Jacqueline Allene Means is an American

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest. On January 1, 1977, she became the first woman to be regularly

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

a priest in the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

. The

Episcopal Church's General Convention The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority ...

had approved the

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

to the priesthood in September 1976, and this had come into force on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

1977. Women had been ordained in 1974 and 1975 (the

Philadelphia Eleven The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention affirmed and explicitly authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. Ba ...

and the

Washington Four The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of A ...

), but as this was without the approval of the General Convention, their ordinations were declared irregular. Rev. Means served as rector in

Plainfield, Indiana Plainfield is a town in Guilford, Liberty, and Washington townships, Hendricks County, Indiana, United States. The population was 27,631 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 35,287. History In 1822 a tract of land whic ...

from 1986 until 1998. Since 1999, she has directed prison ministries in the Office of the Bishop for the Armed Forces, Health Services and Prison Ministries. In 2001, Rev. Means received an honorary degree from the

Church Divinity School of the Pacific Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) is an Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, California. It one of nine seminaries U.S. Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union. The only Episcopal seminary located in the Far West, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Means, Jacqueline Living people 20th-century American Episcopal priests 21st-century American Episcopal priests Women Anglican clergy Year of birth missing (living people)