Name Frances Ward | Role Priest | |
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Books Why Rousseau was Wrong: Christianity and the Secular Soul, Lifelong Learning: Theological Education and Supervision |
Frances Elizabeth Fearn Ward (born 16 September 1959) is an Anglican priest and theologian. She is the current Dean of St Edmundsbury.
Contents

Early life and education

Ward was born on 16 September 1959 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. She educated at The King's School, Ely. She studied at the University of St Andrews and the University of Manchester. From 1987 to 1989, she trained for Holy Orders at Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college in the Liberal Catholic tradition.
Ordained ministry
She was ordained deacon in 1989 and priest in 1994. She was then a tutor at Northern College until 1998 and then Vicar of St Peter’s Bury until 2005. She was a residentiary canon at Bradford Cathedral until her current appointment.
On 30 May 2010, it was announced that Ward would be the next Dean of St Edmundsbury in succession to Neil Collings. In October 2010, she was installed as Dean at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. In July 2017, it was announced that she would be stepping down as Dean later in the year and would be returning to academia to complete a second doctorate.
Views
Ward belongs to the Catholic Anglican tradition of the Church of England. She is a supporter of the ordination of women as priests and bishops.
Selected works
Among other books she has written: