in Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry, UNSW Press; Plenary speaker on theme, "The Theological Interpretation of Bible, Church and World", 2012 ANZATS Conference. 2013 "Practising Hermeneutics in the Parish", ANZATS, The Australian And New Zealand Association Of Theological Studies, Volume 45:1 May 2013. 2015-2022 "The disturbance in the choir 1891: a year in the life of St George's Church of England, Trentham: celebrating 150 years of Anglican worship in Trentham 1864-2014" in The Recorder, Trentham Historical Society; 2015 "Trentham State School no.1588: the early years 1875-1918" in The Recorder, Trentham Historical Society; 2017 "The Tresidder Family in Trentham and district" in The Recorder, Trentham Historical Society; 2022 These walls could speak: a history of St George's Trentham 1864-2022.