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Gloria Shipp

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Reverend
Gloria Shipp
Born1948
NationalityKamilaroi
CitizenshipAustralia
Alma materNungalinya College, Darwin
Years active1994-
Known forWalkabout Ministries

First Aboriginal woman Anglican priest

First woman chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council

Gloria Shipp (born 1948) is an Anglican priest, the first Aboriginal woman ordained as deacon[1] and then as priest in the Anglican Church of Australia[2][3] and the first woman elected Chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council.[4] She is of the Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi nation and lives on Wiradjuri country.[5] Shipp founded Walkabout Ministries as an accessible, culturally sensitive church that embraces Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.[6]

Personal life

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Shipp was born and raised in Nyngan New South Wales then moved to Dubbo in the 1980s.[7] She is married to Edward "Eddie" Shipp (Wiradjuri) and they have three adult sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.[8]

Ministry

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Ordination

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Shipp obtained a Diploma of Theology at Nungalinya College in Darwin in 1994 then was ordained deacon the same year and given permission to officiate in the Diocese of the Northern Territory in 1995.[7]

Shipp has mainly ministered in Cobar, Dubbo, Nyngan and Warren New South Wales. She was ordained priest on 21 December 1996[9][2] by Bishop Bruce Wilson in Holy Trinity Anglican Church Dubbo in the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst. Her ordination featured in Australian and international news media.[1] The ordination service combined traditional Anglican and Aboriginal symbolism; her husband and son held the bowl of burning gum leaves outside the church for people to pass through the cleansing smoke, an Aboriginal flag was placed along the side of the sanctuary, Jangarra dancers with clicking sticks danced in the clergy procession, Shipp wore a cassock with Australian animals decorating the hem, after the Anglican ordination her hair and face were smeared by two dancers with white ochre symbolising purity and spirituality and during communion her cousin played the didgeridoo.[1][10]

Edwards and Frapell stated that "Her ordination added strength to the hopes that a self-determinist Aboriginal ministry would flourish in the diocese".[11]

Ministries

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Shipp was first a lay minister with oversight of the Koori Anglican Fellowship in Dubbo in 1993[11] then after ordination as a deacon she became Deacon-in-Charge from 1995 then Priest-in-Charge of the fellowship from 1996 to 2002 and Chaplain 2002–2003.[12][13] Shipp established Walkabout Ministries in about 2008[6][14] under the auspices of the Anglican Board of Mission (ABM).[15] Shipp became Assistant Priest at Holy Trinity in 2009.[8]

Shipp envisioned Walkabout Ministries as an accessible, culturally sensitive church that embraced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and was willing to meet them where they were.[16] Her work has also been supported by the Bush Church Aid Society of Australia.[17] Through Walkabout Ministries Shipp runs regular Elders Outreach Groups, Women's Camps, Christian rallies and reconciliation activities.[9][18][19] During Lent in 2011, Shipp undertook a speaking tour organised by the ABM.[20]

She was the juvenile justice chaplain at the Orana Juvenile Justice Centre in Dubbo (2008-2017?).[21][22][note 1] Shipp gave Bible talks, officiated at services and counselled boys in the centre. Of her work there, Shipp said "I always ask the boys what they want to be and then I pray for them...I tell it to them straight. God doesn't keep a record but the law of the land does. I try to encourage them to make a better life for themselves".[19]

Shipp was a member of the House of Clergy at the Anglican Church of Australia General Synod 2010[23] and is an official member of the Diocese of Bathurst Synod.[24] She is a life member[25] and former chairperson (2012-?) of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council.[6][4][26][27] She represented the Council at international meetings of the Anglican Indigenous Network and was a member of its Standing Committee.[28][29]

Shipp was named Dubbo Elder of the Year in 2019 and the church hall of Holy Trinity, Dubbo was named "The Gloria Shipp Room" on her move from Dubbo to Nyngan in 2021.[30]

