Last week, Britain finally accepted women as bishops in the Church of England; the Rev Libby Lane was announced the UK’s first ever female bishop.
Rebecca Howarth, a Manchester schoolgirl, became ‘girl bishop’ at the start of this month, meaning she will take charge of her local Oldham Parish Church this month, until the Epiphany on January 6.
The church had previously taken on a number of boy bishops for the annual tradition, where a youth bishop takes over from the serving Bishop of Manchester; however, this is the first time that a girl takes on the role.
Rebecca is thrilled. “I was really excited ever since I found out I was going to be girl bishop,” she says, adding that women are as good as men and are equal to each other.
She noted that she wants boys to realize that they’re not better than girls, hoping that her new role as girl bishop will help get that message across.
For this reason, she jumped at the chance as soon as her priest suggested it to her mum: “Father Derek asked my mum if I wanted to think about it and as soon as I agreed it was announced in church. They’d decided it would be nice to have a girl. If I’d disagreed there were lots of others who would have done it.”
When she was chosen at the start of the month, she took over from the church’s current bishop in a traditional ceremony. “I had to lead a few prayers,” she says. “I had to literally pull a bishop out of his chair and sit on it myself. It’s tradition. It’s a really big honor.”
Despite the tough lexicon of the Bible, Rebecca really loves being a Christian.
“I really like going to church. Sometimes before I became girl bishop I had a short prayer to read out. I like learning about God and Jesus and stuff. I think it’s really cool that there’s someone there watching us. It sort of reassures me. If you think about it when you’re feeling sad, it makes you feel better.” Source