The Twelve Theses was a poster modelled on Martin Luther's Ninety-five theses and blu-tacked to the chapter house door of St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral, Sydney on 4 October 1983"Women protest outside cathedral", The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 Oct 1983, p5 by members of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW). The protest action on the eve of the Sydney Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia drew church and media attention to the issue of the ordination of women and with other campaigning and growing support, led to the ordination of women in most dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Background The Anglican Church of Australia is a federation of 23 dioceses; each diocese has its own synod and can make its own ordinances. In the 1970s and 80s some dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia were moving slowly towards the ordination of women to the three orders of deacon, priest and bishop. The majority of the Anglican Doctrine Commission had already agreed in 1973 there were no theological problems concerning the ordination of women to the three-fold order of ministry and presented a majority report on women in ministry to General Synod in 1977. That Synod agreed with the Commission and resolved, "the theological objections which have been raised do not constitute a barrier to the ordination of women to the priesthood or the consecration of women to the episcopate", but put off passing legislation to enable the ordination of women.Nelson, J., Walter, L., & St Mark’s Canberra. (1989). Women of spirit: women’s place in church and society. St. Mark’s Canberra.:147 Diesendorf, Eileen. "Ordination of Women: A thorn in the side of the Anglican Church in Australia." Social Alternatives 7.3 (1988).
Influential Sydney Anglicans at General Synod, in the Sydney Synod, and on the Doctrine Commission, opposed the ordination of women citing "male headship" theology as the created order whereby men were in authority over women in the church and family and women should willingly submit to that authority.Vinson, T. (Tony), 1935-2017 & Baldry, Eileen. 1991, Actions speak: strategies and lessons from Australian social and community action / [edited by] Eileen Baldry and Tony Vinson. Longman Cheshire Melbourne. retrieved 4 June 2025.:136 Canon Broughton Knox of Sydney had written a minority report to the Doctrine Commission which in part stated, “God’s Word makes clear that in creating humanity, God gave a headship to man which he did not give to woman".Porter, M. (1989). Women in the church: the great ordination debate in Australia. Penguin.:68-69 Patricia Brennan wrote later "The talk of Christian mutual service and the complementarity of the natural roles for men and women had served as a smoke screen for the institutional domination of women by men. It seemed profoundly unchristian in the light of the exemplary statement by Jesus, 'I have not called you servants but friends' (John 15.15)."Patricia Brennan, ‘The Habit of Freedom’, St Mark’s Review, No. 168, Summer 1997
After some resistance most dioceses gradually began ordaining women to the diaconate (from 1986) and to the priesthood (from 1992). Individual dioceses began to ordain women as priests in 1992 after General Synod finally resolved all legal questions. Women had only been allowed to become representatives on Sydney synod and its committees in 1972:22 so men were in the majority and were making decisions for women in ministry.:135 Despite some male clergy and administrators supporting the ordination of women, the Sydney diocese held its own doctrine commission and synod debates and drew its line at ordaining women as permanent deacons only (from 1989); finally rejecting women as priests in 1992.
Protest and debate The protracted debates and delays in ordaining women, especially in the Sydney diocese, led to the formation of protest groups and the publication of the "media attractive" Twelve Theses poster.
From the outset of protests by women, some in opposition to the ordination of women in the Sydney Anglican diocese alleged that the pro-ordination groups were influenced by "the values of an inappropriate feminism."Proceedings of the 1996 Ordinary Session of the 44th Synod First Ordinary Session of the 44th Synod of the Diocese of Sydney: October and November 1996, Presidential Address By the Most Reverend R.H. Goodhew, Archbishop of Sydney, What Role Should Women Play in the Church in this Diocese? Members of Anglican Women Concerned and the Movement for the Ordination of Women were theological students, Anglican lay people, clergy wives, male clergy and deaconesses.Thomson, H., & Mathews, J. (2023). No sense of entitlement: on the makings of a feminist theologian. Pickwick Publications.:6 For example, Heather Thomson, later to become the systematic theologian at St Mark's National Theological Centre, took part in those early demonstrations.:6 Members of MOW said their focus on the ordination of women arose from their reading of the whole of Scripture and was a theological position rather than a secular feminist viewpoint.Sherlock, Peta, Between the Lines: Reading the Bible for our Time, a talk for ACU 31 August 2005
Anglican Women Concerned In the 1970s women (with some male supporters) began organising protest groups to rally public and church backing for the ordination of women. Some smaller groups began to prepare women for ordination through theological study or talking with bishops about prospects for their ordination.:135
Anglican Women Concerned first set the scene for protests with placards and symbolic actions to attract public and media attention. Colleen O’Reilly had been involved in the Australian Council of Churches ecumenical Commission on the Status of Women. She co-founded the Anglican women's group with Zandra Wilson in Sydney in 1975.:181 From 1977 Anglican Women Concerned demonstrated, sometimes silently, outside the General and Sydney Synods using placards, pamphlets and street theatre to send their message that women should be ordained.