In 2022 Shipp was commissioned as a Companion of the Company of the Good Shepherd.[31] She leads church services and conducts baptisms, weddings and funerals in the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst where churches do not have a priest.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Wilson, Zandra (21 November 1995). "Bathurst-A lot has happened". Movement for the Ordination of Women: The National Magazine for the Movement for the Ordination of Women: 6, 8 – via JSTOR.
  2. ^ a b Hayward, Patricia (24 April 1997). "From the President". Movement for the Ordination of Women Newsletter: 3 – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ Bruce, K. (2013). Anglicanism In Australia: A History. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.p244
  4. ^ a b "First woman elected Chair of Anglican national indigenous body". Anglican Communion News Service. 8 October 2012.
  5. ^ Rev Gloria Shipp - complete interviews, retrieved 2024-02-28
  6. ^ a b c d "Walkabout Ministries (The Reverend Gloria Shipp)". ABM Anglican Board of Mission. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  7. ^ a b "Our Stories". National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  8. ^ a b Renewing the Spirit, retrieved 2024-02-26
  9. ^ a b "Anglican Board of Mission". Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  10. ^ Hayward, P., Buchanan, J. (2007). HSC Studies of Religion. Australia: Macmillan Education Australia. pp7-8
  11. ^ a b Edwards, Benjamin., & Frappell, Ruth. (2011). Every valley, hill, mountain and plain : a history of the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst. Halstead Press. p175.
  12. ^ "Gloria Shipp". The Australian Anglican Clerical Directory. Angela Grutzner and Associates. 1999. ISSN 1324-1206.
  13. ^ Anglican Church of Australia Directory 2022/23. Victoria Australia: Broughton Publishing. 2022. ISBN 978-1-9224410-4-1.
  14. ^ McEachen, Ben (2018-07-05). "A pioneer who sees reconciliation - Eternity News". Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  15. ^ Deane, John (2008). "ABM's Australian Indigenous Program" (PDF). Anglican Board of Mission Australia Annual Report: 7.
  16. ^ "Walkabout Ministries (The Reverend Gloria Shipp)". ABM Anglican Board of Mission. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  17. ^ Thompson, Greg (February 1998). "Have a cuppa together" (PDF). The Real Australian: The Quarterly Magazine of the Bush Church Aid Society of Australia: 4–5.
  18. ^ "Anglican Board of Mission". Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  19. ^ a b Lewis, Natalie (27 February 2020). "God has called me to do this". Dubbo PhotoNews.
  20. ^ Tibbey, M "From little things big things grow" in Indigenous Australia and the Unfinished Business of Theology: Cross-Cultural Engagement. (2014). United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. pp47-61
  21. ^ "Anglican Board of Mission". Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  22. ^ "Anglican Board of Mission". Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  23. ^ The Anglican Church of Australia, 2010, General Synod Papers, Book 6, Members of General Synod 6-037
  24. ^ Bathurst Diocese Anglican Church of Australia: First session of the 50th synod (PDF). Diocese of Bathurst. 2022. p. 26.
  25. ^ "Guardian Oct 2012 by Anglican Diocese of Adelaide - Issuu". issuu.com. 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  26. ^ "Anglicans embrace Torres Strait spirituality". Torres News. 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  27. ^ "Our Members". National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  28. ^ "Anglican Indigenous Network: Record of gathering held at Collaroy Centre, Sydney Australia" (PDF). Anglican Indigenous Network. 18–25 May 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  29. ^ Lloyd, Ashton (28 November 2013). "Anglican Indigenous Network gears up for action". Anglican Communion News Service. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  30. ^ "The Church and Indigenous Culture report" (PDF). Anglican E-News: Reporting on the Anglican Church in Central & Western NSW. 8 (1): 5. October 2021.
  31. ^ "Reverend Gloria Shipp resumes her active ministry after two years of COVID-19 disruptions". ABM Anglican Board of Mission. Retrieved 2024-02-28.

Notes

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  1. ^ The formal end date of her chaplaincy is unclear. Two sources seems to indicate Shipp resigned as chaplain in either 2017 or 2020 and another source indicates she continued to visit the centre even after she finished as chaplain.
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Interviews:

Photos:

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