Date: April 24, 2025
Virginia Theological Seminary is thankful to have English scholar and priest, Rev. Dr. Sarah Schofield stay here for a month and conduct research. Growing up and working in England, Dr. Schofield has observed that England “is a stickler for what women can and cannot do”, particularly in the Church. Over the years, she has asked: “Why have we [women] put up with this [kind of culture] for so long?” This question drives her current research and how she addresses issues such as the impact of institutional church culture on female priests.
Dr. Schofield grew up in the Church of England during a period when women’s ordination was not allowed. This fact, however, did not impact her ability to hear God’s call at age 14. Following high school, she went to college for a bachelor degree in theology. When Dr. Schofield was 24, the Church of England began ordaining women and she was then able to attend an ecumenical theological school. She was ordained in 1997 and was the only woman ordained in her year from her diocese, at none other than Manchester Cathedral.
Dr. Schofield first visited VTS in 2015 at the beginning of her PhD program. She is delighted to return as a Dean’s Scholar while on sabbatical from her position as chaplain at Wolverampton University, where she has worked since 2018. The love and commitment she has for her students inform her day-to-day vocation serving them. She has uncovered a truth within herself that, while this wasn’t what she imagined herself doing at first, she is incredibly fulfilled and thankful to do the work God has called her to at university with young people. Given that Dr. Schofield only met a female priest for the first time when she was in college, her call to work as a university chaplain appears all the more meaningful.
Dr. Sarah Schofield will be here until April 22 with her husband.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and President of The General Theological Seminary