A silver cross left in a will for Ireland's first woman bishop was presented to the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Rev Pat Storey, at Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral last night.
She was consecrated bishop on November 30th.
Daphne Wormell, a campaigner for women's ordination in the Church of Ireland, had left the cross for the first woman bishop. A teacher of history and art appreciation, she first made the case for women priests in 1970 when she wrote that "bishops may yet be bringing their husbands to Lambeth". In the early 1970s she was invited by the then archbishop of Dublin, Dr Otto Simms, to write on the ordination of women. In 1975 she and four others became the first female lay readers in the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. Later she started the Women in Ministry group and was chair of a group which in 1986 organised a conference on women's ministry at Trinity College Dublin.
In 1996 she was awarded an honorary MA by TCD for her work in this area.
She died in November 2001. Her biography, With Dignity and Grace, written by herself and her daughter Julia, was launched by Bishop Storey last night.
