Died 12 September 2011 | ||
Born 8 January 1923 Oxford | ||
Mary Irene Levison (née Lusk; 8 January 1923 – 12 September 2011) was the first person to petition the Church of Scotland for the ordination of women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1963. This was achieved five years later and Levison became a minister in 1973.
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Early life
The fourth child of David Colville Lusk and Mary Theodora (née Colville), she was born in Oxford. Her father was ordained in the United Free Church and at the time of her birth was the Chaplain to the Presbyterian members of the University of Oxford.
Education
Attended the Oxford High School for Girls for her early education. When the family moved from Oxford to Edinburgh she attended St Monica's. While there she sat the entrance examination for St Leonard's School in St Andrews which she attended from the age of 13.
She studied at undergraduate level at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford from 1941 where she took a First in philosophy, politics and economics.
As part of her training to be a Deaconess licensed to preach she attended St Colm's College and studied for the Bachelor of Divinity at New College (the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh). She was awarded a Distinction in Systematic Theology and the Aitken Fellowship which enabled her to spend a semester in Heidelberg and a semester in Basel.
Work in the Church of Scotland
She was appointed as Deaconess in St Michael's Church in Inveresk, Musselburgh near Edinburgh in 1954 where she served for 4 years.
In 1958 she returned to St Colm's College taking up the post of tutor teaching Christian Doctrine, New Testament Studies and the practical training of the deaconess students.
Petition to the General Assembly
On Saturday 26 May 1963 Mary Lusk stood at the Bar of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to test her call to ministry. She was given 15 minutes to present her petition to the General Assembly. Her petition was for her Ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. Her petition was received by the Assembly which instructed the Panel on Doctrine to consider its response and report to the following General Assembly.
This was achieved five years later and later Levison became a minister in 1973.
She was appointed a Chaplain to Her Majesty in Scotland in 1991.