# Janet Morley

Janet Morley is a British author, poet, and Christian feminist.
Her books Celebrating Women (1986, co-edited with Hannah Ward) and All Desires Known (1988) established Morley as a campaigner for inclusive 'non-sexist' language in Christian liturgy. Her prayer For the darkness of waiting, written in 1985, "grew out of long years of campaigning for women's vocations to be recognised" by the Church of England: it has been used at national events celebrating women's ministry including the Liturgy of Hope at Canterbury Cathedral on 18 April 1986, and the service Celebrating 25 Years of Women Priests at Lambeth Palace on 1 March 2019 (read by Sally Hitchiner). Her prayer O God who brought us to birth, and in whose arms we die, first published in 1985, appears in Common Worship, part of the official liturgical resource of the Church of England. Critics acclaim her anthologies of poetry: The Heart's Time (2011), Haphazard by Starlight (2013), Our Last Awakening (2016), and Love Set You Going (2019).

## Biography

Morley studied English at New Hall, Cambridge (now Murray Edwards College), pursued biblical studies at King's College London, and received a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
She has worked in adult religious education for Christian Aid and for the Methodist Church of Great Britain, in the Methodist Connexional Team and at Wesley House, as formational tutor and as the founding Commissioning Editor of Holiness, its open access peer-reviewed journal. She edited the volumes of Holiness for 2015 and 2016.
Caring responsibilities for others have included raising children, caring for her six grandchildren, and looking after elderly relatives as they live with dementia.
Like her mother and her father, she has been a church-going member of the Church of England her whole life.

### Member of St Hilda Community

Morley was a member of the St Hilda Community, contributing liturgy eventually published in All Desires Known.
The St Hilda Community was a group of women and men who met for worship each Sunday, from February 1987 until at least 1991, first at St Benet's, the chapel of Queen Mary College (now QMUL), and later at Bow Road Methodist Church. Although there was an ongoing campaign, since at least 1975, by the Movement for the Ordination of Women to allow the ordination of women to the priesthood, the General Synod of the Church of England would not vote in favour of women priests until November 1992. A purpose of the St Hilda Community was to offer a 'non-sexist liturgy' that "gave full space and authority to women, without apology, secrecy, or shame". Another purpose was that its members could "receive the broader vision of our Christian heritage and women's spiritual offerings in language which excludes no person and no image of God". The community decided to hold eucharists celebrated by women priests lawfully ordained in other countries, despite this practice being declared "illegal" by Graham Leonard, then Bishop of London. Resident in London for doctoral studies, American priest Suzanne Fageol accepted the invitation to be priest to the community. Fageol used texts by Morley, such as the Eucharistic prayer for Easter, celebrated on Easter Day 1987. Fageol writes:
   Such feelings as vulnerability, weakness and helplessness have traditionally been interpreted by our culture as belonging to the psychological character of women, and labelled negative. Feminism tends to view them as constructive and positive essential human feelings. ... Janet Morley, a feminist liturgical author and a member of St Hilda's, writes for us in this way when she uses phrases such as: 'vulnerable God', 'so we may show forth his brokenness', 'for on this night you were delivered as one of us...needy and naked', 'you emptied yourself of power', and 'inspire our weakness'. [citation in original]
Watson discusses both the St Hilda Community and Morley's book Celebrating Women with Hannah Ward.