On August 12, 2023, Bishop Keith Dalby of The Murray ordained Alison Dutton to the priesthood of the Anglican Church of Australia. Ten days later, they were quietly wed in a civil ceremony, and they kept the marriage a secret from the diocese. Dutton was one of three women to become priests in the Diocese of The Murray, a small, rural, Anglo-Catholic diocese, which had resisted women’s ordination since it began in Australia in 1992.
Other diocesan leaders learned of the marriage in December. By December 9, Bishop Dalby was compelled to step away from his office and await further decisions from the Australian’s church’s Episcopal Standards Board. Dutton has lost her role as assistant curate at the Parish of the South Coast.
During a year that conflicts about same-sex blessings rocked the Church of England and the Vatican, Dalby and Dutton became the subjects of another fierce storm, albeit at a much smaller scale. The heart of their dispute was tied to the diocese’s only recently approved ordinations for women, the nature of a secret marriage between a bishop and a priest 19 years his junior, a costly ethics investigation, and the clunky timing of it all. Bishop Dalby is 62, and his first marriage failed in 2021. Dutton is 43.
The Murray’s website is in an eerie pre-conflict stasis. The bishop’s webblog reflects Advent sermons and many background papers distributed by Dalby in preparation for the vote to begin ordaining women. The website for the Parish of the South Coast still shows Dutton as assistant curate.
“While we have contrite hearts about not disclosing it to the Diocese straight away, the reaction has been disproportionate,” Dutton told Kathryn Bermingham of The Advertiser in South Australia. “The church has elected to make this shameful, and we’re not ashamed of getting married.”
The couple had been the subject of gossip beginning in 2022. In August 2022, the bishop ordered an independent investigation. It cost about $70,000, and it cleared his name. A second investigation into the relationship was launched by the church’s Episcopal Standards director in March 2023. Dalby and Dutton claim they never felt love for each other until the early summer of 2023, and their secret marriage followed swiftly upon the discovery.
In the midst of the investigations, Dalby was coordinating a diocesan-wide debate about ordaining women as priests. In June 2023, the Diocese of The Murray voted soundly (57-4) to approve the ordination of women, leaving only three conservative evangelical dioceses (Sydney, Armidale, and North-West Australia) that continue to ban the practice. Dalby has said the recommendation for Dutton’s ordination was made by a committee that did not include him.
Dutton spoke with The Advertiser about the reasons for the couple delaying any announcement of their marriage.
“We intended to tell everyone at the beginning of this year,” she said. “We just wanted to put a little bit of space between the conclusion of the investigation and the announcement that we have been married.”
“The issue for [diocesan leaders] was that they believed I had withheld information from them, I deceived them, that I’d lied to them and so they lost their confidence in me as the bishop,” Dalby said.
“There may be an issue of professional boundaries, but quite frankly Alison is 43, and I’m 62 and we’re quite capable of figuring out our own professional space,” Dalby told The Melbourne Anglican. “Professional boundaries are really important for vulnerable people, but neither of us are vulnerable people.”
“A situation like this raises questions around transparency, conflicts of interest, professional boundaries, and trust,” said the Most Rev. Geoffrey Smith, the Australian primate, in a recent statement.
“The Anglican Church of Australia has a code of conduct, Faithfulness in Service, to guide appropriate clergy behaviour, and Episcopal Standards processes to respond when standards are breached.
“It is unfortunate that the current situation in the Diocese of The Murray is likely to be de-stablising for the diocese, cause distress and confusion among people of the diocese, and will not assist the mission of the church.”
The archbishop said he would “continue to pray for a resolution which provides a just outcome, and the capacity for the diocese to move forward in its ministry.”
Bishop Dalby is currently on sick leave, and then leaves for a holiday overseas, so any resolution to the matter could take some time.
The Murray is one of three dioceses in South Australia. Large in size but not wealthy, it is struggling with demographic changes common to all country dioceses, especially an aging and declining population.
Observers tell TLC that the ensuing drama of the bishop’s marriage to the new priest may have “tainted” the acceptance of women priests in the diocese.
The Registrar of the Diocese of The Murray told The Living Church that two letters were sent to parishes in December about the Bishop standing aside.
“The Diocese is working through the matters in line with the procedures and protocols of the Anglican Church of Australia and in a way which is sensitive to the Bishop and Reverend Alison and which ensures at all stages that they are afforded natural justice,” he said. “Due process is being and will continue to be followed in dealing with this matter.
“We can confirm that the Bishop has stood aside. He is not performing any executive decision making nor is he carrying out any pastoral duties.
“The Diocese has at all times endeavoured to deal with this matter in a way which is sensitive to the interests of both Bishop Keith and Reverend Alison and to the interests of the Diocesan community as a whole.”