The 1981 General Synod was set to discuss the constitutional and legal questions on the ordination of women. Again Anglican Women Concerned protested with placards outside St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney."Four years on and still no woman in an Anglican pulpit", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Aug 1981, p7.:137 Photos and articles about the 1977 and 1981 protests appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald showing placards stating "Equal rites for women" and the Herald stated that reporters were more interested in the campaigning women than the synod, "… most of the reporters were … interviewing women supporters of women’s ordination at an impromptu press conference on the grass outside.""Anglican Synod closes a door to women's ordination". Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 1981. p3.
The Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) During 1982—1983 Patricia Brennan was involved with Anglican Women Concerned. Brennan, as a member of a Sydney diocesan committee on women in ministry had surveyed women in church ministry in Sydney and found much dissatisfaction. In 1983 the Movement for the Ordination of Women was founded in Sydney by Colleen O'Reilly, Patricia Brennan and Marlene Cohen.
Its main aim was "To move all dioceses in the Anglican Church of Australia to admit women to the ordained ministries of the Church".
Broader motivations for setting up MOW were later given by Monica Furlong and Janet Scarfe. Monica Furlong, the moderator of the English MOW, visited MOW in Australia in 1984 saying "It seemed to me that it was the adamant, wounding kind of opposition within the Sydney diocese that got MOW started".:148 Scarfe stated in 2014, "The church excluded women from its ordained ministry but also to all intents and practical purpose from its language, lectionary readings and liturgy and from its decision-making bodies. The exclusion and invisibility of women, and most especially justifications and defence of the indignity, were hurtful and offensive."
MOW was formally launched in Sydney on 28 September 1983;"Sydney Synod...", Sydney Morning Herald 28 September 1983, p12 for its first year MOW was a Sydney organisation then it formed a national network of state MOW branches. Its first protest action was the publication of the Twelve Theses poster.Hilliard D. "Gender Roles, Homosexuality, and the Anglican Church in Sydney." in Swanson, R. N., & Ecclesiastical History Society. Winter Meeting. (1998). Gender and Christian religion : papers read at the 1996 Summer Meeting and the 1997 Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society. pp509-523
Twelve theses development and publication 1983 was the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth. Various commemorations were held by Australian Protestant churches including a Reformation Rally organised by the Anglican Church League in November 1983. Members of MOW wanted to commemorate Luther and "imitate his prophetic action".
In its twelve statements the theses called for repentance from the theology of headship and subordination, a reformation of the Body of Christ (the church) through a "renewed understanding of the unity and equality of man and woman", and an open debate on the "grievous error", especially in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Posting the theses on the cathedral door was regarded as an "act of witness" by MOW, as a way of drawing attention to the errors of headship theology and the issue of the ordination of women during synods in Sydney. The Editorial Committee of Balaam's Ass wrote that the action was "a call to renewal and authentic reformation of the church, not its destruction."As it was a year of commemoration of Luther and the Reformation, the author of the twelve theses modelled the text and action on Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses. The author was Susanne Glover, then a theological student at Moore Theological College. Glover had already critiqued the theology of headship in an open letter in the Southern Cross, saying "...nowhere is a denial of servanthood so clearly portrayed than in the doctrine of headship. To claim to serve while at the same time denying others their call to service is a contradiction". In the theses Glover argued against headship and the subordination of women on theological grounds. She said that the doctrine of male headship overwhelmed and was in opposition to the scriptural teaching that the church was the Body of Christ, both men and women are made in the image of God and gifts are given to all by the Holy Spirit.Piggin, Stuart, and Robert Dean Linder. 2020. Attending to the National Soul: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1914-2014. Volume II of the Fountain of Public Prosperity. Clayton, Victoria: Monash University Publishing.
The poster was made of yellow parchment. Walter McEntee wrote the text in calligraphy. The first logo of the newly formed Movement for the Ordination of Women was placed at the top left side. It was a black sphere with an overlaid white cross.
Some of the text echoed Luther's words from his theses, positioning MOW as church reformers. The introduction invited verbal or written debate with MOW, the first three statements called for repentance, as did Luther. The rest of Luther's theses were concerned with the practice of priests providing indulgences or remitting sins, while the twelve theses focussed on reconciling the relationship between men and women, and freeing women from the theology of subordination to exercise their spiritual gifts and calling. The 12th thesis called for a reformation and "a renewed understanding of the unity and equality of man and woman in Christ" with "headship being returned to Christ to whom it alone belongs". The final postscript quoted Luther "...my conscience is taken captive by God's word...On this I take my stand. I can do no other."