First woman priest honored-Anglican
Diana Swift
[Anglican Journal] On Jan. 25,1944, as much of China lay in the iron grip of the Japanese invasion, the church marked a groundbreaking event. A fearless Anglican bishop, discerning a match between wartime need and a uniquely gifted person, ordained a humble yet steel-spined disciple of Christ into the priesthood. The bishop was Ronald Hall of Victoria and the ordinand was Hong-Kong-born Li Tim-Oi, the church’s first woman priest.
Later, graciously relinquishing her licence in the face of Canterbury-led reaction from the establishment, Li continued her ministry during the Japanese occupation and the Communist regime that followed.
On January 25, 2014, the 70th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Florence Li Tim-Oi’s ordination was the leitmotif of a choral eucharist celebrating the ordination of women at Toronto’s Cathedral Church of St. James. Organized with the University of Waterloo’s Renison University College, which holds Li’s archives, and presided over by Bishop Linda Nicholls of the diocese of Toronto, the service honoured Li’s unwavering ministry during the war and the Cultural Revolution.
From Lambeth Palace, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sent greetings, noting that Li Tim-Oi “had been given the gift of priesthood” and that though she resigned her licence in the face of controversy, she never resigned her priestly orders but served God all her life.” Tim-Oi means “much beloved,” and Welby said she “was a gift to the worldwide Anglican Church and will continue to be much beloved for all that she did.”
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/01/28/first-woman-priest-honored/