While six local Anglicans were recognised, the Nation’s top honour went to a judge who backed women priests
Australia’s top civil award, the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) was given to Justice Keith Mason during the recent Australia Day honours. The NSW Supreme Court judge is a member of All Saints’, Hunters Hill and has been Chancellor of the Diocese of Armidale since 1990.
“I’m lucky to have had a number of high profile jobs and am very proud to be put in the same company with Australians honoured for years of faithful, quiet service,” he said.
Justice Mason, well-known in Sydney Diocese as a leading advocate for the ordination of women to the priesthood, was recognised for his service to the law and legal scholarship, to the judicial system in NSW, to the Anglican Church and to the community.
He was a member of Sydney Synod from 1975 to 2001 and moved proposed legislation to ordain women as priests when it was last debated in 1996.
His court is responsible for hearing most appeals that arise in the NSW legal system, so Justice Mason hears a very wide range of cases from criminal appeals to professional negligence. The workload is high. The Court of Appeal is the end of the line in the majority of cases, and its judgements are closely scrutinised.
He strongly believes this often stressful work is part of God’s plan for his life, and in that sense it is ‘a gospel ministry’.
He attended Sunday School at Holy Trinity, Concord West and by the time he was at university was leading the parish’s youth fellowship. Today he sees himself as an evangelical Anglican in the mould of the 19th century Clapham sect.
It is clear that despite their differences leading Sydney Diocesan figures have respect for Justice Mason. On hearing news of the AC, Bishop Glenn Davies said he was ‘just delighted with the honour given to such an outstanding Christian who has made a great contribution to the Anglican Church’.
“He was a well-respected member of Synod and was known for his forthright opinions and his generosity in debating them,” Bishop Davies said.
Justice Mason admits Synod debate has left some of the deepest scars of his life. “Open dialogue is the essence of our adversarial justice system and the means for reaching the truth. That is not the paradigm under which the Synod operates.”
Justice Mason says it was his belief that ‘God is so much bigger than our petty squabbles’ and, in the early days, the support of his Bible study group ensured he survived ‘this dark period’ spiritually.
“I was sustained thanks to a Bible study group whose members included my most vigorous opponents,” he said. “It is at my saddest times that I’ve been closest to God. It is only when everything is stripped away that you are most profoundly aware of your dependence on him.”
Indeed it is the emphasis on home group Bible study that Justice Mason sees as a real strength of the Diocese. “There is a vitality here. I need to keep reminding myself that the Diocese is bigger than Synod.”
Justice Mason has particularly enjoyed his involvement with Armidale Diocese, which he describes as a ‘real community’. “I think of it as a diocese of biblical size. The bishop relates to the clergy and laity on a personal level.
“I’m learning about life on the edge, how lay people are surviving the drought and how clergy in isolated parishes cope with financial uncertainty.”
—
